Grouping Students

For the Unit Plan that my partner and I created, there would need to be different types of grouping depending on the lesson plan that day. For teaching students new material, I would group the students as a whole group. This type of grouping is best for teaching new material.

After teaching new material, I would group the students in small groups to work on classwork. It is important to consider the reading and writing skills of the students in each group. For the group, like the video, "The Importance of Homogenous Grouping," I would group the students in groups of those who fully understand, those who partially understand, and those who don't understand at all. These groups will be good, so I can work with the students who need extra help. It's a way that I can give additional instruction to these students.

Certain lesson plans include lab work. In these times, I would group the students in pairs. By having pairs, guided instruction can be successful to further the learning of the students. This type of grouping is another example of when to consider the reading and writing skills of students. In order for students to be the most successful, students need to be paired with peers that can work well together. It might be helpful for lower-level students to be paired with higher-level students, so that students can help each other in the learning process. A great way to learn is to try to teach someone the concepts. This is great for the higher-level students to reinforce their knowledge. It is also helpful for the lower-level students to have a peer that can help explain to them concepts they don't understand.

Finally, for project-based learning, I would group the students individually. This is a great way to encourage students to enhance their own learning. In terms of me as a teacher, it is great to be able to oversee how engaged the students are in their own learning.

On another note, for grouping it is important to group students well. When students are incorrectly grouped, their learning can be affected negatively. Students can struggle when they don't have a healthy learning environment. When grouping students together it is important to remember there are repercussions if you don't group them in a meaningful way.

References

McLaughlin, M. (2015). Organizing For Teaching And Learning. In M. McLaughlin (Ed.), Content Area Reading: Teaching and Learning for College and Career Readiness (pp. 126-152). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Timson, K. (2014). The Importance of Homogenous Grouping. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/73426089