“The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man’s foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.” -Thomas Henry Huxley

I’ve been receiving a lot of questions about Tabor Rotation (a highly successful, research-based strategy for rigorously differentiating instruction in mathematics) and how to implement the essential components of T.R. Most of the questions have come from resource teachers and math specialists who are trying to help their schools think about teaching math in a different, more effective way.

The next series of Wednesday Blogs will feature a different essential component of Tabor Rotation. Today is about flexibly grouping students. Why think about the grouping of students, especially if you teach in a school that has high test scores and may be exemplary? What’s wrong with delivering the instruction to the whole group, passing out a worksheet, and circulating to help the students? What’s wrong with the “spray and pray” method?  I’ll let a few other researchers address that.

“Textbooks and worksheets structure 75 to 90% of all learning that goes on in schools. Worksheets are worse. Worksheets have nothing to do with genius. No genius ever attributed his or her success to a worksheet.” -Thomas Armstrong, from Awakening Genius in the Classroom

“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… teaching math facts in the context of real experiences is succeeding beyond anyone’s expectations.” -David Berliner, ASU, 1990

“When a teacher tries to teach something to the entire class at the same time, chances are, one-third of the kids already know it; one-third will get it; and the remaining third won’t. So two-thirds of the children are wasting their time.” -Lillian Katz

Over the last two decades, I’ve worked with many teachers, grade levels, administrations, and schools to develop a structure to teach the qualitatively challenging and engaging mathematics to all students. Teachers had heard they needed to implement small groups, RtI (Response to Intervention), and differentiated instruction. Educators wanted a way to include as many essential elements of differentiated instruction as possible in an easy-to-implement way. That was the beginning of my mission in life–to help change the way mathematics is taught and learned.

My 4th grade class, in 1992, named their math group rotation time Tabor Rotation. The name Tabor Rotation stuck and so did their success as the highest performing class in the school. When creating the structure, I studied all the successful components I used in my balanced literacy block. One of these was flexible grouping. Since the needs of the learner in literacy didn’t change just because we began our math block, it made sense to flexibly group students in math.

Tabor Rotation requires teachers to flexibly group students in a variety of ways. Each week includes partner work, whole-group instruction, teachable moments with individual students, small group work with students of mixed abilities, and working with small groups of students who are grouped together according to their level of understanding of the concepts that are being explored that week.

Students are grouped heterogeneously for rotation through the four stations on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This type of grouping promotes the communication between students in the group and between the teacher and the students. If students who are at-promise in general ability in mathematics are sat between a couple of other students who have a little bit greater ability, then the teacher isn’t the only person in the Teacher Time group who can explain or clarify how to process a concept. This varied perspective gives students a chance to learn from each other at the other stations.

Just as important is the homogeneous grouping of students on the continuum of readiness for the concepts that are being explored that week. The students’ placement on the continuum is determined by pre-assessments, curriculum compacting, informal assessments, formative assessments, and clipboard cruising. Readiness grouping takes place on Thursdays and Fridays. After Vivid Vocabulary and the Whole-Group Mini-Lesson, all students are involved in an application of a simple or previously learned concept. As all students are working, the teacher uses the information gathered during the week to pull readiness groups.

ALL students deserve qualitatively challenging, respectful, and meaningful work. ALL students deserve to meet with the teacher in a small-group, readiness-level setting to receive personalized assistance that moves them a little bit further than they were the day before. Varying the grouping of students is a powerful way to make sure this occurs!

“What we call differentiated is not a recipe for teaching. It is not an instructional strategy. It is not what a teacher does when he or she has time. It is a way of thinking about teaching and learning. It is a philosophy.” -Tomlinson

For more about flexible grouping and Tabor Rotation, please read past blogs. If you’re ready to try Tabor Rotation in your classroom, then download the Tabor Rotation Planning Guide and begin your journey in rigorously, systematically, and effectively differentiating instruction in your classroom!