I think that ability grouping has worked well for students in some classrooms that I have worked in. It is very hard to teach reading without ability grouping. When students are on various levels, I think it is necessary to work with them on the appropriate level in order to make progress. I do however, think that the grouping could be done without the labeling of high group and low group. Reading is the only subject that I think is necessary for grouping. I think that if grouping is used in other subjects, it should be groups of students on various levels because peer to peer learning works. A high level kid, a adverage kid, and a kid on a lower level would be an ideal group.

I agree with you on the ability grouping. When I was in fifth grade, they pared kids up in classes by abilties, low, average, to advanced for reading and math. While I was in the lower class for math, I was in the advanced one for reading. I thought this arrangement held well for testing, possibly because the teacher could really get on everyones level at the same time to help us learn and comprehend the material better. As a student I really liked being paired with kids that were my level. We were able to do more challenging things, or rather be more focused on understanding the content.

A lot of time ability grouping is the only way to go. It is obvious that if you tried to teach all these children at once, with all these different levels, some would be way ahead and not learning anything, and others would be sitting there totally confused. I think that when you do group children, you should teach them, no matter what level they are on, with an energy that makes them what to keep trying. There should always be a challenge, don't make it too easy for those higher grouped children, but don't make it too hard for the lower grouped children. This is a very difficult topic, but i just don't know how else the different levels of children are going to learn?

I do agree with the levels not having labels on them! But still if they are in a lower level, the other children will probably know that even without the labels! Who knows what to do?!

Ability grouping does work well for students. My only concern with it is labeling. It is so hard to find a way to teach kinds without singling someone out. I do like the idea of pairs rather than groups. I don't think their acheivement level would be as obivious in pairs as it would be in groups. I think it will be a challenge for us as teachers to decide what will work best.