“Before we actually get into these groups, I want to tell you a little secret.  Whenever two or more people get together to do something, they never, ever stay on task 100% of the time.  I’ve worked in a lot of jobs, on a lot of committees, been to a lot of meetings, and people like to take breaks, gossip, socialize, go off task.  I sit in department meetings where people break into side conversations all the time.  It’s human nature.

“So I don’t expect you to never drift into personal conversations.  In fact, I think the personal conversations are the social glue that make the whole thing work.  It makes the experience more human, more meaningful.  You remember more of what you are learning if you are also having fun at the same time.”

They are eating this up.  

“So if you’re not on task 100% of the time, what is reasonable?  Talk to your neighbor about it, and see if we can come up with a consensus.”

There is a babble of conversation.  It strikes most of them as an interesting question, and we’ve been working with each other long enough for them to know that I legitimately want to know their opinion.  Finally, I ask them what they came up with.

Alicia says “90% sounds right to me.”

Sam disagrees.  “I don’t think that’s realistic. We’re thinking more like 70%.  Maybe three quarters of the time, max.”

“What I have found in the past is that, if you are actually interested in the material, 90% isn’t all that hard to do, but in general most groups can operate on task between 80% and 90% of the time.  The truth is, we don’t need a rule about this.  You’ll know if you’re keeping the forward momentum going.  If you’re on task 50% of the time, you’ll know it, and it will feel like you’re blowing the class off.  Also, I’ll notice and then we’ll have a conversation to find out how you think you can become more effective.

“The real question is how do you go from being off-task back to being on-task?  Who decides?  How do you handle it?  And that brings up the issue of leadership.

“When you turned in the forms about who you wanted to work with, some of you put a check in the box where I asked if you might be interested in being a study group leader.  Some groups will already have someone who is interested, some groups don’t.  For those who don’t, you’re going to have to find someone in your group to step up in the next week or so, because the role of study group leader is actually quite important.

“Here is the trick to great leadership.  Listen carefully, because this is an important skill in life.  Let’s say your group is going over homework and you drift into a conversation about something that happened over the weekend or a movie several people just saw.  The balancing act of a good leader is to allow the conversation to run for a reasonable amount of time before gently reminding everyone that there is still work to do.  Being a leader does not mean being a jerk, making people do things they don’t want to do, or even telling them what to do.  Instead, you are acting as the conscience of the group, the one who doesn’t get swept away by the conversation, who is able to keep a little distance from the content of what the group is talking about to maintain awareness of the situation and raise everyone else’s awareness at an appropriate moment.

“I can tell you that if you learn this skill - and you’ll have plenty of opportunities in this class - you’ll find that it is a remarkably useful thing to know how to do in a lot of situations in life.  It is, for instance, one of the key factors in making this class feel the way that it does.

“Here’s a quote from a book called the Tao te Ching - one of the books I would keep on a desert island, if I had to choose.

For every force, there is a counterforce.  Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds on itself.

“I know you’re not going to be violent with each other - at least, I hope you won’t”, I say with a smile, “but just interrupting a conversation abruptly, or treating the people in your group as if you are above them somehow as the leader can have a bad effect on everyone involved.  If you are a leader, don’t use force unless it is really necessary - say for the sake of safety, or because one person is being mean to another.  Trusting and respecting the people you are working with is always more effective in the long run.  And it feels better for everyone involved.”

“So it’s time to get in your permanent groups - I’ll announce them and give you a table to sit at - and see how it works.  Remember, if you’re unhappy for any reason, let me know, but privately.  So here we go.”