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Group Teaching

General Introduction on Group Teaching

Group teaching is a teaching approach widely applied in many educational programmes on an international level. It takes various formats as a teaching method, such as ability grouping, mixed-ability grouping, mixed-age grouping etc.

Research results from the application of these methods are controversial. There is adequate research evidence in favour of grouping students and equally adequate against grouping. There are variations in the results according to the type of grouping; for instance there are different results for ability grouping and different for mixed-ability grouping. However, most of the surveys have been conducted in monograde schools and refer to comparisons between grouping of students and the graded system of classes, following a centrally specified educational curriculum.

In multigrade schools the situation differs. Usually it is very difficult, if not impossible, to follow the curriculum for each grade in the form that ministries of education in various countries prescribe. In the case of multigrade schools, the grouping of students is considered to be a valuable method of managing the class and teaching the students. Grouping facilitates the management of the class by assisting teachers to save and make use of their teaching time in the most effective way. While the teacher is occupied by teaching to one group, the rest of the students are working in groups with already allocated tasks, thus spending their time productively.

In a multigrade class, there are many ways of grouping students, such as grouping by their age or grade or by their abilities and skills. It is also possible to create different groups according to the teaching subject or the learning activity. Though it is not always clear which is the best way for grouping students, there are some useful advice that help teachers to decide what kind of grouping is suitable for their class.

This document it is going to focus on two types of grouping and the teachers are asked to go through certain steps to implement these kinds of grouping in their own classroom. The teachers should proceed in their work and at the same time they should try to make some observations as to whether their teaching is improving or the students’ learning is facilitated.

There are two training modules available one for each type of grouping. The first module deals with “Ability grouping” while the second module deals with “Mixed- ability grouping”. General characteristics of these types of grouping are presented in each module respectively. In addition the teachers are asked to use “Ability” and “Mixed-ability” in the classroom with respect to some proposed learning activities.

Further studying is suggested by references within the training modules.

Ability Grouping

Training Module

 / Read
 / Write
 / Activity

Ability Grouping

Introduction

Theoretical background

There are numerous research projects focusing on ability grouping over the last decades. The results of these investigations, as already mentioned, vary with some showing positive and others showing negative findings. The findings strongly depend on the specific features of grouping. One important parameter is the choice that the teacher has to make on whether the groups should follow the standard curriculum or a curriculum adjusted to their ability. Moreover the degree of curriculum adjustment plays an important role as well as the flexibility of the groups’ composition during a course, the subject areas that the ability group is taught and other features of the group composition.

There is a strong research evidence indicating that ability grouping with groups following the same curriculum raises the self-esteem of “low” and “medium” level students without necessarily improving their performance significantly. Students might feel lower self esteem if there are no same lever students to compare themselves with. However, under the same conditions, ability grouping usually improves slightly the performance of “high” level students. In the case of ability grouping with substantial curricula adjustments for each group there are clear positive findings for all student levels. Depending on the degree of the curriculum’s adjustment, learning outcomes can be surprisingly positive.

Since in multigrade schools, grouping provides solutions on managing both the classroom and the teaching time, the teachers are strongly advised to proceed in various groupings of students. A simple way of ability grouping within the framework of the multigrade class is to group students by grade; In general, grades represent ability groups that are based on the age criterion.

To familiarize with the concepts of ability grouping the teachers are asked to follow the activities prescribed below. Additional reading of documents is suggested and teachers are recommended to visit certain web sites and make their own Internet research on the subject.

Suggestions for good practice and activities

Activity 1

The activity suggested here is an initial attempt to introduce grouping in a multigrade class. It aims not only to familiarize with the application of grouping in a class but also to act as a motive for the development of a positive attitude on its usefulness as a teaching strategy and for discovering the ways of optimising its benefits. The teachers are asked to follow the instructions below:

1. Set up your first students’ groups

-The first grouping activity is something all of you might have done already, i.e. the grouping of students according to their grade. This is the most generic way of ability grouping.

NOTE: Ability grouping should be examined differently according to the subject area. It is normal to have different ability groups of students in mathematics or in art or in music and language lessons. Since students learn in different paces not only in comparison to each other but according to the subject as well, it is expected to have different learning abilities according to each subject.

2. Select the subject that seems more convenient for you for implementing the activity. This activity concerns ability grouping in a single subject.

3. How many grade-groups do you have?

  • Write down in a piece of paper in columns the groups and the names of the students in each group respectively.
  • Are your groups consisted of students with more or less of the same ability?

-If the answer is yes then you can consider that your students are already grouped according to their ability. Activity 1 finishes here for you.

