English 11 - Self and Society (Working Together)

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will:

• evaluate and adjust their own roles to align with the group's purpose
• apply a variety of strategies including diplomacy and compromise to solve problems and achieve group goals
• use a variety of resources and technologies when working with others
• assess the value, limitations, and ethical issues associated with collaborative work
• develop and use criteria to evaluate group processes and their own roles in and contributions to group processes

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Self and Society (Working Together) in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Encourage students to examine their participation in various group activities. Prompt their self-assessment with key questions such as: What ideas did you offer? Did you support or encourage others? How did you handle conflict? What skills would you like to add to your repertoire for group work? What behaviours, both verbal and non-verbal, positively affected group interactions? Have students work together to develop guidelines for working effectively in groups and accomplishing tasks.
• Ask each student to prepare a chart that identifies tasks best accomplished in groups and those best done individually, including the advantages and disadvantages of each method. When students compare their charts with partners, would they make any changes to their original ideas?
• Engage the class in a discussion about the various ways people use technology to work together. Ask them to identify how forms of technology are suited to specific purposes. Have students develop a matrix that relates purposes to technologies (e.g., video conferencing is suitable for distance education but not for co-authoring a story). Invite pairs of students to each select a technology, work with it to complete a simple task, then develop a guide for using that technology in collaborative work (e.g., using telephone, fax, e-mail, Internet forums). Compile these guides into a class manual of effective uses of technology in working together.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

• Outline the learning outcomes for this organizer and collaborate with students to develop a set of guidelines or criteria for individual participation and skills in group work. These can become the basis for a checklist or rating scale for self-, peer, and teacher assessment. Criteria at this level might include:
  • uses tentative and inclusive language
  • helps to develop and sustain group interactions
  • offers clarification, elaboration, explanation, feedback, suggestions, hypotheses, questions, and synthesis as needed
• Provide each student with a copy of the chart from the reference set Evaluating Group Communication Skills Across Curriculum. Ask students to highlight or underline the words and phrases that describe their skills, then meet with partners or in small groups to discuss one another's analyses. After their discussion, have students record:
  • something that surprised them about their own analyses or those of their partners
  • two phrases or excerpts from the chart that describe areas of strength they can build on
  • one phrase or excerpt that describes a goal they want to work toward
• Before each group activity, ask students to record individual goals or intentions, then collaborate with other group members to specify one goal or intention that the group will emphasize. At the end of the activity, provide time for them to assess the extent to which they realized their goals and intentions.

RECOMMENDED LEARNING RESOURCES

• The 21st Century Dictionary of Quotations
• 3-D English
• The Act of Writing
• Beyond Chalk & Talk
• Breaking Free
• The Business of English
• Coast To Coast
• Coming of Age
• Discoveries in Non-Fiction
• Ethics
• Far and Wide
• "Just Talking About Ourselves": Voices of Our Youth
• Literature Circles
• Matters of Gender
• Poetry Alive
• The Research Essay
• Speaking for Success
• The Stolen Party
• Stories from Asia
• The Storyteller
• Travel and Tourism
• Voices of the First Nations
• The Whole Language Catalogue
• Your Voice and Mine

• 4 Sight
• At the Gate

• In Perspective

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