Pairing High Ability and Low Ability

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Home : 2004 : October : 21

Pairing High Ability and Low Ability
By Jaime

I try to keep my partnerships on a more level ground when it comes to making partnerships during math and reading time. I think there are times and places for high and low students to work together for example: During turn
and talk time during read alouds my kids are very mixed by abilities because it is not necessary for anyone to read or during science experiments. When asking children to read together I never pair my highest and lowest kids together. That is setting one up to be the teacher and one to be the follower. I believe that all children should be reading books at their grade level when reading

independently or with a partner. Just because children are low readers does not mean that they don't have fantastic thinking about a text. In fact during read aloud time I have found some of them to be better thinkers then some "high ability" students.

I take a fairly strong stand on letting high ability students assist lower ability students for some of the same reasons that have already been stated...they sometimes don't see it the same way ...etc. I strongly recommend reading "Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use to Meet the Academic Needs of the Gifted and Talented" by Susan Winebrenner. This book has left me with many moments of deep thinking that I come back to often.