Benefits of flexible grouping
What does current research say about flexible grouping?
According to Rick Wormeli, “ Teaching students as a whole group or asking them to learn independently, while SOMETIMES effective, does not provide enough opportunity for meaningful engagement with classmates. We lose their attention and sacrifice their achievement when we don’t give them positive social interactions and meaningful, participatory experiences. We provide such experiences when we place students in smaller groups.
.According to Rick Wormeli, “ Teaching students as a whole group or asking them to learn independently, while SOMETIMES effective, does not provide enough opportunity for meaningful engagement with classmates. We lose their attention and sacrifice their achievement when we don’t give them positive social interactions and meaningful, participatory experiences. We provide such experiences when we place students in smaller groups.
“Grouping and regrouping students over the course of a unit of study and coaching them in the skills for successful group interaction are among the MOST useful and developmentally appropriate experiences we can facilitate.
“Flexible grouping is essential in the differentiated classroom. It is one of the basic teaching strategies for differentiating instruction. Individualizing for every student in every learning area every day is simply not possible or feasible. Therefore, one of the best and most practical ways to differentiate is through flexibly grouping students in a variety of ways, changing groupings as learning needs dictate” Coil, C. (2009). Flexible Grouping: It’s More Than Just Moving Their Seats!. E-Zine, Vol. 3, 1. www.carolyncoil.com.
In one three-year study, Canadian scholars researched the application and effects of differentiated instruction in K–12 classrooms in Alberta. They found that differentiated instruction consistently yielded positive results across a broad range of targeted groups. Compared with the general student population, students with mild or severe learning disabilities received more benefits from differentiated and intensive support, especially when the differentiation was delivered in small groups or with targeted instruction (McQuarrie, McRae, & Stack-Cutler, 2008).
What's my plan?
My plan is to first make a rubric with my students about their behavior in a group (how to communicate, what to do if they make a mistake).
Next, I will make an “Accountable Talk” bulletin board with different examples of how to interact with each other, more importantly how to disagree politely. We will then take turns role-playing different group scenarios in front of the class, where class will give feedback on what they liked and what they would do differently.
My plan is to implement one new type of flexible grouping each week.
I’ll keep a log/journal of what I’ve tried and its impact.
I’ll take pictures/videos of students working in groups and collect samples of their work. I will use these items to see if my group expectations are met, if it increased their learning.
I was thinking I might have the students offer feedback on what types of flexible grouping they preferred and why. Perhaps through group and individual surveys/rubrics.
Next, I will make an “Accountable Talk” bulletin board with different examples of how to interact with each other, more importantly how to disagree politely. We will then take turns role-playing different group scenarios in front of the class, where class will give feedback on what they liked and what they would do differently.
My plan is to implement one new type of flexible grouping each week.
I’ll keep a log/journal of what I’ve tried and its impact.
I’ll take pictures/videos of students working in groups and collect samples of their work. I will use these items to see if my group expectations are met, if it increased their learning.
I was thinking I might have the students offer feedback on what types of flexible grouping they preferred and why. Perhaps through group and individual surveys/rubrics.
This is the bulletin board I keep up all year so students can go to it while they are talking within their group. If they don’t know how to say something respectively, they can quickly go to the board. We use it to role play and practice at the beginning of the year, so expectations are clearly understood.
- Group Expectations
- After we worked on accountable talk and how to disagree respectfully, I would put a T-Chart on the board and ask students what it would look like to be in a “Happy” group, where everyone got along and worked together. We then talked about what it would look like to be a “SAD” group, a group that didn’t collaborate and you wouldn’t want to be a part of it. Each time we did ANY group work, I would put this student made rubric on the board. If I saw any behavior I didn’t like, I would just walk up and say “Hmmm, it looks like we are more on the sad side, I wonder what we could do to get back to the happy side? Students then learned to self-regulate and take ownership of their behavior, instead of relying on the teacher.