Why randomly assign pairs?
We suggest randomly pairing students at the beginning of a unit and keeping pairs together for the unit for several important reasons. Random pairing teaches the students that it is their responsibility to learn to work with everyone in the class. Partners get to know each other very well as readers and learners by spending time together. Random grouping can be challenging for teachers to manage because initially students may lack the social skills to be able to work with randomly assigned partners. The lessons provide a lot of support to the teacher for helping students learn to take responsibility for working together, through setting classroom norms, teaching social skills and cooperative structures, discussing values, and solving problems together. It is important for students’ social development that they have opportunities to work through difficulties with their partner. Although we advocate randomly pairing students, we do recognize the need for teachers in some situations to ma
