I said yesterday I’d tell you about a different grouping method which can really bring huge benefits to the classroom. Here it is…
Diverse groups are mixed in terms of gender and achievement levels. This type of grouping is maximises potential for peer tutoring,social development and classroom management -whilst avoiding cliques which can lead to bullying, refusal to work, lack of social interaction and other classroom management issues.
It is this particular type of grouping which has been shown through various research studies to show significant gains in academic achievement and classroom behaviour.
Bottom line: If you want to make your classroom run more smoothly, put your students into diverse groupings.
Generally, a diverse group will consist of a high achiever, a low achiever and two middle achievers, and it will consist of males and females. When appropriate, ethnic groups will also be equally represented.Forming and managing these groupings is not as straightforward as random groupings which we covered in a previous article so I’ve included a method you can use below to make the process a little easier for you.
The first issue you need to be cautious of when forming diverse groups is that students should not be aware that they are being grouped according to ability.That means we have to be a bit sneaky when forming the groups.
The method I’m going to present here is very ‘lowtech’ but I’m also going to tell you how you can get a nifty tool to do the job for you.
Low tech method for forming diverse groups: ‘PAIRS’
This method is most popular with students because they have some control over whom they choose to group with. The downside is that you can’t use it with all groups. If there is a broad range of abilities in the class and pupils are conscious of this fact, this grouping won’t work so well.
Start by using your class list to split the group into four clear groups. Put the high-ability students in one corner of the room, the low-ability students in another corner and then split the medium-ability students into two groups, putting one group in each of the other two corners of the room.
Next, ask the students from the high corner to find a partner from ONE of the medium corners. Get students to raise one hand in the air until they find a partner, and to put their hand down when they have done so. That way they can immediately see who is available.
Ask the low corner students to find a partner from the other medium corner in the same way as above.
The low/medium paired students should now stand on one side of the room facing the high/medium pairs. All that’s needed now is for each pair to pair up again with a pair from the opposite side of the room.
This gives groups of four, each with two medium ability students, one high ability and one low ability.
You’ll find that if left to their own devices, the students will invariably pick pairs of their own sex. Diverse groups should have an equal number of boys and girls so you need to stipulate that partner sof a different sex must be picked during the first pairing, and pairs of a different sex must be picked in the second pairing.
Once the teams have been formed make a note of the team members for each group so that in later sessions you can have them form new teams with different members to those they are currently with.
Simple?
Well this makes it even simpler…
We’ve had a fantastic little piece of software created called ‘Team Maker’ which you can use in your classroom whenever you want to group your students automatically according to gender and ability level.
It takes all the fuss and trouble out of doing so and even provides print-outs for your students giving a record of previous groups – if you need to know who has worked with who in the past, it’s covered. If you find a grouping that works well and you want tyo save it, that’s covered too.
All in all this is a very handy tool and it’s currently available as a special introductory offer for a very, very low price.
To find out how you can get this software right now and use it in class immediately go here:
http:www.behaviourneeds.com/team-maker/
The special offer is only available to the first 100 people who respond and they will sell out very quickly – you need to act fast.
Tweet This Post
Tags:
