English 12 - Self and Society (Working Together)

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will:

• evaluate and adjust their own roles to reflect the group's purpose
• apply a variety of strategies including formal decision-making techniques and consensus-building skills 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
• establish and use criteria to evaluate group process and their own roles and contributions to the group process

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

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Have students watch video clips of meetings in progress such as John Cleese's More Bloody Meetings or the meeting scene from Life of Brian and identify facilitating and inhibiting behaviours. Ask them to prepare a chart to prompt their own constructive behaviour in groups.
• Invite students to take turns in the role of process observer in their group work, identifying inhibiting and facilitating behaviours and leading discussions about how to improve the way the group works.
• Ask students to use a structured approach such as Edward de Bono's "Six Thinking Hats" to solve a problem. Have them write a paragraph explaining how the approach either improved their ability to contribute to the solution, interfered with it, or made no difference.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

• When students develop group presentations, collaborate with them to develop criteria for both the processes and the outcomes. Assessment of processes might focus on their abilities to:
  • commit to collective goals
  • respect and encourage individual voices and contributions
  • deal constructively with disagreements or conflicts
  • produce coherent presentations
  • show insight and openness in assessing their work
  The presentations can be assessed using criteria for communicating ideas and information.
• To prompt students to analyse their group skills, have them represent their roles in a variety of group situations. Some students might choose to create collages, posters, or cartoons; others might prefer to write or film case studies that illustrate key aspects of their experiences; others might write fictionalized accounts of group experiences, perform monologues, or collaborate in dramatic performances. Look for evidence of the extent to which students are able to:
  • offer insights into their own behaviour
  • show awareness of the perspectives of others they have worked with
  • take balanced views, considering both strengths and weaknesses
  • synthesize information and insights from several experiences
  • reach logical conclusions or generalizations

RECOMMENDED LEARNING RESOURCES

• The 21st Century Dictionary of Quotations
• The Act of Writing
• Beyond Chalk & Talk
• Breaking Free
• The Business of English
• Coming of Age
• The Crucible
• Discoveries in Non-Fiction
• Discovering Fiction
• Ethics
• Far and Wide
• Inquiry
• "Just Talking About Ourselves": Voices of Our Youth
• Literature Circles
• Matters of Gender
• 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
• Ellen's Story

• In Perspective

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