Ï㽶ÊÓƵ

SKILLS21 is on hold for the 2024/25 academic year. If you have questions about recognition of your participation, please email myinvolvement [at] mcgill.ca.

Setting Up Small Groups

Ï㽶ÊÓƵ

These strategies can be used to break a large group of participants into smaller groups.

Deck of cards

  • Distribute one playing card to each participant. You can also designate a participant to randomly hand out cards as peers enter the classroom. For large workshops, use more than one deck of cards.
  • Ask participants to form groups by:
    • Suit (e.g., clubs or hearts) for large groups
    • Card type (e.g. two or four of a kind) for small groups
    • Run (e.g., ace-2-3 or 9-10-Jack-Queen-King) for various size groups

Count off

  • Count participants off from 1 to 10 until each participant has been assigned a number.
  • Ask participants to get together by grouping all participants assigned #1, then all participants assigned #2, etc.

Birth month

  • If uniform group size is not required, have participants group themselves according to their birth month.

For virtual workshops: Breakout roomsÌý

  • Assign participants to breakout rooms at random

  • Allow participants to self-select breakout room; use birth month, date of birth, favorite season, etc. to have participants group themselves by joining the corresponding breakout roomÌý

Ìý


While this web page is accessible worldwide, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ is on land which has served and continues to serve as a site of meeting and exchange amongst Indigenous peoples, including the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabeg nations. Teaching and Learning Services acknowledges and thanks the diverse Indigenous peoples whose footsteps mark this territory on which peoples of the world now gather. This land acknowledgement is shared as a starting point to provide context for further learning and action.


Ìý

Back to top