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Stand and Mix:
In this exercise, students will start to walk around the classroom. Once all students are moving around, the instructor will call stop. At this time, students will stop and be partnered with the person closest to them. They will then work a problem together (personal communication, November 10, 2016).

Application:
After the instructor has introduced and explained the new concept to the students, she will have them grab their white boards and walk around the classroom. After all the students are walking around, the instructor will say stop. At this time, students will be partnered with the person standing closest to them. The instructor will give a problem that the pair of students will work together on their white boards. After everyone has finished, the instructor will give the answer. If there are any discrepancies, the instructor will work the problem on the board. After the problem is worked, students will once again stand up and walk around the room. The process will repeat until the problems have been worked. This exercise gets students up and moving around in the classroom. This will also give them the experience of working with not just one partner but multiple. They will get to experience the different levels of ability and learning styles of their classmates.

Reference:
(B. Woods, personal communication, November 10, 2016)

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This is my 17th year teaching here at Glenn. I was born and raised in Snyder Texas. I have lived in San Angelo for 20 years. I graduated from Angelo State University. I have been married to my wife Christina for 16 years.

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Rally Coaching:
In this exercise, students will be paired with a partner. One partner will be named the coach. A set of problems will be given to the students. The coach will work the problem that is assigned then explain the steps they took to get to the answer to their partner. They switch roles and repeat the process (personal communication, November 2, 2016).

Application:
After the instructor has introduced and explained the new concept to the students, she will have them pair up to work on problems. She will assign a number of problems out of their workbook. For the first problem, the instructor will assign one of the partners to be the coach. This student will then work the assigned problem to the best of their ability. After they have completed the problem, they will explain the steps they took to arrive at the answer. If the partner disagrees or does not understand, they will ask questions. After the partners agree on the process and answer, they will switch roles and the other student becomes the coach. This kind of learning style will help the students in knowing how to explain a problem to their classmates and helping them understand the concepts.

References:
(B. Woods, personal communication, November 2, 2016)

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This is my 17th year teaching here at Glenn. I was born and raised in Snyder Texas. I have lived in San Angelo for 20 years. I graduated from Angelo State University. I have been married to my wife Christina for 16 years.

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Showdown:
In a mathematics classroom, students will work on a problem individually. After a few minutes, the instructor will call showdown. At this moment, the students will compare answers within their groups. If there are any discrepancies in answers, students will work together to find the correct answer (personal communication, November 18, 2016)

Application:
After the instructor has introduced and explained the new concept to the students, she will have them work within their groups on practice problems. The instructor will post the problem up on the board. The students will work individually on the problem until the instructor says time and showdown. At this point, students will show their answers to the other members in their group. If any of the students do not have the same answer, the group will work the problem together to help that student understand. After all groups have arrived at the correct answer, the instructor will give the next problem to be worked. This type of activity will get the students to help each other understand the concepts that are being taught.

References:
(B. Woods, personal communication, November 18, 2016)

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This is my 17th year teaching here at Glenn. I was born and raised in Snyder Texas. I have lived in San Angelo for 20 years. I graduated from Angelo State University. I have been married to my wife Christina for 16 years.

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Stations:
In a mathematics classroom, stations are when the instructor separates the students into group. These groups then work on problems focused on one area then switch to another station to focus on another area. Students will work individually and within their groups. Stations allow the students to work with each other on concepts while also having more of a chance for one on one time with the instructor (Garcia, 2013).

Application:
The instructor will assign the students to groups of four based on their learning abilities and skills. There will be stations set up around the classroom that will contain problems that relate to the concepts previously taught. Stations will consist of working problems on a worksheet, solving a word puzzle by using the answers from simple mathematics problems, and creating their own problems based on their knowledge and having classmates solve them. Students will spend about 20 minutes at each stations.

References:
Garcia, J. (2013, November 26). Math stations. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvmdJrJFdUQ

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Small Groups:
This type of group consists of four to six students. Within this group, students are diverse in their learning styles and abilities. Students will work on individual parts of an assignment within the group that will be combined for a group assignment (Ward, 1987).

Application:
In this situation, students will already be in groups of four in the classroom. These groups will be changed and assigned at the beginning of every six weeks depending on the students learning style and academic success from the previous six weeks. These students will learn to work as a group with the classmates they are assigned to work with. For example, an instructor will complete instruction over finding the slope of a line, the y-intercept of a line, writing the equation in slope-intercept form, and graphing the equation. In their groups, students will take turns finding all the required information taught by the instructor. When the parts of the process are put together, the students will have all the answers to the four parts. The students will interact with each other and explain the concepts to one another.

