Teaching Tip: Assigning Groups

Assigning groups for cooperative learning can be difficult. Sometimes you just want to pick a partner for a quick brainstorming activity. Sometimes, the activity is much more involved. If you want to assign groups for quick activities, write the students names down on a deck of cards. Shuffle the cards and then pick however many students you want in the group from the top of the deck. Those students will be in a group together. If you do this in front of the students, the students will be less likely to complain as it is a random grouping. If you want to be more thoughtful about the selection, but still want to maintain the illusion of randomness, stack the deck before you pick the cards.