Collaboration

Forming Groups

Please refer to the following list to look for ways to break up your students into groups or teams.

"Clock Partners"

Students establish four different partners they work with regularly from throughout the class that correspond to 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, and 9 o'clock.

"Inside-Outside Circle"
1. Students stand in two concentric circles around the room with the outside group facing in and the inside group facing out, so each student is facing a partner.
2. The teacher will then ask students questions.
3. As each question is answered, the teacher will direct the inside or the outside circles to rotate, thus creating new groups.

"Kagan Face & Shoulder Partner Groups"

Easily break students up into a variety of grouped pairs, including shoulder partners, face partners, "A" and "B" groups, or whole table. This is an easy and effective strategy to implement. It's just a matter of training your students to know which groups are which, but having a visual should help with much of this.

Kagan - Face and Shoulder Partner Groups

"Partner Picking Cards"
1. Print the cards in the linked file (preferably on cardstock)
2. Have every student draw a card.
3. Students will then find the matching card to see who their partner will be.

Partner Picking Cards.pdf

"Playing Cards"

Use a deck of playing cards to assign roles. Group students by if they have cards of the same rank (all with the same number or face) and then assign them a role determined by the suit (clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades).

"Puzzled People"

Students assembly torn photos or pictures to form their teams. This can also be done with sentence strips for ELA classes that are a part of a content related statement or with pieces of a map for social studies classes.

Prepare Pictures - Give student groups one whole picture each.
Tear Pictures - Have one student from each group tear their picture into four pieces and distribute it amongst the group (This may vary if you have uneven numbers).
Mix and Trade - Have students trade their pictures repeatedly with other students. You may start with this step for later groups if you have multiple hours participating in the same grouping activity.
Solve Puzzle - Stop the students randomly and have them solve their puzzles by finding the students who also have pieces to the same "puzzle."
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Group Activities

Jigsaw

"Jigsaw in 10 Easy Steps"
- Follow these ten steps to implement a jigsaw activity.
- This is a great way to cover a lot of information in a short time period.
"Jigsaw Activity Handout"
- This handout allows students to record information about the part of the topic they receive as well as the information they receive when they return to their main group.
"Jigsaw Checklist"
- Use this checklist to ensure all students are prepared to take part in a jigsaw activity.

Jot Thoughts
1. Everyone gets a small stack of Post-Its.
2. Students think of a one or two word answer to the question and jot it to the Post-It.
3. Students will read their Post-It aloud as they stick them on the table so there aren't duplicates.
4. They will continue doing this on as many Post-Its as they can until time is called.

Mix, Pair, Share
1. Students stand up and quietly mix around the room as music plays.
2. When the music stops or the teacher says, "Pair," students pair up with the person closest to them and gives a high five. If a student doesn't have a partner, he or she is to keep their hand up until they do.
3. The teacher asks a question and gives "think time."
4. Partner "A" shares as partner "B" listens. Who goes first can be determined by the teacher.
5. After a set amount of time, the teacher calls "time," and the partners switch roles.
6. When the teacher says, "Thank your partner," shake hands and move on to the next activity.

Quiz, Quiz, Trade

This cooperative-learning technique has students review information with other students by asking and answering questions. Working with peers in a nonthreatening manner builds confidence, encourages greater participation, and results in more thoughtful discussions.

Create Questions - Provide each student with flash cards about the current unit of study. One side of the card has a question or vocabulary term and the other side provides the answer or definition.
Pair Up - Pair students up using whatever method works for you. Partner A holds up the flash card to show Partner B the question. Partner B answers. Partner A praises if correct or coaches if incorrect. They switch roles and Partner B asks Partner A the next question.
Hands Up - After thanking each other and switching cards, Partners A and B raise their hands to find a new partner and repeat the process for an allotted amount of time.

The teacher can also monitor the time for each interaction. For example, music can be played and stopped, at which time each student has to put their hand up and find a partner. They can be given only a minute (or more, depending on the group and the difficulty of the content) to answer and discuss the questions. They trade flash cards. Then, the music comes back on and when it goes off, students must find a new partner and repeat the same process.

Quiz-Quiz Trade/Inside-Outside Circles

This combines the Quiz-Quiz Trade and Inside-Outside Circles group activities, adding structure to the process of finding a partner.

Talking Chips
1. Students are broken into groups for a small group discussion.
2. Each student is given a chip.
3. Each time a student wants to speak, he/she must put his/her chip in the middle of the table.
4. All chips must be in the middle of the table before talkers can take a second turn.
5. Once students have their chip back (after everyone has gone), they have the opportunity to speak again.

Think, Pair, Share

"Checklist: Think, Pair, Share"

Use this checklist to ensure all students are prepared to take part in a Think,Pair, Share activity.

Checklist - Think, Pair, Share.pdf

Timed Pair Share

This is a modified version of Mix, Pair, Share where the groups either choose their partner or are quickly sorted (perhaps through the Kagan Face & Shoulder Partners grouping method).

Students are given "think time" to think about a topic or question.
Then students are grouped into pairs and are told they will be given a set amount of time to discuss the topic or question with a partner.
Partner "A" shares as partner "B" listens.
After a set amount of time, the teacher calls "time," and the partners switch roles.
When the teacher says, "Thank your partner," shake hands and move on to the next activity.

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