References:
Ward. B. A. (1987). Instructional grouping in the classroom. School Improvement Research Series. Retried from http://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/InstructionalGrouping.pdf

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Shoulder Partners:
This type of grouping consists of working with a partner in your group. In this case, students will work with the person they are sitting next to or their shoulder partner (Sandhu, n.d.).

Application:
In this situations, students will already be in a group of four in a classroom. The desks will be in the formation of a square. After the instruction of a lesson, the instructor will give the students practice problems to work over the new concept. The students will work with their shoulder partner on these problems. With the shoulder partner, students will have been sitting next to this classmate throughout the class. They will have worked on several problems with them previously. Therefore, they will have prior knowledge of how this classmate works. This type of grouping is easy and quick to pair up students. They will not have to move seats or find a partner.

References:
Sandhu, M. (n.d). Turn and Talk. Retrieved from http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/ index.php/tool/turn-and-talk

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This strategy permits all students to participate in discussion, rather than only a few students participating in a class-wide discussion. All students are able to process new learning while engaging in meaningful conversation with a classmate.

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Homogeneous Grouping:
This type of grouping consists of grouping students based on their ability levels. with these groups, students will be placed in groups that represent the level of ability they have. All the students in their group will exhibit the same ability level and need for growth (Herrmann, 2014).

Application:
With every student being at  a different level of understanding, it is important to make sure that every student reaches a mastery level of understanding. With homogeneous groups, these students will get to work along side other classmates who are at the same level they are in understanding the concept. They will work with each other to come to an understanding of the concept. For example, after instruction of a new concept, an instructor will evaluate the students based on their understanding of the concept. The following day, the instructor will assign the students a group based on the level of mastery they show. Students who understand some of the concept will be put with other students who only understand some of the concept. students who have mastered the concept will be placed in groups with other students who have mastered the concept. the students will work together to better understand the concept.

References:
Herrmann E. (2014). Grouping students: heterogeneous, homogeneous, and random structures. Retrieved from http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/grouping-students-heterogeneous-homogeneous-and-random-grouping-structures/education

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What is the typical classroom seating arrangement? Are students seated in neat rows, in a U shape, in small groups of 4 or 5, at tables or at desks?

Teachers have long recognized the power of grouping students together for a variety of reasons: to collaborate with each other on a project, for cooperative learning opportunities, to work with a small group of students on a particular skill and more. But how do teachers decide how to group students together, and when is a particular grouping structure best given the learning or task at hand?

Students can be grouped in pairs, triads, in groups of four or five, in heterogeneous or homogeneous groupings. Let's explore some of these grouping configurations and consider when, why and how to use them to maximize student learning.

Heterogeneous vs. homogeneous groupings

The question of whether to group students by ability levels is an interesting one and extends to the school level as well as the classroom level. Some schools have found it desirable to cluster students based on various factors, such as achievement levels or English proficiency levels.

The danger in this scenario, of course, is tracking students into lower grouping configurations that often suffer from lower expectations and the inability to escape to higher groups or levels of achievement. Some argue, however, that by grouping students together with similar needs, the teacher can more efficiently target those needs the students have in common and help the student to achieve at higher levels.

The consensus in the education community is to have classrooms that are heterogeneous, wherein each student can learn from other students in the class. This is by far the most common scenario in schools today. Within these classrooms, then, how are students grouped or seated?

Both heterogeneous and homogeneous groupings have their place in the classroom. The general recommendation is to use heterogeneous groupings as a default. Seat students near peers that vary in levels of achievement, proficiency, gender, etc.

For example, consider seating students in groups of four. These groups can be seated in a variety of formats: four students at a small table, four desks pushed together, or students seated in rows that have been designated as a small group that will work together in specific scenarios.

These heterogeneous groups should include one student that is high achieving, two students that achieve at an average level and one student that is lower achieving. The idea is that each student benefits from having the other students in the group. The richness of ideas and perspectives, as well as the shared learning help to benefit each student in the group.

Students in these groups can work together on a variety of tasks, including reading to each other, working with cooperative learning structures or group projects, as well as working independently. The teacher can then pull homogeneous groups of students for a variety of purposes.

