I require group work for the final 10–15 minutes of class. Students can be doing labs, discussing practice, or checking each others’ work. I find that requiring that time makes it much easier for students that are a bit more reserved. 

I sometimes use the pacing tracker to group students for individual work time. They'll sit together and can conference since they are on the same assignments. 

Once per week, we have a full class lab day where they are placed in lab groups. My practice will always include both individual practice and group practice. 

One-on-one instruction: There are three ways I determine one-on-one instruction. I have a sign-up on the whiteboard and a color code (orange) on my pacing tracker that will alert students that they need to meet with me. I try to rotate one-on-one with every student every month! I want to meet with even the students who are progressing well academically and don’t need my help. 

Small group instruction: For small groups, I have 3 ways to use the pacing tracker: 

1) I group students based on lesson numbers for individual work in classes that need extra support. That way, a table group is working on the same lesson. 

2) For my required group work, students will be assigned “home” groups for that time. They can request to work with different people based on what we are doing. 

3) For lab groups, I tend to group based on processing speed. I don’t want a fast processor teamed with a slower processor. 

Whole group instruction: I use whole group instructions to introduce a new unit, explain a lab and the safety requirements, and if I am seeing any misconceptions that most are not aware of. Otherwise, it is small groups, self-selected “target practice” in which they choose the topic to join, and individual work. 

The best piece of advice I can give is to be flexible. I was so worried about giving up control. One day, I walked into class, and it was magic. The kids all just came in and started working. They were helping each other, knew what to do, and all were in different places. It was seriously amazing. So, trust the process. It works! Give it time and trust the process!