Group Work in the Montessori Elementary: Why, When, and How?

by Greg MacDonald

·      
I spoke about group work at last year's AMI Refresher
Course, and always spend some time with my students
covering this critical topic.  Here are some general
thoughts which may help you in the classroom:

Why Group Children?

You can group children for many purposes.  These
include:
 Ability Grouping (Particularly for Numeracy &
Literacy)
  Friendship Grouping
 Hero Grouping
 Random Grouping (for many presentations outside
Numeracy/Literacy)
 Interest Grouping
 Targeted Grouping (Social/Emotional etc. purpose,
such as helping specific children to find a friend)

Two Fundamental Laws for Working with Groups

1. Children are NEVER grouped according to age or
grade level.  Their individual needs are all that is
considered.  Sometimes they will be the same age or
in the same "grade", but other group members will be
older/younger and/or in different "grades".  
2. Groups are changed and the individual children within
them are "regrouped" as often as is needed.

Regrouping During a Presentation

 You start with five children and during the initial
presentation find that two have already and
independently reached the conclusion that you're
headed for, so you quickly work out a problem/activity
with material for them that confirms this for you, and
then get them started.
 The other three are a little uncertain, so work with
them a little longer.  
  Two of them soon are ready to move into follow-up
work.  You get them started. 
 Then you check in with the first group of two briefly,
for whom (if they're finished with the initial piece of
work) you provide a new challenge or you start into
the next presentation, leaving them for a moment with
some piece of this presentation to carry out. 
 Then you turn to the fifth child and go into the original
presentation again, from a different angle.
 You have three sub-groups now, and you work with
each as is needed.  They may need to wait for a few
moments for your attention, but you work to split your
time and attention across all three.  
 Ultimately, you leave all three subgroups at work on
challenges that suit them, and you go onto the next
presentation with the next group.

... This is a typical pattern in the classroom, and it has as

many variations as the children have needs and you have
creativity.
When planning groups, every day and every
presentation can conceivably involve new groups.
The above scenario, for example, means that the next
time you work with these five children, you'll have three
new groups!  To each of these you may add new children
whose needs match the needs of children already in the
group.

Factors to Consider
To determine groups, look at:
 The needs of the children
 Their skills/knowledge
 Their interests
 Their requests for presentation
 Your records
 The children's records (Learning Journals)
 The children's work
...Groups fall out from this approach.

Final Thoughts
 Children you believe to be close in skills/knowledge
can be grouped together as you see fit, because
some will have moved forward independently, some
will have regressed a little, and some will be where
you are.
 The initial orientation conversation and orientation as
you begin a presentation (first level of "test") and the
presentation itself will guide you in the formation of
any sub-groups that arise (as above).