Homogeneous groupings are a great way to help specific students with skills they need to work on. For example, you may have a group of high-achieving students come together to review their writing and expand on a particular aspect that you are working on, such as adding a counter claim to argumentative writing, increasing the number of citations, adding depth or details to the setting or characters, etc.

Another groups of students may need clarification on a particular skill in math. You might pull together a group of English learners with a particular proficiency level to preteach vocabulary. There are many reasons you could and should create homogeneous groupings.

It is important to keep in mind that these groups should be flexible groupings; students can enter and exit these groupings for a variety of reasons. Homogeneous groupings should reflect a particular need of the group of students. Because students have varying strengths and areas of need, these groupings should change to reflect those needs or strengths.

Random vs. intentional grouping

When grouping students either homogeneously or heterogeneously, consider the technique you will use to group them. In the past, teachers sometimes had names for the various leveled groups, and students quickly figured out who were the top students in the class and who were the lowest.

With flexible grouping strategies, students can be pulled into small groups for a variety of reasons. Teachers can simply call students by name to join a flexible, homogeneous group.

For random grouping of students, a multitude of tools and techniques exist to help teachers. Technology and simple-made or purchased tools are effective, as are simple techniques that do not require additional preparation. Several apps exist that can help with sorting and grouping students. Once a teacher has input the names of the students, the app will randomly sort students into groups of a designated number at the press of a button.

If technology use is limited in your classroom, other tools can be used. For example, teachers can create word cards with vocabulary words related to the area of study.

The teacher begins by writing a vocabulary word on an index card or similar slip of paper. On subsequent cards, the teacher writes synonyms, antonyms or otherwise related words. The students must then find the other students in the class who have the words that are related to their own word. Teachers may need to provide some vocabulary instruction on the related words if students are not familiar with them.

As an additional scaffold, and as an instructional activity, teachers can also color-code the words. Students with the same colored word need to find each other and discover how the words are related. Once students are in these groups, they can engage in other activities as well.

Teachers can also purchase collaboration cards to help them group students. These cards contain numbers, shapes, vocabulary and/or math problems that can be used to group students. For example, a teacher might say: "If you have a number 1 on your card, meet over here. All of the 2s will meet in this area," and so forth. The teacher might have students group by shapes such as "circles meet with squares, and stars with triangles."

Teachers can also simply give specific criteria to group students randomly. For example, teachers might ask students to stand up and find someone in the room that has a similar color or style of shirt or shoes, has a birthday month adjacent to their own (December birthday can meet with someone with a November or January birthday), a similar number of siblings or other criteria.

Another technique is to have students go to one of the four corners of the room based on interest. For example, students can go to a corner that represents a favorite topic, author, vacation destination, future occupation interest, mathematical concept, cardinal direction, etc.

Each of these techniques requires that the teacher has a specific purpose for grouping the students. The purpose will dictate the number of students or participants per group.

Pairs, triads or groups of four or more

For students' "home" group, where they sit together for the majority of the time, it is recommended to have groups of four. With a group of four students, you can have two pairs or enough students to engage in a lively brainstorming activity where there are enough people to present a variety of ideas.

When the group gets to five students, the group may tend to split into two smaller groups of one pair and one triad, or a student may be too far away physically to hear everyone and may feel left our of the conversation. With groups of three, the conversation might be limited in scope.

That is not to say that triads are not an effective grouping size; triads can be beneficial for a variety of reasons. Triads serve the purpose of having more students participate in conversation at any given time. Because the group is smaller, more opportunities to take turns talking or sharing ideas exist.

Students can also be given specific roles, and at times only three roles are desired. For example, one student might be assigned to be the reader, one the writer and one the reporter. Roles can then be switched throughout the exercise.

Many teachers are familiar with pairing students, especially using the "Think-Pair-Share" technique or "Turn and Talk." These simple techniques can be used throughout a lesson to increase student interaction. Having students work in pairs has the benefit of 50 percent of the students in the classroom talking at the same time.

Having students practice a speech, review a set of vocabulary words or content concepts, make a prediction, or share a personal connection benefits students by having only one person to speak with. Connections or predictions can then be shared in small groups or with the whole class.

With any grouping strategy or technique, it is important to teach students how to interact with each other meaningfully. Simply having students talk in a group may not help them to reach the objectives for the lesson. In these scenarios you may have a student who dominates the conversation, for example, if specific structures are not put into place.

