The World's Hottest Hamburger & Small Groups in Math???
I was “on the road, again” in San Antonio, Texas last week. No, I wasn’t there to eat the hottest hamburger in the world—the “4 Horsemen” which has the 4 hottest peppers in the world on it. Maybe I should explain…my son and I watch “Man vs. Food” and had seen the episode filmed in San Antonio. He was disappointed that I didn’t eat the hottest hamburger, but understood that I was there to continue on my mission to help schools change the way we teach and learn mathematics. (OK, I’ll admit it…I didn’t want to spend the night in the emergency room after taking a few bites of the ghost pepper!)
While I did enjoy some chips and salsa, that wasn’t my reason for making the trip. I was conducting a training of trainers module. I worked with some of the most incredibly dedicated educators I’ve ever met. They all left the training days determined to use the information gained to change teachers’ and students’ lives.
The sessions were focused on effective strategies to use in small-group, differentiated instruction to build success for students. There were many requests for a visual of what small groups in math look like. This post is in response to their request. For more examples of small groups in the highly effective Tabor Rotation Framework, look on the FREE RESOURCES page of my website beginning tomorrow.
Let’s begin with what flexible grouping is. Flexible grouping is the fluid grouping of students (independent, pairs, small groups, whole groups, etc.) based on the match of the task to student readiness, interest, and/or learning style. Groups may be skills-based, interest-based, heterogeneous, homogeneous, student-selected, teacher-selected, or randomly selected.
Here are some examples of teachers and students involved in small-group instruction.
Why should small groups be used in a math class? Isn’t that a lot of trouble for nothing? Through his research, David Berliner made the following conclusions:
- The passive child learner, unconnected to other children, not involved in meaningful activities cannot learn as well…
- To sit still and learn is not the best possible way to learn.
- The assumption was that math facts had to be taught before problem solving could be. But the reverse approach, in fact, works.
- Teaching math facts in the context of real experiences is succeeding beyond anyone’s expectations.
Still wondering why you shouldn’t just teach math to an entire class—all day, every day? Hopefully, the clips in this post will help you get a better picture of what small groups in math look like. Maybe they will convince you to explore using them in your own room.
“The essence of our effort to see that every child has a chance must be to assure each an equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different – to realize whatever unique potential of body, mind and spirit he or she possesses.” -John Fischer
“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” -Dr. Seuss
“The greatest teacher is not the one who talks all the time, but the one who listens.” -Lauren, age 14
“Childhood is not preparation for life. It is life.” -James, age 9