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assigning partners
By Kermit
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I usually assign partners, but when I have the kids "choose" partners I am very directed about it. For example, say I want groups of five.
I will pick the first kids (lining up the "team leader" play ground style| in the front of the room) making sure to include any "low status" students in the mix. Then they each choose a partner. The second kid picked also chooses a partner. Then I will choose the last two kids for the group. This way, the low status kid doesn't feel like he is picked last. Say he picks Mr. Popular... Mr. Popular may not be too pleased about working with Low Status, but then Mr. | |
Popular can pick a friend too. I then pick the rest of the group to 1) ensure a good gender mix, and 2) make sure the groups have a decent ability mix, and to make sure that low status kid is not left in the dust by the group. This way, there is also about a third of the class left for me to divide up, so it's not like there is one kid left that no one has picked.
This has worked well for me. I do it quite often. For groups less than 5, will have the kids pick someone of the opposite gender. So again, I will pick the first kid, then she picks a boy, and he picks a girl. I think I got this idea from Survivor. They are not necessarily picking friends (since 3rd and 4th graders are usually friends with their own gender) but they are picking people they know they can work with.
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