In order for students to have meaningful conversations, you will need to establish guidelines for who talks at what time, as well as the purpose of the conversation. Students might brainstorm a topic and randomly list ideas or they might take one idea and build on it in their group.

For more ideas on increasing language use through interaction opportunities in the classroom, please see this article.

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MultiBrief: Grouping students: Heterogeneous, homogeneous and random structures

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​What is the typical classroom seating arrangement? Are students seated in neat rows, in a U shape, in small groups of 4 or 5, at tables or at desks? Teachers have long recognized the power of grouping students together for a variety of reasons: to collaborate with each other on a project, for cooperative learning opportunities, to work with a small group of students on a particular skill and more.

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Heterogeneous grouping:
This type of grouping consists of grouping students based on their ability levels. With these groups, students representing all ability levels will be placed in a group. Therefore, students will be working with other classmates who are on a different level than they are in the course (Herrmann, 2014).

Application:
Every student is at a different level of understanding when it comes to mathematics and the concepts that come along with it. With heterogeneous groups, students who have mastered the concept, understand some of the concepts, and do not understand the concept at all will all be placed in a group with each other. With these kinds of groups, the students will work with each other to make sure that everyone has reached the mastery level of understanding the concept. For example, after instruction of a new concept, an instructor will evaluate the students based on their understanding of the new concept. The following day, the instructor will assign the students a group based on her observations. In these groups, students will work on a variety of problems that relate to the new concept. As they work on the problems, the students will help each other understand the steps necessary to complete the problem correctly.

References:
Herrmann E. (2014). Grouping students: heterogeneous, homogeneous, and random structures. Retrieved from http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/grouping-students-heterogeneous-homogeneous-and-random-grouping-structures/education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is the typical classroom seating arrangement? Are students seated in neat rows, in a U shape, in small groups of 4 or 5, at tables or at desks?

Teachers have long recognized the power of grouping students together for a variety of reasons: to collaborate with each other on a project, for cooperative learning opportunities, to work with a small group of students on a particular skill and more. But how do teachers decide how to group students together, and when is a particular grouping structure best given the learning or task at hand?

Students can be grouped in pairs, triads, in groups of four or five, in heterogeneous or homogeneous groupings. Let's explore some of these grouping configurations and consider when, why and how to use them to maximize student learning.

Heterogeneous vs. homogeneous groupings

The question of whether to group students by ability levels is an interesting one and extends to the school level as well as the classroom level. Some schools have found it desirable to cluster students based on various factors, such as achievement levels or English proficiency levels.

The danger in this scenario, of course, is tracking students into lower grouping configurations that often suffer from lower expectations and the inability to escape to higher groups or levels of achievement. Some argue, however, that by grouping students together with similar needs, the teacher can more efficiently target those needs the students have in common and help the student to achieve at higher levels.

The consensus in the education community is to have classrooms that are heterogeneous, wherein each student can learn from other students in the class. This is by far the most common scenario in schools today. Within these classrooms, then, how are students grouped or seated?

Both heterogeneous and homogeneous groupings have their place in the classroom. The general recommendation is to use heterogeneous groupings as a default. Seat students near peers that vary in levels of achievement, proficiency, gender, etc.

For example, consider seating students in groups of four. These groups can be seated in a variety of formats: four students at a small table, four desks pushed together, or students seated in rows that have been designated as a small group that will work together in specific scenarios.

These heterogeneous groups should include one student that is high achieving, two students that achieve at an average level and one student that is lower achieving. The idea is that each student benefits from having the other students in the group. The richness of ideas and perspectives, as well as the shared learning help to benefit each student in the group.

Students in these groups can work together on a variety of tasks, including reading to each other, working with cooperative learning structures or group projects, as well as working independently. The teacher can then pull homogeneous groups of students for a variety of purposes.

Homogeneous groupings are a great way to help specific students with skills they need to work on. For example, you may have a group of high-achieving students come together to review their writing and expand on a particular aspect that you are working on, such as adding a counter claim to argumentative writing, increasing the number of citations, adding depth or details to the setting or characters, etc.

Another groups of students may need clarification on a particular skill in math. You might pull together a group of English learners with a particular proficiency level to preteach vocabulary. There are many reasons you could and should create homogeneous groupings.

It is important to keep in mind that these groups should be flexible groupings; students can enter and exit these groupings for a variety of reasons. Homogeneous groupings should reflect a particular need of the group of students. Because students have varying strengths and areas of need, these groupings should change to reflect those needs or strengths.

