ILLUSTRATIONS OF FLEXIBLE GROUPINGS

SUMMARY: Flexible grouping is way to help teachers in collaborative learning. Teachers can use the
student class profile to help group students in a more cohesive and enriched environment for students.
Groups can be used for remediation, learning, groups, increasing student motivation, content chunking,
and possible acceleration. Groups can be homogenous or heterogeneous.

FLEXIBLE GROUPING DESCRIPTIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Independent Work- Students should be allowed to work individually or independently. This

may involve the entire class or an individual students working while others work together.

A B C D OR A B B B

2. Pairs, Partners, Triads, or Quads- Students may be grouped with heterogeneously,

homogeneously or in triads. These groups can be based on interest, readiness, learning styles, etc.
This flexible group strategy is most often used with differentiated instruction. It can be used for
peer tutoring but also for interest centers, tier instruction, and product collaboration. Readiness is
also a great way to group students. Heterogeneous (high, middle, low) or heterogeneous (high-
C
middle, middle-low) are examples of partnering.

A A CB B B M L H

H M C C

C C
ILLUSTRATIONS OF FLEXIBLE GROUPINGS

3. Jigsaw- Students is a Di strategy that frequently uses two set of quad grouping. One set is a home
base quad. The other quad is based on interest or a specific concept. Students begin in their home
base where they are assigned a number. Based on their number, they travel to an expert/interest
group to collaborate and gather information. Finally, they report back to their home base and
share information with everyone in their group.

Home base Expert/Interest Group

1 2 1 1

3 4 1 1

4. Whole Class Instruction- At times, the entire class will be participating in the same instruction,
preassessments, introductory lesson, sharing or closing activity.

5. Student-Teacher Conferences/Small Group Instruction- Conferences may occur one on one or

in small groups. This DI strategy is great for providing feedback and goal setting. Groups can be
heterogeneous or homogeneous based on the same previous factors.

T S T
1

S S S

6. Randomly selected groups and student selected groups- Both of these DI grouping strategies
are usually used to increase motivation and engagement. Tomlinson (2006), however, suggests
that many schools do like to use these forms of grouping. Students essentially choose friends and
work is dispersed according to the group. Random grouping for teachers are quick and easy ways
to collaborate but can sometimes prove ineffective. Random grouping can be assigned by colors,
birthdays, dice, pets, etc.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF FLEXIBLE GROUPINGS

Benefit: According to Tomlinson and McTighe (2006), flexible grouping does not mean students
are stuck in one group for the whole year. Flexible group allows for the ability to change groups
thus creating more enriched learning environment. Teachers should use data collected in profiles
to plan meaningful groups. Teachers can implement greater lessons and an enriched learning
environment.