1. Bringing the meat and potatoes to DI
FLEXIBLE GROUPING
Bringing the meat and potatoes to DI

2. Flexible grouping
Teachers, bring the meat and potatoes of Differentiated Instruction to your students. Engage them in small group activities and instruction in a systematic and motivational way. Learn how flexible grouping allows for more differentiation, when to incorporate flexible grouping, the advantages and cautions inherent in such a system, and practical, easy, and fun ways to design and manage your groups.

3. Today’s Agenda Introductions Definition and purpose
Grouping structures
Research
Formative assessment
Managing flexible groups
DI strategies that support flex groups
Closure

4. Desire experience creating flexible groups that increase knowledge
Group Resume
By alphabet groupings
Identify and brag about your group’s resources
Should include any information that promotes subgroup as a whole
Topics can include: background, experience, positions, accomplishments, hobbies, families, etc.
TEACHERS R US
Berks IU
Objective
Desire experience creating flexible groups that increase knowledge
Qualifications
12 years teaching
Masters Degrees
Some knowledge of DI
Hobbies include: skiing& reading

5. Knowledge Transfer

6. Whole group-set the stage for flexible grouping
Description
Rationale
DI connection
When to use it
Advantages
Cautions

7. 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.

8. Take a look Readiness Interest Learning profile Group Arrangements
(like/unlike/size)
Teacher choice
Student choice
Random

9. Planning for Grouping: Questions 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?

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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

13. Which activities lend themselves to group work?

14. 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 student’s ideas and work are valued
Students care about group learning

15. 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

16. 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

17. Appropriate Activities for Homogeneous Grouping:
Drill and Practice
Math computation
Studying for recall type test
Answering comprehension questions about a novel

18. Turn and talk Proximity partner
Turn to partner to review lecture guide

19. Spotlight Share One member of pair called on to answer Major point
Misconception
Concern

20. Group Membership Can be determined by: Readiness Interest
Reading Level
Skill Level
Background Knowledge
Social Skills

21. Grouping Method
TAPS
Teacher Assigned
Student Selected
Random

22. Creative ideas for forming groups
Popsicle sticks with names – last one picked chooses group
Clock partners
Stickers on card, find matching sticker
Birthdays in seasons
Puzzle pieces
Team hiring and resumes

23. Other resources for forming groups
Use contribution reminder cards
Pass out colored chips and put in center after each contribution
Rank students by ability and put in array of 3 across
Group reflection form – use a rubric

24. And the research says…
Text-based seminar
Read the article

25. Text-based Seminar All read pp. 1 &2, 26-29
Divide the article into 4 parts (Models 1-4)
Each member reads a section
After reading, discuss this framing question: How can flexible grouping increase achievement in my class?
Protocol: Each person in group refers to one quote from the text and explains how this quote supports their response to the framing question.
Other members take turns in responding to group members’ quotes.

26. Take a look
Watch the video
Trio learning

27. Rotating trio exchange
Sit in groups of 3
Assign each a 0, 1, or 2
Discuss the following question:
How does heterogeneous grouping support higher level thinking of all members?
Rotation: 1’s move clockwise, 2’s move counterclockwise, 0’s stay put

28. Continue the triad discussion
What first steps will you take to employ flexible grouping?
What barriers might hinder the implementation of flexible grouping and what can you do to remove those barriers?
How can a teacher ensure the appropriate level of challenge for each student?

29. 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.

30. Equity

31. 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 Test Data
Teacher observation/Checklist

32. Formative assessment
Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting pupils’ learning. It thus differs from assessment designed primarily to serve the purposes of accountability, or of ranking, or of certifying competence. An assessment activity can help learning if it provides information to be used as feedback, by teachers, and by their pupils, in assessing themselves and each other, to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged.
Such assessment becomes ‘formative assessment’ when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching work to meet learning needs.
Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall & Wiliam, 2002

33. Types of formative assessment
Long-cycle
Span: across units, terms
Length: four weeks to one year
Impact: Student monitoring; curriculum alignment
Medium-cycle
Span: within and between teaching units
Length: one to four weeks
Impact: Improved, student-involved, assessment; teacher cognition about learning
Short-cycle
Span: within and between lessons
Length:
day-by-day: 24 to 48 hours
minute-by-minute: 5 seconds to 2 hours
Impact: classroom practice; student engagement

