Flexible Grouping Practices

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Flexible Grouping Practices
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Grouping and the Gifted Student

• The gifted student ranges in his/her strengths
  and weaknesses just as do all students
• Students are different from each other and
  challenged when provided programming at the
  appropriate level of instruction
• Teachers must look at each student individually
• MCPS content curriculum contain adaptations that
  are suitable for the gifted student in the
  cluster grouped classroom
• Flexible Grouping for the delivery of instruction
  is the cornerstone of appropriate differentiation
  for the gifted student

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When does grouping facilitate instruction?When
it

• allows both for quick mastery of information and
  ideas
• allows for additional exploration by students
  needing more time for mastery
• allows for both collaborative and independent
  work
• gives students and teachers a voice in work
  arrangements
• allows students to work with a wide variety of
  peers
• encourages teachers to try out students in a
  variety of work settings
• keeps students from being pegged as advanced or
  struggling

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Which activities lend themselves to group work?
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Activities for Heterogeneous Grouping

• Open ended activities with use of strategies such
  as critical thinking,, development of concepts
  and generalizations
• Multidisciplinary themes
• When presenting new content
• Examples Hands on Science experiments, and
  current events activities

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Group Work - Old and New
Traditional
Cooperative Groups

• Task is usually a project
• Some students do more work and take most
  responsibility
• Some students are ignored by others in group
• Some students feel success, others feel
  frustration
• Each student cares most about what he/she learns
  and what grade he/she receives

• Task may be a project, brainstorming, problem
  solving
• Shared work and responsibility
• Participation of all students is encouraged
• Each students ideas and work are valued
• Students care about group learning

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Flexible Grouping

• Occurs when there is a whole group assessment or
  instruction initially and then the students are
  divided by their need for either review,
• re-teaching, practice, or enrichment. Such
  grouping could be a single lesson or objective, a
  set of skills, a unit of study, or a major
  concept or theme. Flexible grouping creates
  temporary groups for an hour, a day, a week, or a
  month or so. It does not create permanent groups.

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Purpose of Grouping

• Schools will utilize flexible and varied grouping
  practices that enhance the opportunity to receive
  expanded, intensive, enriched and accelerated
  curricula at all instructional levels.

Source Policy on Gifted and Talented Education
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Planning for GroupingQuestions to Consider

• When does grouping benefit students?
• When does grouping facilitate instruction?
• Which activities lend themselves to group work?
• How do you determine group membership?

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When does grouping benefit students?

• When the task requires input from different types
  of learning styles and perspectives.
• When the subject matter is new for all students.
• When it allows gifted students to be engaged in
  real learning.

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Appropriate Activities for Heterogeneous Grouping

• Critical Thinking
• Concept and Generalization
• Whole Language Experiences
• Multi-disciplinary Units
• Open ended discussions
• Examples Hands-on science experiments and
  Current event discussions

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Appropriate Activities for Homogeneous Grouping

• Drill and Practice
• Math computation
• Studying for recall type test
• Answering comprehension questions about a novel

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Group Membership

• Can be determined by
• Readiness
• Interest
• Reading Level
• Skill Level
• Background Knowledge
• Social Skills

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Grouping Method

• Teacher Assigned
• Student Selected
• Random

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PRE-ASSESSMENT

• The purpose of pre-assessment is to determine
  what students know about a topic before it is
  taught. Pre-assessment will help the teacher
  determine flexible grouping patterns and should
  be used regularly.

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Pre-assessment Strategies

• Teacher prepared pre-test
• KWL Charts /Graphic Organizers
• Writing Prompts/Samples
• Guess Box
• Student demonstrations and discussions

• Student products and work samples
• Show of hands/EPR Every Pupil Response
• Standardized Tests/ISM Data
• Teacher observation/Checklist

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Management of Groups

• Goal of the Activity
• Total number of Pupils in Class
• Number of Groups
• Number of Students in a Group
• Roles within the Group
• Teacher Role

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Assessment

• A successful end product and/or the fulfilling
  the pre-stated objective.

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Processing

• Individual and Group accountability activities
  which reflect the success of
• The student
• The group
• The objective for the teacher planned activity

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Flexible Grouping for the delivery of instruction
is the cornerstone of appropriate differentiation
for the gifted student as well as all students.
The use of Flexible Grouping assures Success for
Every Student.
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• This program was developed by
• Elaine McArdle
• And
• Gina Woodward
• EII Coordinators Ridgeview Middle School