-If the answer is no, try to find the students that can be transferred to other groups which may consist of older or younger students so as to form more homogeneous groups with respect of ability to learn.

  • Write down in columns as before the new groups you have selected.
  • Give names to the groups

TIP: you should not give names indicating that there are criteria of ability to separate groups. Prefer neutral definitions, such as groups named by colours or names of famous people, animals or islands etc. that retain neutrality instead of making distinctions like “advanced” group or “normal” group etc.

4. Try to find out working mechanisms for your groups.

TIP: You should give the chance to students of the groups to be involved in activities that not only serve the implementation of an educational curriculum in a subject but also promote cooperation as well as the undertaking of self and group initiatives and improve collaborating skills of students. In addition it should be noted to students that the composition of the groups is not permanent but students can change groups when it is appropriate. A sense of self-selection should be given to students and the mechanism of the group should look at composition changes of the groups.

5. Write down a general description of the working mechanism of the groups.

6. Try to think of learning activities that the students could be involved in productively.

7. Is there a need for curriculum adjustments for each group?

8. What tools do you think will help you to proceed with these adjustments?

9. Is your lesson going to include face-to-face teaching to one or more groups or are you going to supervise all groups at the same time without direct teaching?

In this activity so far you have selected ability groups for a specific subject and have described the general mechanism of working for the groups. Send all this information via e-mail to your national training institution along with any questions or requests for clarifications you might have.

At this point there is no need to present your decisions to the students or actually implement grouping in your class. This will be the subject of Activity 2.

Suggestions for further study

-The Multigrade classroom, A resource for small Rural Schools, Book 5: Instructional Delivery and Grouping, pages: 30-34[*]

-Kulik A. J., An Analysis of the Research on Ability Grouping: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives,

-Birch I. And Lally M., Multigrade teaching in primary schools, Asia-Pacific Centre of Educational Innovation and Development, UNESCO

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Suggestions for good practice and activities

Activity 2

Activity 2 refers to the implementation of a teaching activity in a selected subject in the multigrade classroom organised as an ability-grouping mode As in Activity 1, the following steps are provided:

1. Try to modify your schedule for the chosen subject so as to have the chance to teach all the groups during the same didactic hour.

You are now ready to implement ability grouping in real teaching conditions. The success of the lesson depends strongly on good preparation and detailed planning. You should take into account curriculum issues so that the activities that you propose for each group are in accordance to the composition of students and the grades in which they belong.

2. Try to design activities that are in accordance with the working mechanism for the groups that you have described within the framework of Activity 1.

NOTE: Develop special modules and worksheets for each student group and allow the group to work in parallel with modules of the same kind.

Use ICT if you are able to do so. Use educational software and try to utilise internet to design modules that will motivate students to be engaged in the lesson.

Activities that include games or role-plays etc within each group are usually more than welcomed by students. You are advised to design open learning activities that require students’ cooperation, imagination and initiatives.

3. Describe in general the way you have decided to work and the philosophy of the activities you have designed.

4. Try to answer the following questions:

How did students within each group have reacted to the teaching activities?

Did you have to provide help to the groups several times or the students could work as groups more independently?

What was the extent of direct teaching that you had to do?

5. For each lesson fill in the “lesson plan & evaluation” form that follows.

-Try to be clear and give adequate information on the lesson. It is preferable to fill the form electronically using your computer and send it back to your national training supervisor via e mail.

-Respect the format of it, it will be used for evaluation purposes

-Try to share details and present aspects of the lesson that are related with peer tutoring in your class.

PROJECT MUSE

TEACHERS TRAINING LESSON PLAN& EVALUATION

Lessons’ Title:

Grade: Date: .

Other grades Present:

Subject:

Teaching Chapters of the Curriculum:

Teaching Targets:

Expected Results:

Required Time and Teaching Time table (for all grades):

Required Time: teaching hour/s / A min / B min / C min / D min / E min
Time devoted to the grade/group under main consideration in minutes
Time devoted to other grades/groups present in the classroom in minutes

Required Educational Material (books, notes, worksheets etc.):

Required Equipment (ICT, lab equipment etc.):

Required Software:

Use of Internet and Links:

Description of the subject to be taught:

Prerequisite knowledge of students:

Implementation Scenario:

Steps to teaching of the subject:

EVALUATION DATA

Evaluation of students: (1 to 5)

Group / Pupil / Attention / Performance / Cooperation / Group
Performance
Group1 / Name1
Name2
Name3
Group2 / Name1
Name2
Name3
General Feeling of the class
Did any specific problems occur during the lesson?
Would you consider it as successful?
Do you have any definite proposals for the improvement of teaching?
General / Other comments?

[*]Available at BSCW space for MUSE

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