Every teacher who has tried this knows the two hard parts. One is knowing who belongs at the table today. The other is that the moment you sit down, someone across the room has a question, someone else has finished, and someone is looking at a screen that is not part of the lesson. The group is only as good as the independent work behind it.
Choosing who to pull
Use the most recent evidence you have, not the group you formed in September. A short exit question, a few problems from yesterday's practice or a quick look over shoulders will do. Pull students around one skill and put the names back in the pool the next day. Groups that are formed by skill and dissolved by skill do not turn into labels. Groups that are formed by general ability tend to stick for the year.
Keep the first group small. Four to six is workable. Eight is a mini whole-class lesson with a worse view of the board.
What a good ten minutes looks like
- Start with one question, not a speech. Let them show you the error.
- Teach one thing. One worked example, spoken aloud, then one they try while you watch.
- Check each student alone with a single question before you release them. Do not ask "does everyone get it?"
- Say what happens next: where they go, what they do, and when you will check again.
What the other students do
The independent work has to run without you, have a clear next step, and produce something you can check. Good options are a practice set on a different skill, a task they have done before in a new form, partner work with a structured prompt, or reading with a purpose. Do not use it for new content that needs your explanation. Routines taught in the first weeks help far more than rules announced at the moment you sit down.
Where ClassSense helps
With devices, the independent stations can be ClassSense practice: students open a skill pack and work through the practice, with hints and feedback, while you teach the group. The practice is scored as they go, so you are not marking it afterwards. The card Students who need you on your dashboard shows who is stuck and on which skill, and the Students grid lets you scan a column to see who else is stuck on the same one. That gives you a group list based on what students did this week rather than what you remember.
For a station that needs no screen, Create Content can make Task Cards or a Worksheet from a skill pack. The skill pack is also a quick source for your own group lesson: a worked example you can borrow and a named misconception to aim at.
Scan before class
Open the dashboard and the Students grid. Note the skill and four to six names.
Set the stations
Tell the rest of the room which skill pack to open or which cards to use.
Teach ten minutes
One example, one try, one check per student.
Look at the grid afterwards
See who moved. Anyone still stuck is tomorrow's group.
What it does not do. It does not build groups automatically or tell you how to teach them. It does not run the rotation or watch the room. Students need devices for the independent part, or you need paper stations. The grid only reflects practice students have actually done, so a skill nobody has touched looks empty and not weak.
For the data side of this, see data-driven instruction, and for the wider range of needs in one room see mixed-ability classrooms.
Common questions
How often should groups change?
As often as the skill changes. Forming groups around one skill and dissolving them afterward keeps them from becoming labels.
Does ClassSense form the groups?
No. It shows you who is stuck and on which skill, and you decide who sits at the table.
What if I do not have enough devices?
Use paper for some stations. Task Cards and Worksheets from Create Content download as .docx files you can print.
Can students in the group also use ClassSense?
They can, before or after. The group time itself works best with you and the students, not a screen.