Students will feel more comfortable to participate in group work if they are able to choose a role that plays to their strengths. In literature circles for example, students are assigned different roles to analyze the reading, and these roles appeal to a variety of different learning styles. There might be an illustrator, summarizer, reflector, and so on. You can really tailor the roles of the group to suit the students in your class, and take it as an opportunity to make each student feel like an expert. Of course, eventually in subsequent group work, you’ll want to encourage students to try out other roles, but at first, the familiarity of certain roles will help to build up confidence.
[…] you’d like more movement ideas for the classroom, check out this blog post on group work strategies that will get your students […]