SOFT SKILL THROUGH INTERACTIVE

GROUPS METHODOLOGY

The school Casablanca has lately become a Learning Community. ​Learning

Communities emphasize collaborative work among students and its main goal
consists of provide each single pupil with that minimum base curricular training that
will allow him or her turning out into a successful individual in their natural society.

Interactive Groups (IGs) methodologies fit entirely to the purpose since

collaborative work, along with autonomous one, is actually what identifies it.

What Interactive Groups are?

IGs consist of grouping students in a class into small ​heterogeneous groups,
each of them supported by an adult, which might be the regular teacher of the group,
any other adult. Each of these groups is organised around four or five students in, as
said, a heterogeneous way, altogether regarding ability level, gender, culture,
language and ethnicity. IGs has two adult profiles involved in learning processes:
teachers and volunteers. Volunteers are often family and community members,
including illiterate persons or those with very low educational levels, former students,
volunteer university students and also other adults from community organisations.
The role of the adult is not to teach students, they just have to promote dialogue
between students, and keep the working in group to solve the activity.

Main benefits of IGs:

1-They develop in deep fundamental personal, intellectual and social skills.

2-They foster motivation, interest and joy for learning.

3-They encourage collaborative work and promote sensitivity towards less skilled
mates.

4-They improve fine school atmosphere and increase positive relationships among
the students.
5-They train kids to adjust tasks to be solved to a specific given time .

6-Learning increases since it is given away throughout multiple teaching channels:

mates themselves, teachers, visitor adults…

7-They are extremely dynamic, which helps keeping students’ concentration.

It is now the third year our school displays IGs work. Subjects and school levels dealt
with this pedagogical approach have been grown over this time, and while in the
beginning it was only on some groups of the school in which IGs procedures were
applied, the present school year IGs practice is currently running from Infants 1st
Level (3 year-old) up to Primary 6th Level (12 year- old), which means the whole
school age sections, being the curricular areas worked Mathematics and Language,
plus English for those of Primary 5th and 6th Levels.

What specific Soft Skills are worked through the

IGs?
● Time management: Children learn how to deal with a established amount of time to
fulfill the activity.

● Teamwork: Students have to get used to work together in a cooperative way.

Everyone is equal and no one is above anyone.
 ● Creative thinking: IGs promote inventing ingenious solutions to the challenge that
they have to face to.

● Conflict resolution: Each one have their own ideas and children should learn how to
deal with other people who think differently and reach arrangements.

● Empathy: Groups are made of heterogeneous individuals. The most skilled students
share with the other ones their abilities.

● Listening skills and active listening: Since IGs is based mostly on oral communication
among students, it requires a development of active listening skills.

● Motivation: The dynamic nature of IGs enhance a highly motivational atmosphere in

class. Student value the fact that activities carried on IG are brief, diverse, constantly
changing, enjoyable and entertaining.

● Responsibility: Every student in the group has to collaborate participating in the

activities and becoming active in the development of its own learning process as well
as the other pupils’ process.

Conclusion:
In a nutshell, Interactive Groups aim at reducing competitiveness and foster solidarity
working cooperatively. They are conceived to provide all the students with the same
education and future opportunities. To get this, low achievers are not segregated from their
regular class group. All the needed resources are introduced in the classroom to guarantee
that they can continue their education with the highest possible expectations.

At the same time, pupils with high abilities also benefit from this type of grouping. It is
through dialogue that further excellence is achieved. Therefore, students already achieving
better results also learn more because they are explaining the subjects to their schoolmates.
This practice contributes to the consolidation of knowledge, as well as, it improves
communicative competence and practicing of values.

At this regard, Interactive Groups, in our school, have been proved to be a successful form
of classroom organization able to cope with diversity and have a positive impact on all
students’ achievement.