Groups in the classroom

When teaching primary school there is some debate over dividing the class into groups of possible 6 to 8 students in each group

When you first divide the class up into groups you have to let go of some control. This way the students have a little bit of flexibility to do what they what. And some children will take advantage of this freedom to talk

Group work can be used in most subjects especially reading but it can still be good for math. This way the students who understand the math can teach the students who have problems. With English it is different because the students are practicing reading. In small groups it is better for the shy students, because they might not like to talk in front of the whole class but they will speak in a small group. 

As class sizes have got bigger and more and more children have problems there is a tendency to stay away from small groups until the students get to collage or university. In primary school control is very important because once the students think they can get away with doing what they like they are very hard to bring back under control. 

So most teachers will never use small groups as they are afraid of losing control of the class. It is easier to jump on disruptive students when all the students should be facing the blackboard. Anyway I don’t know if the students learn more in small groups but I do know they don’t learn very much when the teacher loses control of the classroom.

For more information about teaching your students or children reading in small groups see our Teach Reading page.