It would be nice if our classrooms were nice and orderly like these wonderful produce bins. It looks nice and straight. Easy to determine what produce is you have on each shelf. Yet, each area only has a single flavor, which would get very boring. Taking items from different areas to make a salad is so much more flavor.
Same as with our students, a variety of students makes learning so much more interesting. Students learn from each others strengths and helps support their weakness. As teachers, we need to help our students to blend with each other both socially and academically.
Using cooperative groups is not just an academic learning tool, but helps our students to work with each other socially. We need to be aware of the "flavors" that may not work together, to find what needs to be added to help them to be able to work through their problems. Use an anchor chart to establish social expectations to group work. Review the expectations prior to starting a group project. Make sure you move students around each time so they can learn from different students.
A little disorder can be much more productive than the straight clean lines. It takes practice.
