I love hearing about the clever ways teachers group students in their classes.  My daughter, who is in middle school, told me about using “clock buddies” in one of her classes.  A different teacher gave them each a sheet with pictures on it, and they put a person’s name next to each one.  When the teacher called out a picture, such as, “Eagle!” they would have to find the partner who corresponded to that picture.

I have been using Class Dojo to randomly make teams or select partners, but it isn’t exactly the fastest way to do it.  Last week, I heard about an app called, “Team Shake,” which is so much faster!  It does cost .99, so I just downloaded it to my phone rather than a school iPad.  Once I input the names of the students for a class (or a club), all I have to do is choose the number of groups I want and shake to sort everyone immediately.  Since I have multiple classes and clubs, I am able to save each one separately and load them whenever I need them.

Knowing I would be doing this post today, I did a little research to find some other ideas for grouping students.  I ran across this gem by Genia Connell that has two of the ideas I already listed – plus eleven more!  (And free downloads!)  If you’re getting bored with always using the same method, you should definitely check out her suggestions! (I love the “Synonym Rolls” and the “iPartners”!)