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Strategies for Successful Group Work

Group projects are particularly suited for English learners, since all students can participate in themwhatever their level of language prociency (e.g., drawing, music,
theater, journalism). Moreover, the interaction among students and teachers helps
learners understand and internalize new information. Students with expert language
prociency can serve as resources and models for Spanish-language students, while
Spanish-speakers can contribute an important fund of experience to their classmates.
As often as possible, group together students at different language prociency levels
to take advantage of this mutually productive interaction.
Other than the activities in the program specically designed for group work,
many of the activities in the student edition and ancillaries can be performed cooperatively by studentseither in pairs or in small groups. This approach should be taken
frequently with English learners, so that they can learn from those who are more procient in the language or possess a stronger social studies background.
To ensure the success of group work, students need to master certain skills. Here
are some basic guidelines:
Students should receive training in how to work in groups.
Groups should be composed of students at different levels of language prociency and social studies skills.
Groups should be smallwith about three to ve students.
Students need to be assigned clear and specic roles within the group.
The teacher should be able to assess the work produced both by the group and
by individuals within the group.
Recurring features in World History: Patterns of Interaction that call for group
work include the following:
In the Alternative Assessment for each chapter in the student edition, many
of the suggested activities involve cooperation within a group.
At the bottom of some Teachers Edition pages, a Cooperative Activity section
related to the content of a chapter is suggested: for example, drawing a political
cartoon or researching and narrating local history.
Role-playing is an effective way for students to work together to reconstruct historical events and understand history from different points of view. Both the student edition and the Teachers Edition offer numerous suggestions for role plays
that can be supplemented by others, depending on the interests of the class.
World History: Patterns of Interaction thus provides signicant textual, visual, and
audio support for Spanish-language students and many suggestions and opportunities
for other English learners. Taking advantage of these components will help all your
students become full participants in the study of world history.

Strategies for Teaching English Learners 5