interactions

**A. Opportunities for Interaction: **
 * Learning is more effective when students have an opportunity to participate fully—discussing ideas and information
 * Effective teachers strive to provide a more balanced linguistic exchange between themselves and their students—ELL students need the practice in speaking.
 * Interaction accesses the thought processes of another and solidifies one’s own thinking
 * Talking with others, either in pairs or small groups allows for oral rehearsal of learning


 * **Encouraging more elaborate responses ****: **
 * going beyond “yes” and “no” answers—
 * “Tell me more about that”
 * “What do you mean by…?”
 * “What else…”
 * “How do you know?”
 * “Why is that important?”
 * “What does that remind you of? or teacher restates student’s answer—
 * “In other words…. Is that accurate?”
 * or teacher allows **wait time** for student to formulate answe
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">or teacher calls on another student to extend classroom response


 * **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Fostering student-student interaction: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Putting students in pairs, triads or small groups
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Types of activities that encourage “table talk”:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Literature circles, think-pair-share, jigsaw readings debates, science or math experiments

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">B. Grouping Configurations: ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">All students, including English Language Learners, benefit from instruction that frequently includes a variety of grouping configurations
 * <span style="font-family: 'arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Variety:Whole class—
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">To develop classroom community
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">To provide a shared experience for everyone
 * <span style="font-family: 'arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Flexible small groups—
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">To promote multiple perspectives
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">To encourage collaboration
 * <span style="font-family: 'arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Partnering—
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">To provide practice opportunities
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">To scaffold instruction
 * <span style="font-family: 'arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">To give assistance before independent practice
 * <span style="font-family: 'arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Homogenous or Heterogeneous grouping
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">By gender, language proficiency, language background, and/or ability
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Variety maintains students’ interest
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Movement from whole class, to partners, to small group increases student involvement
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Varying group structures increases the preferred mode of instruction for students

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">C. Cooperative Learning Activities: **


 * **//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Information gap activities //**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">—Each student in a group has only one or two pieces of information needed to solve the puzzle or problem. Students must work together, sharing information while practicing their language, and using critical thinking skills.


 * **//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Jigsaw //**//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">— //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Jigsaw reading task by chunking text into manageable parts (1-2 pages). Number students in each group (1-4 or 5). All #1s read the first 2 pages, #2s read the second 2 pages, etc. These expert groups then discuss their reading and share ideas. The original groups reconvene, discuss the whole text and share their expertise. Students pool their information.


 * **//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Numbered heads together //**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">—Similar to //Jigsaw// without forming expert groups. Each student works on one portion of assignment and then students share.


 * **//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Four corners //**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">—Great activity to introduce a topic or chapter of study. Write one question or idea on each chart paper. Divide class into 4 groups, each group has a different color marker—students move to one corner chart paper and designated student begins writing their ideas on chart. Time activity 2-4 minutes. Students move clockwise to next corner, read responses and add their comments.


 * **//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Roundtable //**//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">— //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Use with open-ended questions, grammar practice. 4-5 students are grouped at tables, one sheet of paper, and one pencil. Question or grammar point is given by teacher, students pass paper around table, each writing their own response. Teacher circulates room.


 * **//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">3 Step Interview //**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">—Students are paired. Each student listens to the other as they respond to a topic question. At the end of 3 minutes, each pair joins another pair of students and shares what their partners said. Good way to practice language.


 * **//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Writing Headlines //**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">—Good way to practice summarizing an activity, story or project. Provide models of Headlines. Students work in pairs writing a headline for an activity. Pairs share out their headlines and class votes on most effective headline.


 * **//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Send a Problem //**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">—One table team sends a question or problem to another table. Each table team solves or answers question and passes it back to original table. This is a good way to review for a test.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">D. Wait Time: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Wait time varies by culture:The average length of wait time in US classrooms is clearly not sufficient—give students at least 20 seconds wait time
 * <span style="font-family: 'arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;"> Allow students to practice their answer with a partner before calling on them to speak out before the whole class.
 * <span style="font-family: 'arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Have more advanced students write down their responses while waiting, and then check their answers against the final answer.
 * <span style="font-family: 'arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">If students cannot answer right away let them answer from a list of choices or “phone” (ask) a friend for help.