Flexible Grouping
Overview
Flexible grouping is a classroom practice that temporarily places students together in given groups to work together, with the purpose of achieving a given learning goal or activity. These groups are adaptive and can account for children's changing needs and interests, based on teacher observation, formative assessment, and student feedback. Encouraging students to move flexibly between groups allows them to bring their own strengths to the class and gives them the best opportunity to be able to learn with and from each other to strengthen Social Awareness and Relationship Skills among students. This practice supports all students, including students with learning disabilities and multilingual learners, by allowing them to participate in the classroom along with their peers to showcase their strengths and learn from other students with intentionality.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Watch how teachers use assessments to group and re-assess students strengths and challenges to flexibly group in the math classroom.
Design It into Your Product
Additional Resources
Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
Factors Supported by this Strategy
More Cooperative Learning Strategies
As students solve problems in a group, they learn new strategies and practice communicating their mathematical thinking.
As students walk through stations working in small groups, the social and physical nature of the learning supports deeper understanding.
As students work with and process information by discussing, organizing, and sharing it together, they deepen their understanding.
When students have meaningful conversations about math and use math vocabulary, they develop the thinking, questioning, and explanation skills needed to master mathematical concepts.
Having students teach their knowledge, skills, and understanding to their classmates strengthens learning.
Students deepen their understanding and gain confidence in their learning when they explain to and receive feedback from others.
Respectful redirection, or error correction, outlines a clear and concise way that educators can provide feedback on behaviors that need immediate correction, in a positive manner.
Students deepen their math understanding as they use and hear others use specific math language in informal ways.