34. Aspects of formative assessment
Where the learner is going
Where the learner is
How to get there
Teacher
Clarify and share learning intentions
Engineering effective discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning
Providing feedback that moves learners forward
Peer
Understand and share learning intentions
Activating students as learning
resources for one another
Learner
Understand learning intentions
Activating students as owners of their own learning

35. Examples of formative assessment
Learning intentions
“sharing exemplars”
Eliciting evidence
“mini white-boards”
Providing feedback
“find it and fix it”
Students as owners of their learning
“colored cups”
Students as learning resources
“pre-flight checklist”

36. Activity Regroup by job alike groups
Identify formative assessment strategies useful in your class

37. 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

38. Management strategies
Chart of management ideas

39. 6 Hat Thinking In groups of 6 Read the article from one of 6 roles
Discuss using references that support your own role

40. Exit cards What stands out as new knowledge for you?
What questions do you still have?
Other comments?

41. Assessment
What questions remain?
Name tag mix-up

42. Complex Instruction
Complex Instruction evolved from over 20 years of research by Elizabeth Cohen, Rachel Lotan, and their colleagues at the Stanford School of Education. The goal of this instruction is to provide academic access and success for all students in heterogeneous classrooms.
Research has documented significant achievement gains in classrooms using such curricula.
Complex Instruction (CI) has three major components.

43. Multiple ability curricula
Development of higher-order thinking skills through group work activities organized around a central concept.
The tasks are open-ended, requiring students to work interdependently to solve problems.
The tasks require a wide array of intellectual abilities so that students from diverse backgrounds and different levels of academic proficiency can make meaningful contributions to the group task.

44. Instructional strategies
Teacher trains the students to use cooperative norms and specific roles to manage their own groups .
Teacher is free to observe groups carefully
Provide specific feedback

45. Treat status problems
The more that students talk and work together, the more they learn.
Students who are social isolates or students who are seen as lacking academic skills often fail to participate and thus learn less than they would if they were more active in the groups.
Teachers use status treatments to broaden students' perceptions of what it means to be smart, and to convince students that they each have important intellectual contributions to make to the multiple-ability task.

46. Processing
Individual and Group accountability activities which reflect the success of:
The student
The group
The objective for the teacher planned activity
Practice designing flexible grouping structure for given set of classroom data & lesson

47. Station activity
Investigate DI structures that support flexible grouping
Anchor activities
Tiered lessons
Stations/Centers
Rotate every 20 minutes

48. PMI Chart Plus (+) Minus (-) Interesting Station Tiered lessons
Anchors

49. Assessment
In the acronym TAPS, which word(s) do(es) not allow for differentiation?
T/F: Flexible grouping implies putting students into ability groups.
Name at least 2 DI strategies that support flexible grouping.
What are 2 problems for historically based arguments for heterogeneous classrooms?

50. Assessment responses T – total group
F - many reasons for grouping arrangements
Compacting, Complex instruction
Struggling learners must be met where they are.
Advanced learners often given more work, asked to be peer teachers, or left alone as they are already up to par.

51. Summarize In job-alike groups Create 30 second commercial
Reasons to support or oppose flexible grouping

52. Keeping flexible Exercise the strategy Switch your groups regularly
Have fun!

53. Thank you! Please complete the evaluation
Contact me with any questions

54. 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.

55. Readiness group tasks Cooperative grouping strategies
Group members’ roles
Learning styles inventory

56. Modality preference groups
Visual
Auditory
Hands-on
Find cooperative group strategies from handouts and on-line resources. Make a chart.
Put the group roles from the resources on the chart.
Participate in lecture-format and complete chart of strategies.
Finish the chart with group roles.
Make index cards of cooperative group strategies with purpose on back.
Make a charades game of group roles.

57. Agenda Microlab – How do we honor all learners in variable grouping?
Read all about it!
Share
Evaluation

58. Today’s Agenda, continued
Sit in groups (by modality preference)
Learning styles activity on management of flexible groups
Brainstorm ideas for grouping by readiness, interest, & random
Whole group share – dot vote