Topic: The NCTE on Grammar

10-second review: For a number of years, the NCTE’s position on grammar was that grammar had nothing to do with improving writing. At least this 2005 position paper defined grammar as enabling students to talk about how to build sentences and paragraphs that are clear and that teachers show students how to apply a knowledge of grammar to writing, reading and all other language activities.

Title: “Some Questions and Answers about Grammar.” Brock Haussamen, et al. NCTE. 2005.

Summary/Quotes: “Grammar is important because it is the language that makes it possible for us to talk about language. Grammar names the types of words and word groups that make up sentences….”

“…to be able to talk about how sentences are built, about the types of words and word groups that make up sentence—that is knowing about grammar….”

“People associate grammar with errors and correctness. But knowing about grammar also helps us understand what makes sentences and paragraphs clear and interesting and precise.”

“Teaching grammar will not make errors go away…. But knowing basic grammatical terminology does provide students with a tool for thinking about and discussing sentences.”

“…whatever approach you take to grammar, show students how to apply it not only to their writing but also to their other language arts activities.”

Comment: I don’t know where to begin. I started teaching when grammar was taught as a prelude to writing. Students had to know grammar before they could learn to write. And because there was so much grammar to teach—all those exercises and all that diagramming—only some teachers taught the paragraph and almost none taught writing or composition.I know it is hard to believe today, but that was the thinking in the late 1950s and the early 1960s.

Then in 1966 or thereabouts, a research study was published concluding that research study after research study showed teaching grammar to improve writing was a complete waste of time. And most teachers stopped teaching grammar and taught the writing process instead, which was more important than the final product.

That was all right so far as it went, but people who believed in “back to the basics” said that students could not produce a correct sentence. They also said that the product was more important than the writing process.

Then came the word processor and revising and writing, in general, became easier and almost fun. So now we should have a pretty good balance between teaching writing and grammar—except that all those students who missed out on learning grammar don’t know it now that they are English teachers. And so it goes.

Next blog: Ray S.’s principles of teaching grammar and writing.

Topic: The Five-Paragraph Essay

10-second review: There is no such animal as the five-paragraph essay.

Title: “Wrong About Writing.” Jim Sollisch. Philadelphia Inquirer (February 23, 2005), A15.

Summary/Quotes: “The SAT is including a mandatory writing test that will be modeled on the five-paragraph essay. “…which, as a model, makes about as much sense as testing architects by asking them to design buildings using only five rectangles.”

“The five-paragraph essay is not a literary form. The 14-line sonnet is a literary form. The 17-syllable haiku is a literary form. The five-paragraph theme, with its artificial topic [Thesis. RayS.] sentence, three explanatory paragraphs and the obligatory conclusion that restates the topic, is a recipe for mush.”

Comment: It’s a recipe for organizing expository writing of any length. Something must be wrong with the intelligence of people who mistake a model for a literary form.

The five-paragraph essay is a model that puts into practice the old method of organizing expository writing: “Tell them what you are going to tell them; tell them; tell them what you told them.” The introduction can consist of fifteen paragraphs if the writer chooses. The introduction is always followed by a statement [thesis] of what the writer is going to say in the rest of the composition.

The middle paragraphs can be as many paragraphs as the writer needs to develop the thesis. Topic sentences help the reader to know what follows in each paragraph. Many paragraphs, however, are cut short for the purpose of relieving the reader who is intimidated by page-length paragraphs. Those shortened paragraphs might not have topic sentences, but they continue the content signaled by the topic sentence in the preceding paragraph.

And readers expect a conclusion that summarizes and leaves a memorable thought.

The five-paragraph essay is the model that illustrates the structure for expository prose of any length—introduction, thesis [Tells what I am going to tell the reader] intermediate paragraphs that, for reader comfort, begin with topic sentences and develop the thesis [Tell them], and concludes with a summary paragraph [Tell them what I told them]. The five-paragraph essay is a model that can be grasped in one eye shot.

Every student with whom I ever worked knew that the five-paragraph essay was a model. They all knew that it was not a literary form to be found in published material. They added paragraphs to every part of the five-paragraph essay, which was a guide to help them organize their writing.

