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AP/GATE Teachers Chatboard

Do you group kids by grades?

by J.J.

Nov 24, 2009

I teacher gifted kids from grades 3-5. I currently group them by grades. I also heard that some teachers group kids together. I am just wondering what are the pros and cons of grouping them together.

Jamie in MO I have grouped students both ways. It really (like most other things we do) depends on the particular students.

Some pros of mixing, in my experience: it can even out class sizes--if you only have 4 in one grade and 11 in another, you can instead have classes of 7 and 8--which benefits the smaller group by giving them more interaction with...See MoreI have grouped students both ways. It really (like most other things we do) depends on the particular students.

Some pros of mixing, in my experience: it can even out class sizes--if you only have 4 in one grade and 11 in another, you can instead have classes of 7 and 8--which benefits the smaller group by giving them more interaction with different partners and people, and the larger group by getting more of your attention. Another pro is that you can group them thoughtfully so that you have a more productive personality mix, and/or group them for particular learning purposes (spatial emphasis learners, communication as a strength learners, or even do interest-based groups and have them indicate a preference for a particular set of activities that semester).

Some cons--sometimes other things in the building can wreak havoc with your schedule, like a fourth grade field trip that leaves half your class (the fifth graders) behind, or guest speakers for particular grade levels, or different lunch/specials schedules. You can work around all these things, but it does mean more running around and follow-up to communicate with people--and this is multiplied if the students are not clustered in the same grade level class.

Another con was that some grade levels (with some particular students) were not good mixes. 2nd and 3rd sounded like a good idea, and it worked from November-February, but was rocky at the beginning and end. The second graders were just so young at the beginning--writing tasks were so slow, for example--and the third graders seemed so much older at the end that it wasn't a good fit. I had a similar experience with the 3-4 combination, but there have been years when it would have worked better.

I had good luck with 4-5, 5-6, 6-7, and 7-8 combinations. I have also had particular students--a pair of first graders who joined a 2nd grade class, a particular 2nd grader who joined a third grade class--who "accelerated" for GT successfully.

I am currently working with grade-level groups, all day, once a week. That system has its pros and cons, too, of course.

Grouping is such a tricky issue, because you're trying to maximize time and quality of time--and the class size and personality mix and schedule all influence those things.

On 11/24/09, J.J. wrote: > I teacher gifted kids from grades 3-5. I currently group > them by grades. I also heard that some teachers group kids > together. I am just wondering what are the pros and cons of > grouping them together.

Nov 25, 2009

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