The MET Project video that I watched was of a 7th grade English Language Arts Class (Form ELA1). The goal of this 65-minute class was pretty straightforward: identify the choices and subsequent consequences of major characters in the independent reading novel.
Students were placed in seven groups of four and were assigned a character from the novel. Each group was then tasked with identifying two major choices their assigned character made as well as the consequences of each of those choices. They were instructed to chart their findings in a graphic organizer. After completing this task, the teacher then assigned each group member a number from one to four and divided the class into four groups of seven. The new groups of seven were each instructed to share their initial group's findings on their assigned character while their new group members wrote down the information in their graphic organizers. This ensured that each member of the class completed the graphic organizer for all seven characters within the class period.
I often employ the use of small groups to determine key ideas or details of a text, but I very much liked the approach of regrouping students at the end of the first task. Normally, I have one member of each group share their findings with the entire class and allow time for whole class discussion of the finding of each group. However, when students know that each of them will be responsible for verbally conveying information to others, it forces them to more actively participate in their initial group. In addition, this strategy provides an opportunity for students to get up and move around during class, rather than remaining seated for the entire period. I have found that although having students move during class may take up a few extra minutes of class time, movement tends to invigorate them and that can be valuable during sluggish periods (like first period).
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