The irony of this article by Jim Solliish? It has an introduction, a thesis, middle paragraphs with topic sentences and a summary conclusion. He is following the model of the five-paragraph essay that he calls "mush." .RayS.

Topic: Concept Books for Young Readers

10-second review: Concept books are picture books explaining and extending a concept, some of which include weather, the city, transportation, colors, etc.

Title: “Children’s Literature: A Source of Concept Enrichment.” MA Hall and J Matanza. Elementary English (April 1975), pp. 487-494. Elementary English preceded the publication Language Arts, both publications of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary/Quote: “The term ‘concept book’ as used by Huck and Kuhn denotes a book which describes dimensions of an abstract idea…. These books seldom have plots; the child’s interest is held by the skilled presentation of the information and by the illustrations.” p. 487.

The authors then present an annotated review of concept books on the following topics: environment, numbers, ourselves, shapes, size and measures, sound, time and seasons, transportation, and words. You will be amazed at how interesting these concept books are.

Comment: Background information that will serve well in reading in different subjects. RayS.

Topic: Parent and Writing.

10-second review: Activities parents can do with their young children at home to support learning to read: writing.

Title: “Strategies for Engaging Parents in Home Support of Reading Acquisition.” Sharon Darling. Reading Teacher (February 2005), 476-479. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Activities for Parents and Children: Writing.

Provide multiple writing materials and tools.

Encourage the child to write his or her name and the names of family members.

Let the child see the parents writing for various purposes.

Ask the child to say words out loud as he or she writes.

Respond to the ideas the child has written.

Encourage the child to write the way he or she talks, and then ask the child to read the writing aloud.

Plan a time and place for the child to write every day.

Comment: One of the best techniques for teaching young children to write is to use “language experience.” You can use large-sized paper on an easel. Begin with a topic. The child dictates a story on the topic and the parent records it. Then the child tries to read back what the parent has recorded. Early training in both reading and writing.

This article is, in my opinion, a gem. It’s a keeper. Good to use at parent-teacher meetings. The comments about what the teacher is doing in the classroom at the same time related to these topics are also very useful. Good discussion starters. RayS.

Topic: Parents and Reading: Print Concepts

Topic: Parents and Reading: Print Concepts.

10-second review: Activities parents can do with their young children at home to support learning to read: print concepts.

Title: “Strategies for Engaging Parents in Home Support of Reading Acquisition.” Sharon Darling. Reading Teacher (February 2005), 476-479. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Activities for Parents and Children: Print Concepts.

Point out the title and author’s name to the child when reading together.

Talk about where reading begins on the page and show how the words flow left to right.

Play games to match lowercase and upper-case letters.

Talk about how types of texts have similarities and differences. (I’m assuming the author means bold face, italics, etc. RayS.)

Expose the child to many types of print.

Make a book with the child, using large print and illustrations.

Comment: Take several 8” x 11 ½” sheets of paper, fold them in half length-wise, staple on the crease and presto! You have a ready-to-write-in paperback book. Text at the bottom of the page and illustrations at the top, like picture books. Thanks to Barbara Stopper for the idea. RayS.

Topic: Parents and Reading: Comprehension.

10-second review: Activities parents can do with their young children at home to support learning to read: text comprehension.

Title: “Strategies for Engaging Parents in Home Support of Reading Acquisition.” Sharon Darling. Reading Teacher (February 2005), 476-479. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Activities for Parents and Children: Comprehension.

Ask the child to predict what might happen next in a story.

Ask who, what, where, when and why questions about a book.

Ask the child questions about the topic of a book before reading it.

Ask the child about books being read at school and be familiar with them in order to extend conversations.

Ask the child what the main idea or message of a book might be.

Comment: Excellent suggestions. I like the one about discussing the topic of the book before reading it. The more they know about the topic, the more they will understand what they read about it. RayS.

Topic: Parents and Reading: Vocabulary.

10-second review: Activities parents can do with their young children at home to support learning to read: vocabulary.

