I know that when i was in Middle School or even Elementary school i was considered in "the smart classes". It would bother me to have that label on me even though it was the "smart label". I cant imagine what it was like to be on the reverse side of that and be in the "slower" classes. I think that everyone shoud be grouped the same. Yah there may be kids on different levels but i think that all the children can learn from each other.

I have observed from my previous experience that it is best not to group children according to their abilities. When I interned in a second grade classroom my senior year in high school there was one child in there with a mental disability. The teacher I worked with let her work in groups with children that were all on different levels and I saw her progress greatly by being in a group with these other children. I think it is best to sometimes let the children work together because at times they can explain things best to classmates than the teacher can.

I was also put in "enrichment" classes that were considered only for the academically gifted. These classes pulled me out of all of my regular classes to attend "special" classes where I learned spanish, took fieldtrips to the capitol, etc. I had to make up the work in all of my classes that I would miss. I felt weird leaving the regular classes and was sometimes made fun of when I went to get my make-up assignments. I definately think students should be given equal opportunities to experience education. Peer instruction, in my opinion, is very helpful. Although sometimes you can get conflict within groups in the classroom where students feel one is not doing enough work, or good enough work etc. It is a tough battle, but not one where ability grouping is necessary. This can only hurt the self image of a student (high or low achieving).

Kelly, i completely understand what you were saying about being seperated from other students. I was the same way. Also, i agree that kids shouldnt be labeled. No matter what all children should be given the same opportunities and education. Yes it may take other children longer to learn things, but as teachers thats where we must do all that we can to make sure that they do get as good of an education as everyone else.

I think it is so important to realize that we do learn from each other. When we are sending some students out of a classroom for one reason or another they are missing out on the classroom interaction that everyone else is involoved in. My sister was one of those people. She liked the stuff that she was doing in her "enrichment classes", however, she hated the fact that she was missing out on the stuff that the "normal" kids were getting to do in the classroom. She once told me that she thinks she would have learned more just by staying in the classroom with the other students, because that is where all the interaction between students was taking place, and they were really learning about and from each other.

The Ollie Taylor story gets to you and really makes you think. I have been on both sides of the spectrum one side by pure accident of the school. In middle school I was put in a class with all of the students that they didn't want in the "smarter" class. My teacher obviously knew that I was in the wrong class and use me to her advantage to help these students out. It was very sad because most of these students knew they weren't smart and usually didn't try because that is what they had heard most of their lives. In fact as I look back to my high school years and Graduation. I do not believe that I single one of those kids that I tried to help tutor graduatedl. I believe they are dropped out, of course maybe one or two transfered, but the majority dropped out. Which is really sad because they were never given the chance really to improve they were always put in the lower class and it was taught very differently than normal classes.

I have always seen grouping as a way to label students. Even in highschool, everyone knew who the "smart" kids were, and who the "goof off's" were. When I would go to my honors history class, the teacher would say, things like, "we are going to take this a little further that the last class, because you students are deep thinkers." Statements like these always made me feel bad.
I hadn't ever read anything that examined grouping, and I am glad that the studies show that grouping really doen't have any positive affects. I just hope that as new teachers we will not put up these barriers for our students!

Grouping is a very touchy subject in many of the schools right now. There are diffrerent circumstances for wether or not you should group students according to knowledge level. For example, if you have a very young group of students in which some do not even know their alphabet, these students should not be grouped with other students that are on a more advanced level. These children who are already behind, will only either fall behind even more, or learn just to go through the motions of learning their ABC's and reading. How do you think that all of these children are falling through the cracks?
Now if we are in a higher grade math class, i would say that it is safe to group in a heterogenius manner. The children who do understand the content will be able to teach the problem solving strategies to others in a way that might be easier to understand than how the teacher explained it.
So like i said, it can be good or bad, but it just depends on how you group different students and what subject matter you are dealing with!