Lesson 5: How to organise students. Grouping criteria. Classroom grouping models.

Lesson 5: How to organise students. Grouping criteria.

Classroom grouping models.

The preliminary ideas that I have of this topic are that there are different types of grouping depending on the level, if it is at school level or at classroom level. Another preliminary idea is that I already knew about cooperative working.

I have learned student grouping at the classroom and school level. At school level the grouping can have a vertical perspective, which can be two types of model: the graduated model, and the ungraded model; and a horizontal perspective, which can be homogeneous groups, heterogeneous groups, and flexible groupings. At classroom level  grouping can be multi-level system (Certain contents can be organised according to a very specific structure); Project work (Allows students to gain a deeper knowledge of reality from a comprehensive and interdisciplinary perspective), for this type we have 4 phases: Step 1:What do we want to learn? Step 2:What do we want to do? Step 3: How are we going to do that? Step 4:What have we learned?

And the questions that can help us to better understand if the project work has been adequate are the following : 1. What interest does it generate among the students? 2.-What degree of autonomy are they assuming?  3. What kind of participation does each student have?  4.-Who has a leading role in the development of the project?  5. Are students aware of what they are learning? 6. Are students actively involved in the project?

Another types of classroom grouping is Workshops (that allow teachers to deliver curricular contents differently, as students can: do research, manipulate objects, develop creativity, and interact with their classmates); and the las type of classroom grouping is cooperative work ( this type of methodology and grouping is expected to make students increasingly autonomous, since they become responsible for their own learning and encourages them to help one another.  According to the cooperative structures proposed by  two autors Johnson and Johnson (1997) and Kagan (1999) the basic elements of a cooperative learning team are: positive interdependence , individual responsibility, equal participation  and simultaneous interaction. Cooperative work has also some rules for students, which I. have also learned (Share everything with your classmates, work quietly or in silence, speak only with the teacher's permission, accept majority decisions, and help your classmate), also the aspect to be taken into account in cooperative learning (which include: time management, question management and formation of stable teams) and the team member roles in cooperative work) .

This is a video explaining cooperative working which is useful.




This is also video explains very good project based learning, as I din't understand it correctly.

For this lesson I looked an article for cooperative learning from Athar Khan, which explains what is, the
types and the elements of cooperative learning.

Then when I was searching for a the cooperative learning article, an article about collaborative classroom
appeared, and I looked it to se what it was. This article was from the same author, Athar Khan.
Collaborative classroom as I thought is was the same as cooperative learning, I mean students
working all together in groups, but the difference is that collaborative classroom is a place where students learn to work together. Also, the purposes of these are to plan, maintain and implement a successful teaching program. All the class works together.

I wasn't quite sure about vertical grouping at school level but after reading an articles, from Emma Drury about vertical integration know I am very clear. This article talked about: what is vertical integration?,  why will I use this method?, what are the downsides? How do I go about setting this up in my school?, all this questions are answered in this article and very well explained)

So how do I go about setting this up in my school?

Vocabulary:

• Multi-level: is something that has more than one level.
• Project work: is under monitoring and guidance.It is a series of activities that allows the students to study,do research and act by themselves using their abilities, interests and  personal experience.
• Corners: is a place where two sides come together.
• Workshop: A workshop is a single, short educational program designed to teach or introduce to participants practical skills, techniques, or ideas which they can then use in their work or their daily lives. Most workshops have several features they're generally small, usually from 6 to 15 participants, allowing everyone some personal attention and the chance to be heard, they're often designed for people who are working together, or working in the same field and they're conducted by people who have real experience in the subject under discussion.

Bibliografic references:
- Khan, A. (2019c, 7 julio). Cooperative Learning - Meaning, Definition, and Types | Toppr Bytes. Recuperado 28 diciembre, 2019, de https://www.toppr.com/bytes/cooperative-learning/
- Khan, A. (2019d, 14 julio). Collaborative Classroom - Definition, Characteristics, Elements. Recuperado 29 diciembre, 2019, de https://www.toppr.com/bytes/collaborative-classroom/
- Drury, E. (2013, 8 enero). A guide to vertical teaching. Recuperado 29 diciembre, 2019, de https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/jan/08/vertical-teaching-guide-early-exam-entry