Title: “Strategies for Engaging Parents in Home Support of Reading Acquisition.” Sharon Darling. Reading Teacher (February 2005), 476-479. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Activities for Parents and Children: Vocabulary.

Read aloud a variety of genres.

Talk with the child about daily events and about books they read together.

Talk about how the illustrations and text in a book support each other.

Use word lists provided by the child’s teacher in natural conversation.

Search for new words in texts with the child and look them up in the dictionary.

Help the child learn new vocabulary based on hobbies or interests.

Comment: Children’s dictionaries are fun to read. However, you don’t have to look up every word. Just discuss interesting words. RayS.

Topic: Parents and Reading: Fluency

10-second review: Activities parents can do with their young children at home to support learning to read: fluency.

Title: “Strategies for Engaging Parents in Home Support of Reading Acquisition.” Sharon Darling. Reading Teacher (February 2005), 476-479. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Activities for Parents and Children:Fluency.

Read aloud often, encouraging the child to read aloud.

Let the child choose books to read and re-read favorite books.

Model reading for fun and pleasure. (That means, read yourself. RayS.)

Act out a book or story.

Read aloud a sentence and then invite the child to read the same sentence (i.e., echo reading).

Help the child read new words and talk about the meaning.

Talk with the child at the library about how to pick out books of interest at an appropriate reading level.

Comment: Fluency has become much more popular in reading instruction after the National Reading Panel listed it as an important part of reading. RayS.

Topic: Parents and Reading and Young Children

10-second review: Activities parents can do with their young children at home to support learning to read: phonics.

Title: “Strategies for Engaging Parents in Home Support of Reading Acquisition.” Sharon Darling. Reading Teacher (February 2005), 476-479. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Activities for Parents and Children: Phonics.
Talk with the teacher about the child’s phonics progress.
Encourage children to point to words and say them out loud when writing.
Listen to the child read.
Help children sort words by long-and short-vowel sounds.
Help children define larger words by breaking them into smaller chunks.
Play spelling and word games like Scrabble and Hang Man.

Comment: It’s important to remember that phonics is not a set of rules to be memorized by the child. Phonics (sound out) is a tool to help children recognize words that they already know from their listening and speaking. RayS.

Topic: Parents and Reading. Phonemic Awareness.

10-second review: Activities parents can do with their young children at home to support learning to read: phonemic awareness.

Title: “Strategies for Engaging Parents in Home Support of Reading Acquisition.” Sharon Darling. Reading Teacher (February 2005), 476-479. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Activities for Parents and Children:
Sing alphabet songs with their child.
Read stories that the child chooses.
Help the child clap the beats or syllables in words.
Point out letters, especially letters in the child’s name.
Play with language and rhymes. Sing songs that manipulate phonemes, such as the "Name Game." (For the lyrics, try Google and the Internet.)

Topic: Parents and Reading

10-second review: Activities parents can do with their young children at home to support learning to read.

Title: “Strategies for Engaging Parents in Home Support of Reading Acquisition.” Sharon Darling. Reading Teacher (February 2005), 476-479. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Summary/Quote: “On their report, the National Reading Panel…identified five key areas of reading instruction for children from kindergarten to grade 3: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and text comprehension. Other studies show that understanding how print is used, as well as having knowledge of letters, affects children’s reading ability in primary grades…. …determined that print concepts, writing and invented spelling…are key predictors for reading at school age.”

Comment: I’m going to break this article into parts to give the author’s suggestions for what parents can do at home to support their child’s learning to read. These activities are really useful. RayS.

Topic: Learning Centers

10-second review: A definition of learning centers. But what is the Purpose?

Title: “The Learning Center in the Secondary Schools.” T Olsen. English Journal (November 1975), 76-78. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary/Quote: What is a learning center? “…a place for using and storing materials that relate to a special interest or curriculum area; a place where students may go to work; a place where ideas, materials and activities are presented to a variety of levels of difficulty.” P. 76.

Comment: As a K-12 language arts supervisor, I saw learning centers sprouting up almost everywhere, but mostly in the elementary schools. They were often attractive and students dutifully used them. Why? For activities. Why?

