Grouping

(Now that summer is here, it is time for me to discuss different educational topics alphabetically. Please join in the conversation and tell me what you think!)

Grouping in education is the practice of dividing students into smaller groups for the purpose of instruction. There are many different types of grouping, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Some of the most common types of grouping include:

• Ability grouping: Students are grouped together based on their academic ability. This type of grouping can be helpful for students who are struggling or who are gifted. However, it can also lead to social isolation and can be unfair to students who are just below or above the cutoff for a particular group.
• Interest grouping: Students are grouped together based on their interests. This type of grouping can be helpful for students who are motivated by their interests and who enjoy working with others who share their interests. However, it can also be difficult to find enough students with similar interests to form a group.
• Random grouping: Students are grouped together randomly. This type of grouping can be helpful for preventing social isolation and for ensuring that all students have the opportunity to work with different people. However, it can also be less effective for instruction, as students may not be able to work as effectively with people they don't know well.
• Mixed-ability grouping: Students are grouped together with a variety of academic abilities. This type of grouping can be helpful for students who learn best from each other. However, it can also be challenging for teachers to differentiate instruction for students with different needs.

The best type of grouping for a particular classroom will depend on the needs of the students and the goals of the teacher. However, all types of grouping can be effective if they are used thoughtfully and intentionally.

Here are some of the benefits of grouping in education:

• It can help students learn at their own pace. When students are grouped with others who are at a similar level, they can receive instruction that is tailored to their needs. This can help them to learn more effectively and efficiently.
• It can help students develop social skills. Working in groups requires students to collaborate, communicate, and resolve conflicts. These are all important social skills that will benefit them throughout their lives.
• It can help students develop a sense of belonging. When students feel like they belong to a group, they are more likely to be engaged in learning and to feel supported.

Here are some of the challenges of grouping in education:

• It can be difficult to create well-balanced groups. It is important to ensure that the groups are heterogeneous so that all students have the opportunity to learn from each other. However, this can be challenging, especially in large classrooms.
• It can be difficult to manage groups. Teachers need to be able to provide effective instruction to all students in a group, even if they have different needs. This can be challenging, especially if the groups are large or if the students have a wide range of abilities.
• It can be difficult to assess student progress. When students are grouped together, it can be difficult to assess their individual progress. This is because students may be working on different tasks or at different levels.

Overall, grouping in education can be a valuable tool for teachers. However, it is important to be aware of the challenges and to use grouping strategically in order to maximize its benefits. This is important if you want the students to be successful in the classroom.

High-Leverage Practice 17: Instruction

I am going to discuss High-Leverage Practices as mentioned on the CEC website organized around four aspects of practice. I hope you will join in the conversation!

HLP17 Use flexible grouping

When I was growing up, I remember most of my teachers lecturing to the whole class. All of the lessons were taught to the class as a whole. After the lesson was taught, we worked independently in our seats. Many times, I would finish early and then read a book or do something to entertain myself until the rest of the class was done. Others were not so well behaved and as soon as they were finished, they would disrupt the class and get into trouble.

I didn’t like to ask questions when we were in a large group. I was afraid someone would make fun of me or the teacher might be mad that I didn’t understand something. I would try to figure it out or sometimes ask a friend for help if the teacher wasn’t looking.

Now I see that sometimes smaller groups are more appropriate and conducive to learning.

I might group students according to ability levels so that they stay challenged in their learning. This will keep them from being bored and will stay on task.

I might group students according to interests. Students who have the same interests might enjoying learning about the same topic together.

I might pair up students that are different ability levels so that one student may help the other. This will help both of them learn and retain information.

Another group may be some who have the same opinion to debate another group with an opposing opinion.

All of these types of grouping will help the students stay engaged in learning. Students may feel more comfortable asking questions or stating that they don’t understand something. Others might feel like they don’t have to compete for attention when they are in smaller groups. Being in a smaller group may also be less distracting and help the student focus on the new material easier.

What other small groups do you use? Please share.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Should I Group?

In the article To group, or not to group from Learn Me Good, Mister Teacher talks about a session that he attended and says,

“The speaker was obviously against ability grouping. He said that in the past, some people have put the high kids together in one class and the lower kids together in another class. In this situation, the low kids tend to learn a lot and the high kids learn a lot, but the gap between their knowledge grows even wider. Whereas in a mixed-ability group, the high kids will pull the lower kids up, and so the knowledge gap is decreased.”

This made me think about grouping and whether I should group or not. I think there are times grouping is good and sometimes it isn’t appropriate. As a teacher, I need to look at what the objective of my lesson is and how do I plan to achieve it. If grouping is the best way to do that, then that is the way I need to go. I do not believe that one size fits all and just because I group for this lesson, doesn’t mean it should be done for all lessons.

In project based learning, the group can be a mixed ability group so that each person can use their strengths to help the whole group. This is a great example of a real life situation because many times when I have to work on a project, I am not aware of the abilities of each person until we start to work together. Each person has something to contribute and because of our different strengths, it is more likely that we will be successful in completing a project. Many employers look for employees who can work on a project with others and can contribute differently to the group.

Yet, as a teacher, I need to help develop my student’s strengths and sometimes it is necessary to put them in a group of same abilities. If I am going to a class to learn a new skill, I do not want to waste time sitting there and listening to the basics being taught if I already know the basics. This applies to my students too and they do not want to waste time hearing about something they already know how to do. The same applies if I overwhelm the students who do not know the basics and give up before they ever get started. This only invites behavior problems and lack of motivation to try to learn a new skill. By grouping them according to same abilities, I am able to challenge the students to a point where they won’t be overwhelmed with frustration.

I think it is also important to talk about this with students. They are aware from an early age about grouping whether you call it low, middle, high or red, blue, and green groups. They know which students struggle and which ones excel. Again, that is real life and nothing we can do will ever insulate them from that. Instead, we need to help them understand that our differences are what help us be successful in life. One student may struggle with one skill but excel in others. As a teacher, they assume that I am brilliant (not that I would ever try to convince them otherwise!) and that I can do anything. Yet, I explain to them that I cannot fix my car if it breaks or repair my roof or fix plumbing problems. Maybe one day, one of my students will be doing that for me. Each of us needs to build on our strengths and encourage others to do the same. Same ability grouping should not be looked down upon but seen as necessary sometimes to build strengths for times when we are in mixed ability groups.

I am interested in knowing how you feel about grouping? Which do you use and why? Hopefully sharing our ideas will help make our students more successful in the classroom.

Original image: 'Serious Face' http://www.flickr.com/photos/66656285@N00/470347778 by: Peter Caspiolay