Mixed ability groups

Helen McDonnell:

Working in mixed ability groups really seemed to help a lot of the kids because some of those less able in writing, actually had very good ideas. The earlier stage of brainstorming ideas and creating stories together was very good. The difficulty came at the end, putting the ideas on paper. There lower ability children were getting left behind while the higher ability children were sailing on. Usually in literacy you are supporting the lower ability children in a group. It was about getting the higher ability children to develop their capacity to support the lower ability children.