The main point of this chapter was grouping students in the classroom based on their personal abilities. There are two types of groups that can be formed--heterogenous and homogenous. Heterogenous groups are ones that have students of many different ability levels working together. Homogenous groups are ones that include students of the same ability working together. These groups can be used in many different ways. One way would be to group students by ability in their class. Another is to group students in a whole class that has the same ability. Many teachers who use the grouping technique also have a regrouping process where students who are either gaining or losing in ability can be moved to different groups. When students work in groups, they are using cooperative learning. Cooperative learning must include" positive interdependence, individual and group accountability, face-to-face interaction, interpersonal skills, and group processing. Students benefit from cooperative learning because they can not only learn from their peers, but they gain leadership skills and self-confidence.
A question that I still have after reading this chapter is about grouping classes based on ability. Would this be the most effective way to use grouping techniques? One of the major benefits to having a wide variety of abilities in your classroom is that everyone can learn from each other. If everyone is at the same ability level, then they wouldn't have the opportunity to teach, or be taught, from their peers as much.
Vygotsky believed that social interaction was crucial to the learning process, so he would definitely support grouping in classrooms. If he was using this technique, he would choose heterogenous grouping. He would encourage the students with higher ability to help those with lower ability. That way, the higher achieving students could deepen their understanding since they have to teach the information, and the students who are lower achieving can learn it better because they are hearing the information more than once and hearing it from children who are their age, in language that they understand.
Piaget and Vygotsky have different views about the processes of development and learning. While Piaget believes that development proceeds learning, Vygotsky believes the opposite. Piaget also believes that learning is more of a personal experience, while Vygotsky believes that social interaction is very important.
I am being influenced by many things while I do my homework. First, I am being influenced by my teacher, who provides the blog prompts for me to answer in each post. I am also being influenced by my book and notes, and if I need help from the internet, that is accessible through the computer. I am influenced by other student's posts and by talking to other students in the class.
I think grouping based on ability is beneficial for high-achieving students rather than low-achieving students. This is because the high-achieving students will always be placed with other high-achieving students. It allows them to succeed more than students placed in lower classes with low-achieving students. There is a divide when it comes to grouping by ability because the higher-achieving students continue to improve, while the low-achieving students may stay in the same position and not move forward. I think tracking shouldn't exist and is not the best way to help ALL students because it isn't taking into account personal improvement and self-motivation. A child placed in a class with low-achieving students may not want to try hard or may feel that he will not be able to move up, so he won't try his best. If children are given the option to choose which group/class they would like to be in, then they will have a higher sense of self-image and self-motivation to do well in the class that they choose.
ReplyDeleteAs Zahra said, I think it benefits high-ability students the most. But I still think grouping based on ability can be beneficial, primarily for high school students. Students at a higher level of achievement will be able to move at a faster pace and cover more material when they are grouped with students who are at the same level. I think in elementary school, there should be a mix of homogeneous and heterogeneous grouping based on ability. I remember in second grade reading stories with the whole class, and getting bored very quickly because I could read the story much faster than other students.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, I think regrouping would be good for elementary students. I wish I had been in a homogeneous reading group, but at the same time, I would have liked to be in heterogeneous groups for other subjects. I would have benefited from helping other students and getting help when I didn't understand something.