Rant: I hate Kagan groupings

There. I said it. I hate having the groups of four with a high, medium high, medium low, and low student.

This seating arrangement is very hard to implement when I either have extremely high students or extremely low with barely any in the middle.

Not to mention all the TALKING from students within the groups. And I don’t just mean during the Kagan structures. I mean all the damn time. During instruction. During independent work. During silent reading. All. Day.

Last year I had my desks in rows of three facing the board and it worked out great. Everyone could see the board much better, I had more space to walk around the room without bumping into desks, and I could separate chatty students from their friends.

This year? Nope. I’ve rearranged these groups a million times to try to find a way that works. But no matter how I arrange the students, you either have them being the bestest of friends who won’t stop talking, or the worst enemies you’ve ever seen that argue every single day.

The district makes us keep the desks in these groupings so not much I can do, but I wish I could put them like I had last year.

But oh well, it is what it is.