The purpose for learning centers as for all other individualized techniques was to teach students how to learn. That was not the case in any learning centers I saw in action. They were sources of activities to keep children busy.

I think if there was one thing I would change in my teaching career, it would be to emphasize the purpose for activities. I would spend at least a class period at the secondary level explaining why we are going to engage in this activity. And I would never let students forget that purpose.

In my teacher education classes, “objectives” were dull things that had to be in plan books. But they had no life to them. If I could do it over, I would change my attitude toward objectives for activities. RayS.

Topic: Teaching the Bible as Literature

10-second review: As in the case of the students who wrote “Atom and Eve,” students need knowledge of the Bible to aid in reading other literary works.

Title: “The Bible presented Objectively.” A Hildebrand. Language Arts (January 1976), 63-75. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary: Reviews court cases involving using the Bible for literary study in public schools. Concludes with a bibliography of books related to the study of the Bible as literature . Why read the Bible as literature? Charlotte Huck: “Other literature cannot be fully understood unless children are familiar with the outstanding characters, incidents, poems, proverbs and parables of this literature of the Western world of thought.”

Comment: My summary of this article: Essentially, one cannot teach the Bible as religion, but can teach about the Bible as a source of literary allusions.

Topic: Parent Conferences

10-second review: What is the key to a successful parent conference? Convince parents that you are on their side and their child’s side.

Title: "Dimensions Beyond Words: Successful Parent Conferences.” EF Re. English Journal (November 1975), 63-65. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary:
Sit next to the parents on the same side of the table.
Stress positive qualities about their child.
Isolate one negative thing that needs to be improved.
Outline your [the teacher’s] classroom plan for helping the student.
Ask the parent to help by doing one or two things at home.

Comment: Practical advice on teacher/parent conferences. RayS.

Topic: Working with a Psychologist

10-second review: Don’t let the psychologist get away with diagnostic labeling, which names the problem but doesn’t help solve it.

Title: “Psychological Evaluation, Help or Hindrance.” Dr. R C. Erickson. English Journal (November 1975), 66-68. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary/Quote: “What I am saying is that psychological evaluation is a help if it serves to clarify the problem…and if, and only if, it stimulates you and the psychologist, and perhaps the family, to try out new and different ways of handling the situation so that…the child will grow.” P. 67.

“Well, psychologist, tell me what to do with this problem student you have just evaluated.”
“Well, I will if I know. I’ll tell you what I can. Please put pressure on me to think harder. Don’t let me get away with mere diagnostic labeling. In the final analysis, you and I may have to experiment. We may fail, we may succeed. We will certainly consume a lot of time and energy and creativity.” P. 68.


Comment: I wish I could say that my experience with even one psychologist had the give-and-take and cooperative effort suggested by the psychologist who wrote this article. He seems like an honest man. Unfortunately, I can’t. In fact, I’m wondering, what is the job description of the school psychologist? RayS.

Topic: English Language Learners (ELLs)

10-second review: The concept of “additive literacy,” the use of both languages, the native language and English, the language to be learned, in class.

Title: “Informed Additive Literacy Instruction for ELLs.” EB Bauer. Reading Teacher (February 2005), 446-448. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Summary: Suggests that teachers encourage students to use both native and English languages while working in the classroom.

Problem with “additive literacy”: Political climate is for English-only schools. Lack of available bilingual teachers and mainstream teachers who have not been trained in working with ELLs.

Advantages: Classrooms that promote additive literacy provide students with the means to connect what they know about literacy in one language to another language.

Teachers should encourage use of both languages.

Comment: I am reporting this idea because I don’t have much experience in working with ELLs. It makes sense theoretically. But it is a political issue since most “experts” recommend English-only instruction, minimizing attention to the first or the native language. This article almost comes down on the side of promoting the first language.

Speaking as an outsider (retired) in today’s educational climate, I think any school district that does not train its teachers in how to work with ELLs is doing the students and their teachers a serious disservice.

I will continue to look for ideas on how to work with ELLs for my blogs. RayS.

