Flexible grouping strategies in the multiage classroom

Theory Into Practice, Wntr, 2002 by Jo Hoffman

Student-led shared task groups

Deliberate use of Vygotskian principles related to the apprenticeship in a community of learning is evident in multiage classrooms. Small groups of four or five students are purposely set up by teachers to be heterogeneous with respect to ability, gender, and age. Projects are designed to capitalize on the heterogeneity of the group. The students participate in activities that require different abilities within the same task. In one multiage classroom, for example, at the end of a unit on fitness, the class planned a health fair. Each small, heterogeneous group was responsible for creating a booth highlighting one of the topics covered in the unit. Each group had to determine an activity someone could do when visiting the booth that would provide information about that topic. As an example, one group created a body fact quiz show. During the preparation of the booth, several abilities were required: A good reader was needed to hunt through nonfiction books for questions; someone with neat handwriting was needed to make the game cards; a good problem solver was needed to think of a way contestants could "buzz in"; and, finally, a member confident in addition skills was needed to keep score. The teachers use this type of grouping throughout the year to reinforce concepts from all areas of the curriculum.

The deliberate grouping of students with different abilities is a choice that can be made from various theoretical perspectives on peer learning. The cognitive/elaborative perspective (O'Donnell, 1999) suggests that students who rehearse their strength (e.g., addition skills) are provided with an opportunity to more deeply process their own understanding. The possibility that the more able students can model a skill and perhaps provide scaffolded support to a less-able student is what might be expected to happen from a Vygotskian perspective.

Dyads

There are several occasions throughout each academic year when teachers choose dyads ("buddies") for certain instructional and social opportunities. First, I will briefly describe teacher rationale for partnering students and some typical contexts. In the next section, I will explain a cooperative technique designed specifically for dyads.

A natural context for dyads occurs at the beginning of a school year in a multiage class. Half (or more) of the students in the class are returning "old-timers," and the other half are "newcomers." Specific activities are planned throughout the first few weeks of school to capitalize on the old-timers' comfort and knowledge of the classroom. Examples of activities include brainstorming or semantic mapping of prior knowledge at the start of a new unit, letter writing to guests or actors from performances, and partner reading during literacy blocks.

Old-timers have a unique role to play in the multiage classroom. They are the peer links to the learning community, the experienced ones in classroom routines and in relationships with the teacher. Newcomers look to old-timers to induct them into the operations of their new learning community. The teacher-formed dyads of old-timers and newcomers form permanent "buddies," which are often asked to work together for different shared-task activities not only at the start of classes but throughout the entire school year. Some of the relationships that form between buddies last well beyond their years in a multiage classroom.