A Teacher Guide to Flexible Grouping and Collaborative Learning ― Form, Manage, Assess, and Differentiate in Groups - With Digital Content

Grouping learners purposefully throughout the school day based on their needs and the curriculum remains the single best way to differentiate instruction. This guide will help teachers expertly use flexible grouping and differentiation strategies to respond to students’ diverse learning needs, abilities, and interests. Included are methods for creating groups based on assessment data, planning group lessons and tiered assignments, engaging learners at all levels, supporting personalized learning, grading collaborative work, and communicating with parents about the benefits of groupwork and productive struggle. Digital content contains all forms from the book and a PDF presentation. A free online PLC/Book Study Guide is available at freespirit.com/PLC.

Dina Brulles, Ph.D., is a school administrator and the gifted education director for Arizona’s Paradise Valley Unified School District. Recognized for her expertise in creating and supervising school-wide cluster grouping, she also assists districts throughout the United States in developing gifted-education programs and serves on the faculty of the Graduate College of Education at Arizona State University. Prior to becoming an administrator, Dina was an elementary classroom teacher, a bilingual teacher, an ESL teacher, and a gifted-cluster teacher. She lives in Peoria, Arizona.

Karen L. Brown, M.Ed., is an education consultant and a gifted program mentor at Paradise Valley Unified School District in Arizona. She was previously an elementary school gifted specialist and a professor of gifted education at Arizona State University. Karen lives in Phoenix, Arizona.