Topic: Concept Books for Young Readers

10-second review: Concept books are picture books explaining and extending the concept. Some examples: weather, the city, transportation, colors, etc.

Title: “Children’s Literature: A Source of Concept Enrichment.” MA Hall and J Matanza. Elementary English (April 1975), 487-494. Elementary English was later replaced as the elementary school journal for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) by Language Arts.

Summary/Quote: “The term ‘concept book’ as used by Huck and Kuhn denotes a books which describes dimensions of an abstract idea…. The books seldom have plots; the child’s interest is held by the skilled presentation of information and by the illustrations.” P. 487.

The authors then present an annotated review of concept books for the following topics: environment; numbers; ourselves; shapes, sizes and measures; sound; time and seasons; transportation and words.

Comment: Background information that will serve well in reading in different subjects. RayS.

Topic: Bibliotherapy

10-second review: A quote to think about.

Title: "Realistic Reading and Literature or Let’s Tell It Like It Is.” FT Humphreville. Elementary English (April 1969), 537-540. Elementary English was the NCTE’s elementary school journal before it was replaced by Language Arts.

The Quote: “The ‘reaction sessions’ and the correlated activities with pupils are not intended to border on the psychological in any fashion for there is nothing more dangerous than amateur attempts at depth probing by even the most well-meaning individual, unless she has been carefully trained for it. Rather these sessions are meant to provide a varied approach to individual thinking in a way that takes recall or comprehension away from the unrelated obvious such as ‘How many people were in the story? When did the boy take the wagon to the back yard?’ ”

Comment: If you haven’t heard of “bibliotherapy” before, it’s a technique to give children books related to their personal problems. It’s a dangerous practice. And, if discussions about a book begin to involve issues that might relate to a student's personal problems, that, too, is dangerous.

From my point of view, the best questions to start a literary discussion are the children’s questions about what they don’t understand. There’s a thin line between dealing with literary problems, personal experience to help in interpreting a literary work and dealing directly with students’ personal problems. RayS.

Topic: Standards

10-second review: Defines three different types of standards.

Title: “Raising the Standards for Standards: A Call for Definitions.” PK Ericsson. English Education (April 2005), 223-243. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary: When we read “standards,” in education, we need to ask, “which standards?”

Content standards: What students should know and be able to do in a given discipline.

Performance standards: Quality of student performance at various levels of competency.

Opportunity-to-learn standards: Conditions necessary to achieve content or performance standards, learning environment, equity, etc.

To what degree do present-day standards include all three types of standards?

Comment: Interesting to think about. Might clarify the validity of present-day standards. These definitions came from the NCTE and IRA standards for reading and language arts, standards that were criticized in the New York Times when first presented. They are, in my opinion, poorly expressed according to their own definitions of standards.

Topic: Individualized Instruction

Secondary School

10-second review: What is the goal of individualized instruction?

Title: “Individualized English: New Roles for Teachers and Students.” Joan Kelleher. English Journal (November 1975), 29-31. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary: The purpose of individualized instruction is to teach students to learn how to learn.

Comment: I was involved in the individualizing instruction “revolution” in the middle and late 1960s. I was involved in a particular school and in a particular school district in New York State that trumpeted that it was “individualized.”

Well it wasn’t. 95% of the teachers with whom I worked did not understand what individualized instruction was all about. The basic method was varying instructional organization from large group (class or auditorium) to small groups to single individuals. The method had some things going for it.

In the middle schools there was a coordinator for independent study. Students, with the guidance of the coordinator, set objectives, planned methods, and gathered resources for completing the objectives and developed techniques for evaluation and sharing.

The middle schools also had interdisciplinary team planning in which an English teacher, math teacher, social studies and science teachers planned together for half a day, every day. It didn’t work. The teachers were not prepared for communicating with teachers of other disciplines, nor did they understand the concept of interrelating two or three disciplines at the same time. It was an attempt at showing students how to relate the disciplines.

Of six teams, only one worked together most of the time, one worked together part of the time, and four planned their teaching individually without any discussions of how to work together to relate the disciplines.

