Ability Grouping

           When I learned reading back in elementary school, we were always divided into reading groups.  Sometimes the groups were numbered, and sometimes they were named (the bluebirds, the robins, etc.)  But every student in the classroom knew just which group was which:  high, middle, low, remedial, etc.  I never gave it much thought at the time, because reading was a strength of mine.  Looking back on it though, it must have been hard on those who struggled and were always in that lowest group, irrespective of the name assigned to it.

           Today, there is a much stronger focus on whole-group instruction.  Here, no one is identified as high, middle, or low.  Instead, everyone reads the same story and participates in the same mini-lesson.  Once that lesson is over and the students begin independent work, now their stories can vary according to their reading abilities, challenging them enough so that they can learn something new, but keeping the material at their level, so they are not frustrated.  

            My personal classroom plan will be to assess each student often to best understand exactly what each one knows and what he/she needs to learn.  I will be sure that independent work is designed to meet the individual needs of each student, but that new skills are introduced and modeled to the whole class.  Then I can create small, flexible groups to address weaknesses that certain students might have in common.  In this way, no student has to be labeled as high, middle, or low. No student has to be left wishing that everyone wasn't so aware of who is and who is not in that coveted “high/advanced group.”