Benefits of Small Group Rotation

I'm taking an ESOL class right now and came across an article on the Benefits of Small Group Rotation. Just wanted to share.

Cooperative Groups Role Selection

When the students are working in Cooperative Groups, teachers often assign them roles. I use Reporter, Facilitator, Recorder, and Materials Manager. The group roles can vary depending on how many students you have in each class/group. Since my class desks are in quads, I use 4 roles.

Here is how we chose group roles. We want it to be random. So I use this idea:

The apples are magnetized so I can switch them around.

1. I put the 4 apples in my hand.
2. In the middle of each quad, I have 4 colored circles that match the apples above (red, green, yellow, and blue). 
3. Each student randomly chooses 1 color. The students do not know which role they have chosen.
4. I then put a colored apple by the role, as pictured above, after all students have selected a color. 

Using this strategy to choose roles stops the same people from always being the "leader" of the group.

Business Card Magnets

Business Card Magnets are the one necessity for my classroom.

I use business card magnets for anything that I want to stick on my board, but want to be able to move and reuse year after year. The original purpose is to adhere a business card on to the magnet. I cut them into fourths or eighths and stick to the back of signs, posters, and artifacts. The possibilities are endless.

I buy them from Staples and it's about $20 for 50. Again, I cut them up into pieces as the entire magnet is usually not necessary.