Random vs. intentional grouping

When grouping students either homogeneously or heterogeneously, consider the technique you will use to group them. In the past, teachers sometimes had names for the various leveled groups, and students quickly figured out who were the top students in the class and who were the lowest.

With flexible grouping strategies, students can be pulled into small groups for a variety of reasons. Teachers can simply call students by name to join a flexible, homogeneous group.

For random grouping of students, a multitude of tools and techniques exist to help teachers. Technology and simple-made or purchased tools are effective, as are simple techniques that do not require additional preparation. Several apps exist that can help with sorting and grouping students. Once a teacher has input the names of the students, the app will randomly sort students into groups of a designated number at the press of a button.

If technology use is limited in your classroom, other tools can be used. For example, teachers can create word cards with vocabulary words related to the area of study.

The teacher begins by writing a vocabulary word on an index card or similar slip of paper. On subsequent cards, the teacher writes synonyms, antonyms or otherwise related words. The students must then find the other students in the class who have the words that are related to their own word. Teachers may need to provide some vocabulary instruction on the related words if students are not familiar with them.

As an additional scaffold, and as an instructional activity, teachers can also color-code the words. Students with the same colored word need to find each other and discover how the words are related. Once students are in these groups, they can engage in other activities as well.

Teachers can also purchase collaboration cards to help them group students. These cards contain numbers, shapes, vocabulary and/or math problems that can be used to group students. For example, a teacher might say: "If you have a number 1 on your card, meet over here. All of the 2s will meet in this area," and so forth. The teacher might have students group by shapes such as "circles meet with squares, and stars with triangles."

Teachers can also simply give specific criteria to group students randomly. For example, teachers might ask students to stand up and find someone in the room that has a similar color or style of shirt or shoes, has a birthday month adjacent to their own (December birthday can meet with someone with a November or January birthday), a similar number of siblings or other criteria.

Another technique is to have students go to one of the four corners of the room based on interest. For example, students can go to a corner that represents a favorite topic, author, vacation destination, future occupation interest, mathematical concept, cardinal direction, etc.

Each of these techniques requires that the teacher has a specific purpose for grouping the students. The purpose will dictate the number of students or participants per group.

Pairs, triads or groups of four or more

For students' "home" group, where they sit together for the majority of the time, it is recommended to have groups of four. With a group of four students, you can have two pairs or enough students to engage in a lively brainstorming activity where there are enough people to present a variety of ideas.

When the group gets to five students, the group may tend to split into two smaller groups of one pair and one triad, or a student may be too far away physically to hear everyone and may feel left our of the conversation. With groups of three, the conversation might be limited in scope.

That is not to say that triads are not an effective grouping size; triads can be beneficial for a variety of reasons. Triads serve the purpose of having more students participate in conversation at any given time. Because the group is smaller, more opportunities to take turns talking or sharing ideas exist.

Students can also be given specific roles, and at times only three roles are desired. For example, one student might be assigned to be the reader, one the writer and one the reporter. Roles can then be switched throughout the exercise.

Many teachers are familiar with pairing students, especially using the "Think-Pair-Share" technique or "Turn and Talk." These simple techniques can be used throughout a lesson to increase student interaction. Having students work in pairs has the benefit of 50 percent of the students in the classroom talking at the same time.

Having students practice a speech, review a set of vocabulary words or content concepts, make a prediction, or share a personal connection benefits students by having only one person to speak with. Connections or predictions can then be shared in small groups or with the whole class.

With any grouping strategy or technique, it is important to teach students how to interact with each other meaningfully. Simply having students talk in a group may not help them to reach the objectives for the lesson. In these scenarios you may have a student who dominates the conversation, for example, if specific structures are not put into place.

In order for students to have meaningful conversations, you will need to establish guidelines for who talks at what time, as well as the purpose of the conversation. Students might brainstorm a topic and randomly list ideas or they might take one idea and build on it in their group.

For more ideas on increasing language use through interaction opportunities in the classroom, please see this article.

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MultiBrief: Grouping students: Heterogeneous, homogeneous and random structures

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
​What is the typical classroom seating arrangement? Are students seated in neat rows, in a U shape, in small groups of 4 or 5, at tables or at desks? Teachers have long recognized the power of grouping students together for a variety of reasons: to collaborate with each other on a project, for cooperative learning opportunities, to work with a small group of students on a particular skill and more.