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According to Ward (1987), “instructional grouping contributes to more positive academic and affective outcomes for students.”  One such grouping strategy is learning cycle groups, where students are grouped according to their present and demonstrated learning progress and needs.  Students who require more help mastering content that has already been taught in full-class instruction are grouped together and receive small-group instruction from the teacher to help solidify comprehension.  Students who have mastered the content are provided with “enrichment activities” that further learning (Ward, 1987).  These groups are fluid and may change with every unit.  Learning cycle grouping allows the teacher flexibility in grouping, as well as caters to the individual needs of every learner.  If a student has mastered the content, there is no reason for he/she to sit through review activities.  Instead that group of students can engage in higher-order thinking skills and activities.  However, that same student may struggle with content comprehension in the next unit and may benefit from the review information.  This grouping strategy is especially effective for high school students in this time who may miss content due to illness.

Ward, B.A. (1987).  Instructional Grouping in the Classroom. School Improvement Research Series.  Retrieved from https://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/InstructionalGrouping.pdf  on February 2, 2022.

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One interesting way to group high school students is randomly.  According to The Owl Teacher, students naturally “gravitate towards the same peers” when allowed to form their own groups.  They might automatically group up with their friends or the students who are the “smartest” or most studious.  The problem here is that students work with the same groups all the time and never get the benefit of others knowledge, never get to practice talking to and working with new people.  Grouping students randomly by pulling sticks or using an app to pick groups will lead to students “branching out” beyond the students they normally gravitate towards.  In a high school setting, many of the students have solidified their “group” before they ever step foot inside the classroom.  Randomly assigning groups forces students to interact with students they may not normally interact with.  More so than an educational benefit, this type of grouping may create a more inclusive, respectful, and accepting classroom environment.

The Owl Teacher.  8 Different Ways to Group Students.  Retrieved from https://theowlteacher.com/8-ways-to-group-your-students/  on February 2, 2022.

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The complement to small groups of the same ability is small groups of students with mixed ability.  Grouping students in this way “allows for self-choice” and “motivates students” (University of Texas, 2003).  The activities in these groups should be in stations, where students should discuss content and tasks, ideally with higher learners helping lower learners or with learners of similar interests interacting.  This grouping strategy “promotes language interactions” and is especially useful for English language learners.  ELLs are able to practice their learned knowledge, as well as engage in a deeper examination of a topic of interest.  This strategy would be especially useful in a high school history class with ELLs because it would allow them to benefit from peer-to-peer communication, as well as practice their ELPS goals while engaging with the content.

University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts (2003).  Grouping Practices for Effective Instruction.  Handout.  Retrieved from https://www.esc1.net/cms/lib/TX21000366/Centricity/Domain/86/GroupingPractices.pdf  on February 3, 2022.

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According to the University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts (2003), small group instruction is the optimal strategy to target specific student needs.  One way that they suggest to form small groups based on student ability.  This allows teachers to “meet individual student needs” and “maximize opportunity for students to express what they know and to receive individualized feedback” (2003).  Small group assignment should be based on data and assessment, either through pre or post-testing, and students with similar abilities and learning base should be grouped together.  Like learning cycle groups, students who need more help mastering content can receive it from the teacher or their peers, while students who have mastered the content can participate in “enrichment activities” (Ward, 1987).

University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts (2003).  Grouping Practices for Effective Instruction.  Handout.  Retrieved from https://www.esc1.net/cms/lib/TX21000366/Centricity/Domain/86/GroupingPractices.pdf  on February 3, 2022.

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Clifford, M. (2022).  What Are The Best Collaborative Learning Tips and Strategies for Teachers?  TeachThought University.  Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/collaborative-learning-tips/  on February 2, 2022.

Clowes, G. (2011).  The Essential 5: A Starting Point for Kagan Cooperative Learning.  KaganOnline.  Retrieved from https://www.kaganonline.com/free_articles/research_and_rationale/330/The-Essential-5-A-Starting-Point-for-Kagan-Cooperative-Learning  on February 2, 2022.

Nagro, S.A. et. al (2016.  Whole-Group Response Strategies to Promote Student Engagement in Inclusive Classrooms.  Teaching Exceptional Children vol. 48 (5).

The Owl Teacher.  8 Different Ways to Group Students.  Retrieved from https://theowlteacher.com/8-ways-to-group-your-students/  on February 2, 2022.

Slavin, R.E. (1999).  Comprehensive Approaches to Cooperative Learning.  Theory into Practice, vol. 38 (2).

University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts (2003).  Grouping Practices for Effective Instruction.  Handout.  Retrieved from https://www.esc1.net/cms/lib/TX21000366/Centricity/Domain/86/GroupingPractices.pdf  on February 3, 2022.

Ward, B.A. (1987).  Instructional Grouping in the Classroom. School Improvement Research Series.  Retrieved from https://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/InstructionalGrouping.pdf  on February 2, 2022.

