How to W.I.N. in the Classroom: Organizing Student Groups

In the first post of this series, I introduced you to the W.I.N.  block.  W.I.N. stands for "What I Need" and as the name implies, the thing that makes a W.I.N. block a different than most workshop or center time models is the focus on individual student needs.

Before we look at grouping students, let's talk about a couple of decisions that need to be made before you start organizing your groups.   

1.  When, in my schedule, can I fit a W.I.N. block?  

In my case, I have a 75 minute block for math.  I chose to use the first 30 minutes of that time.  There are some teachers in my school who hold a W.I.N. time the last 30 minutes of their math block.  

2.  How often will students participate in the W.I.N. block?

My class has W.I.N. time every day.   Students come into the classroom and go straight to their stations.    One of my teammates hold a W.I.N. block twice a week.  Really, it just depends on your schedule and what you hope to accomplish in that time.  

The first few rounds of W.I.N. in my classroom were 5 days long.  I organized my students into 5 groups based on assessments I'll discuss a little later.  I chose 5 groups because I had five stations, so each group would complete all 5 stations in five days.

After the first few full rounds, I realized that, if I am really trying to give students what they need for math, I can't always fit everyone into 5 groups.  For the last two rounds of W.I.N. my students have been in 6 different groups.  Because of this I planned 6 different stations.   

Speaking of organizing students into groups based on their needs, there are several different ways I gather data to inform my grouping decisions.  

• At the beginning of the year, before you have any of your own data on a student, using the previous year's state reading and math assessments is a great place to start.  My students participate in SBAC at the end of each year, so that data is available to help me get a better understanding of where each students is academically.

• Many teachers give beginning of the year assessments to their students.  The results of those tests can give you some information on your students' needs and help you make decisions about student groupings. 

• One assessment tool my district recently purchased for schools is iReady from Curriculum Associates.  iReady is a comprehensive diagnostic test for both math and reading.  Students take the assessment at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and at the end of the year.  Based on their results, the software will group students.  The software also gives teachers access to lessons and materials to help support students.  This is the first assessment tool I use to organize my intervention and enrichment groups for the W.I.N. block.   I realize that not all school districts have the luxury of this diagnostic tool.  

• Another assessment I use to organize my students is our math curriculum checkpoint quizzes or mid-unit quizzes.  As I am checking over student work, I keep a list of the concepts covered in the checkpoint and write down the names of students who need extra support in those areas.  I love grouping this way because it helps me support my students BEFORE the end of the chapter test. 

• Exit tickets are another great way to quickly get a gauge for what your students need support with.  Exit tickets can be purposefully created to help inform you BEFORE your next round of W.I.N.

• End of unit assessments are also helpful when putting together groups.  Even though the chapter is over, it doesn't mean that all students have mastered the skills and concepts presented in those lessons.  W.I.N. time is a great opportunity review concepts with small groups and give students more time and practice. 

These, of course, aren't the only tools you can use to gather data and form groups.  The important thing is to know your students and have an understanding of what they need to successfully meet their academic goals.  

Once you have your data, find students who have similar needs and put them into groups together.  I try to keep my groups to about 4 to 6 students.  I have had groups that only had two students because those two students needed something much different than other students.  

When looking at student data, I usually have two or three groups that are working on holes they have in the concepts we are working on.  I also usually have a couple groups that do not need intervention, but instead need to be challenged.  

When looking at student groups, I usually think of them based on the "Teacher Time" station.  This is the station that students work directly with the teacher.  I plan the lesson for each group based on why they were grouped together.  The last round of W.I.N. that I planned, I worked with one group of students on multiplication strategies, another on division strategies, one group on basic operations, and three groups were being challenged to learn and compare three new multiplication strategies (lattice method,  Egyptian method, and the Chinese method for multiplication)  Those three groups had already mastered multi-digit multiplication and introducing them to three new strategies was fun for them.  Also... the challenge of trying to figure out why they worked got them thinking about place value. 

Once your groups are planned and you know what the goal is for each group.  Plan your lessons.
  

I've used the planning page above for my last couple of W.I.N. rounds. I've revamped it for this blog post and to help me plan my next round.  The new planning pages give you space for your group lists, group goals, group lesson plans, and an opportunity to plan each of your other stations.

Click below for a free download of the W.I.N. planner.  There are three options:
1.  Fillable PDF

After you open in Google, make sure to "download" it.  

2. Printable PDF

3. PNG to put into a PowerPoint slide and make your own text boxes.  Use this option if you want to be able to change your font, colors, etc.

I hope that this post gives you some ideas of ways you can look at student data to plan small groups for your W.I.N. block.  Next week I will be sharing ideas for W.I.N. math station activities.  Here is a list of upcoming blog posts in this series:

•   Station Ideas - free download of editable station signs and group headers
•   Managing Materials - free download of binder cover and spine
•   Keeping Kids Accountable - free download of student recording sheet
•   Launching a W.I.N. Block - Mystery download! 

If you have any questions about how to form groups please let me know in the comments below.  Also, if you use different assessments or sources of data in your classroom, please share with others by commenting.  I look forward to hearing from you.