Groups Galore
A group formed by pulling names out of a hat.
What is a random group?
This approach encourages students to break tasks into small, specific steps.
What is Step On It?
The total percentage of contributions on the group form must always equal this number.
What is 100%?
Green allows talking, orange signals silence in one minute, and red means total silence.
What are traffic lights?
A grouping where students of similar current performance levels work together.
What is a performance group?
The column on the Step On It sheet where students enter their estimated completion time.
What is the planned duration?
This tool makes group work more productive by promoting fairness and accountability.
What is proportional representation?
In the token system, students risk losing all of these if they keep talking out of turn.
What are tokens?
This practice is problematic because intelligence is fluid and teacher expectations influence outcomes.
What is ability grouping?
Taking longer than planned prompts reflection on missing subskills, resources, or motivation.
What is a debrief?
By comparing students’ returns, teachers check for this risk.
What is dishonesty or discrepancies in judgment?
A designated space where pupils work quietly until ready to rejoin the class.
What is the sit-out area?
A group that combines a confident speaker, a creative writer, and an organizer.
What is a mixed-skill group?
Students must always plan the next step before completing the current one to maintain momentum.
What is staying one step ahead?
This kind of variation promotes the concept of personal responsibility and explores conflicting loyalties between individual mates and the group
What is non-anonymous proportional representation?
A strategy where rotating “talk police” monitor disruption and issue reminders.
What is peer monitoring?
A grouping where students who prefer role-play work together
What is a learning-style group?
This strategy involves the teacher actively moving around the classroom to observe learners, anticipate challenges, and support learning so that no one is left behind.
What is circulating (or classroom monitoring/moving around)?
This is a key benefit of proportional representation.
What is promoting fairness, accountability, and personal responsibility in group work?
Whispering during instructions can be tackled by waiting silently and standing near interrupters.
What are the waiting game and proximity strategies?