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The Jigsaw Technique

According to Clifford (2022), the Jigsaw technique is strategy where “an assignment is separated into subtasks, where individuals research their assigned area…(and then) meet together to discuss ideas between groups.”  This strategy is like students teaching students.  In a high school history class, students could focus on different aspects of one historical event or era.  Each pair or group would research an assigned part and then the entire class could come together to discuss the entire lesson together.  “This type of collaboration allows students to become ‘experts’ in their assigned topic (Clifford, 2022).  This type of research-based learning would make learning more concrete as opposed to a teacher-led lecture or discussion.  This strategy also allows students the freedom to focus on important or interesting ideas within their assigned topic.  However, in this strategy, pre-planning groups and well-explained instructions and parameters are essential to ensure that students get the content necessary and do not stray off topic.  This strategy also helps students who may need chunking because instead of being overwhelmed with an entire topic, he/she can focus on one small content area and then benefit from the knowledge of her/his peers.

Clifford, M. (2022).  What Are The Best Collaborative Learning Tips and Strategies for Teachers?  TeachThought University.  Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/collaborative-learning-tips/  on February 2, 2022.

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According to Clowes (2011), RoundRobin is a group discussion strategy that allows students to collaborate through group interaction and discussion.  Clowes (2011) asserts that this strategy is especially useful for review and memorization because students are able to benefit from their shared knowledge.  In other words, students can fill learning gaps for each other instead of relying solely on the teacher to do so for them.  Clowes (2011) also states that RoundRobin is useful as an SEL tool because it requires students to “get to know, respect, and value” their group members.  RoundRobin would be a useful tool in a high school history course where much of the learning is based on understanding and remembering people, places, and events.  Through RoundRobin group discussion, students can go beyond rote memorization of historical information and elevate their learning by making connections between content information, providing real-world examples, and understanding cause and effect.  One student’s observations may help another student comprehend a concept he/she had previously struggled with.  This collaborative strategy would work well by pairing students of different learning levels.

Clowes, G. (2011).  The Essential 5: A Starting Point for Kagan Cooperative Learning.  KaganOnline.  Retrieved from

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A whole-group response system is a method of ensuring that all students respond to open-ended, whole-group discussion questions.  Nagro et.al (2016) explains that students with learning disabilities often do not respond in whole-group instruction settings because they “struggle with academic risk-taking and perseverance.”  While small group instruction is best for students with learning disabilities, whole-group response systems can ensure that these students don’t get left out of the conversation, or worse, fall behind because they are not voicing their struggles during whole-group conversation.  Some whole-group response systems could include hand signals, response cards, or, in an educational setting with adequate access to technology, response programs that allow teachers to track student comprehension and participation.  One such online tool would be Nearpod, a program that allows teachers to incorporate learning checks throughout the lesson, and requires students to respond to the learning check before moving on.  Teachers can monitor student responses and check for understanding before proceeding through the lesson.  This online tool would work well for high school students who struggle because many of them will not indicate to the teacher they do not understand, or worse, they will say they do understand so as not to be embarrassed in front of their peers.  This is one reason that hand signals or response cards may not work for high school students, but an online tool would.  The online tool, like Nearpod, allows for private responses and private monitoring by the teacher.  This strategy would be a good tool for any student with a learning disability as well as any ELL learner who might struggle with comprehension of the content.

Nagro, S.A. et. al (2016.  Whole-Group Response Strategies to Promote Student Engagement in Inclusive Classrooms.  Teaching Exceptional Children vol. 48 (5).

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One of the most intriguing cooperative learning strategies for a high school history course is WorldLab.  WorldLab, as described by Slavin (1999), allows students to work in cooperative groups to “carry out simulations and group investigations on history, geography, chemisty, biology, physics, health, and related topics.”  This open-ended strategy allows students to choose topics they have an interest in and then learn and explain them through both investigation and simulation.  This strategy would be especially relevant for high school students because they have the learning capacity to not only choose topics, but also to play a “what-if” simulation-type game where they can create scenarios and problem-solve or troubleshoot based on their knowledge of history.  This strategy would appeal to all learners, but especially to those who may have deficiencies in reading and comprehension because the simulation and game-style activity would make it easier for them to retain the information rather than reading, lecture, or notes.

Slavin, R.E. (1999).  Comprehensive Approaches to Cooperative Learning.  Theory into Practice, vol. 38 (2).

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According to Clowes (2011), the idea of RallyCoach is that students work in pairs and “partners take turns, one solving a problem while the other coaches.  Then partners switch roles.”  This strategy would only work with intentionally-paired groups.  A pair with two learners of the same level probably would not benefit from this exercise because neither could provide knowledge that the other did not already possess.  Instead, this strategy should be used when a low-learner is paired with a high-learner.  The low-learner will benefit from the knowledge of the high-learner, while the high-learner would benefit from teaching the low-learner, thereby solidifying her/his knowledge.  While Clowes (2011) asserts this strategy is most useful for “any process or procedure with a definite right/wrong answer” such as math problems, this strategy could also be incorporated into a high school history class, especially in the area of test preparation.  STAAR exams and AP exams both focus solely or primarily on multiple choice questions where students are asked to demonstrate their learning and reading comprehension.  Incorporating the RallyCoach strategy into review lessons could help elevate student performance.

Clowes, G. (2011).  The Essential 5: A Starting Point for Kagan Cooperative Learning.  KaganOnline.  Retrieved from https://www.kaganonline.com/free_articles/research_and_rationale/330/The-Essential-5-A-Starting-Point-for-Kagan-Cooperative-Learning  on February 2, 2022.