Creating Diversity in Groups
The school I teach in doesn't have a lot of diversity. How would you recommend creating diverse groups? I often number off so that people are forced to work with people they don't always talk to, but it can be difficult when we have small classes and everyone seems to be so similar.
Hi Bobbi.
My experience has been that sometimes schools look as if they do not have diversity, but this can be misleading. Whether one is talking about an all-white suburban school, a predominantly African-American city school, an all-boys or all-girls school... I'm betting there's diversity in there somewhere.
For example, I used to think that the town where my sister lived was startlingly homogenous. She set me straight. Rural Wisconsin, mostly white. However, there was diversity in terms of socio-economic class, farming families, town families, those who grew up in the area, those who were new, religion, parents together or divorced, big families, small familes... I suppose you get the point (enough already, eh?).
Of course, we're not going to state that we're going to mix the poor folk up with the rich folk, but we can look at life experience as one way to sort and group. I'm thinking people who've travelled locally, those who are only children...
When I taught high school I grouped students by ability at times and others, I made sure those of very diverse abilities were put together. Interestingly enough, I noticed that when I had the students sort themselves, the gifted and special education students chose to be in groups together--I think they recognized that they thought outside the box.
Does this help at all?
It is difficult to form a diverse group when you have similar people in your class. My problem is with small amount of people in the class. I just encourage the group and help them to stay on track.
I agree, it is difficult with a small class. Students tend to gravitate toward others they feel comfortable with. I do explain to my students that they need to be open to new experiences and blend them with opother students which they normally would not choose for their group.
I have the opposite issue at our school. We have adult learners from many different backgrounds and this can be challenging. I have tried many different ways to create equaility in groups but one of the best ways that works for me is I have the students choose their groups using popsicle sticks with numbers from 1-4 on them and this way they know I am not picking favorites and they feel it is fair. I have all of the #1's together and so forth. The students all think it is fun. This helps diversify the groups.
