Options for Creating Student Groups

sample of purposeful clock-buddy grouping from Purposeful Grouping

There are many reasons we may divide students into groups, perhaps none more important than groups allow us to differentiate instruction. It's usually important to think about the learning objective you have for the lesson prior to arranging students into groups.

Purposeful Grouping

Purposeful grouping is used when you want to group students by a specific attribute (ie. reading level, language, learning style, progress towards a specific learning goal). In these groupings, you need to know something about the student's area of curricular need or preferred learning style. This brief excerpt from Purposeful Grouping explains both the rationale and the "how-to" of establishing such groups.

Random Grouping

If the learning objective is to have students process content in smaller units then random grouping strategies may serve your needs well.

• Ideas for grouping (ie. using playing cards, popsicle sticks, etc.)
• Clock Buddies (this is useful if you want a variety of student pairs who will be set for the year, but different each time)

Group Roles...Assigning and Creating

Consider possible roles that students can take on in a group:
1. Stanford University (Roles People Play)
2. Cooperative Group Roles (written on cards from Read-Write-Think) or here is a slightly different version.