Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12: 14 Teaching Practices for Enhancing Learning (Corwin Mathematics Series)

by Peter Liljedahl

There are several reasons we may wish to keep students apart from each other. Ironically, regardless of the reason, those students often want to be together. And that will happen when you start randomizing your groups—usually on the first day. The best thing to do when this happens is to visit that group first and just say, “Are we going to have a problem here?” More often than not, these students are so thrilled to be together that they do not want to ruin their chances of it happening again. If the situation is one where the students don’t want to be together, then the intervention is different. Treat them being together like it is the most normal thing in the world—just like any other group. The more normal you make it, the more likely they are to be OK with it. Students are highly attuned to the things that you worry about—if you worry about them being together, then they will fixate on that as well. If, despite this, you sense trouble brewing, visit the group, and remind them that it is just for one class and that you expect that they will be respectful to each other.

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