I think what was missing from this individualized program was a clear-cut goal. I think if we had focused on the goal of teaching students to learn how to learn, instead of “individualizing,” we could have understood more clearly what we were trying to do. What’s the best way to learn from lectures? How use small groups to plan and carry out projects successfully? What’s the best way to plan independent projects? Learning how to learn.

If learning how to learn was the goal of individualized instruction, 95% of the teachers in this school district did not know that. As a result, after this experiment in individualizing instruction was deemed a failure, it was replaced by the starkest back-to-basics curriculum ever devised. I still think about how it could have been made to work. A clear-cut goal that everyone understood. RayS.

Topic: Poetry

Secondary School

10-second review: You either love poetry or you dislike reading it. There apparently is no middle road.

Title: “The Language Game.” William Reynolds. English Journal (November 1975), 13-15. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Quote: “F. Scott Fitzgerald said that ‘Poetry is either something that lives like fire inside you…or it is nothing, an empty formalized bore around which pedants can endlessly drone their notes and explanations.’ ”

Comment: According to Fitzgerald, poetry is all or nothing at all. I beg to differ. There is a middle way. I like some poems. I dislike most of the poems written today. I should amend that statement. I rarely read poems published in The New Yorker, the source of any poetry reading I do today.

I have many favorite poems which I read over and over again, mostly from my English classes as an undergraduate and in my graduate classes. But when I go through The New Yorker, I read the title and the first line and if I’m not caught by either, I keep on going.

Still, I have quite a collection from my years and years of reading The New Yorker. But for the most part, poems published in The New Yorker are like its covers and many of its cartoons—I do not understand them and I do not want to spend the time to try to figure them out. Is that my fault or the poets’? And, furthermore, I enjoy reading poems silently, savoring the words, the ideas, the nuances of thought and emotion. I can’t do any of that when I hear poems read aloud.

I like poems. I don’t “love” poetry. RayS.

Topic: Practicing Small Group Roles

Secondary School

10-second review: Describes the roles played by various personalities in making groups work successfully or keeping groups from working. In this blog, I will describe how to practice the roles.

Title: “Small-Group Discussions.” Raymond Stopper. Teaching English, How To…. Xlibris. 2004.

Thanks to David M. Litsey, “Small Group Training and the English Classroom.” English Journal, September 1969, pp. 920-927. Copyright, 1969 by the National Council of Teachers of English. Reprinted with permission.

Discussion of these roles is always interesting.

To familiarize students with these roles, Litsey suggests having students view a video tape of a group discussion. Each student in the class is assigned to observe one of the members of the group. After viewing the discussion, the students fill out the following evaluation form:

Name of Rater……………….. Name of Participant ……………………

Directions: Circle the level of participation which you think most closely approximates the extent to which the “ratee” has been each of the following:

Initiating: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal.

Information Seeking: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Information Giving: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Clarifying, Elaborating: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Summarizing: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Consensus Testing: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Encouraging: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Expressing Group Feelings: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Harmonizing: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Compromising: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Gate Keeping: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Setting Standards: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Blocking: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Aggressiveness: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Seeking Recognition: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Deserter: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Dominating: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Playboy: Not at All…… A Little ….. To Some Extent ….. A Lot …… A Great Deal

Another way in which to familiarize students with these roles would be to stage a small group discussion in which each student in the group plays one of the roles.

After participating in a group discussion or project, students could rate themselves, using the above scale, on which roles they think they played.

Litsey also suggests an evaluation form to be completed by each individual at the conclusion of a group discussion or project.

Our Effectiveness As a Group

Scale: 1…..2…..3…..4…..5…..6…..7…..8…..9…..10
(“1” is low; “10” is high.)

1. ………. Members of the group felt free to state their real opinions.

2. ………. The group defined its task.

3. ………. All members accepted the responsibility for the outcome of the meeting or project.

4. ………. All members of the group were productive.

5. ………. All members of the group feel positive about the work in this session.

Teaching students how to work in small groups requires a complete teaching effort. Like it or not, participating cooperatively in small groups is how the work of business and democracy is accomplished. Students need to learn how to help small groups work cohesively. RayS.