Group Work

I have put my 4th/5th period class into groups based on their reading levels and grades and set up a competition between the groups along with giving them group roles and participation points as a group as well as individuals. Every day I give each group a report card based on five areas: Cooperative, On-Task, Attentive, Prepared, Efficient. Their group roles are as follows: supplies person, clean-up, helper, and task-master. So far, it is going beautifully. My students like the competition and they are behaving and working much better. I track their totals on a chart with stars so they can see how they are doing against the other groups. I have also broken up my beginning level class into two groups for 1st and 2nd period which is really working well for my slower students. They get work at their pace and level and have gotten a lot more practice speaking. My more advanced students are not slowed down by the slower students and they also get a lot more practice, too. I've gotten 4 new students over the past two weeks, but luckily they all have a decent level of English. They are actually coming into my beginner class at just the right time.