I also teach 6th class and this is a great idea, I will definitely use that to create teams in the future so thanks for the tip.
Every class is different and this year I found a lot of the girls , with the exception of 2 or 3 NEVER participated in class, NEVER spoke to a visitor, NEVER offered to answer a q, I found it very strange initially because I found the group to be quite chatty in the yard/ on previous interactions. I had a lot of “big” personalities, who just so happened to be boys and on talking with parents at PTMs, it was obvious that the girls had become nearly submissive over the years, sitting back to let the boys do all the answering, afraid to put themselves forward incase theyd be ridiculed. It was very, very strange indeed.I have never seen a class like it and Iam over 20 years teaching. Our SET team got involved as I felt really strongly about it and wanted to prepare them(all students) for secondary school, so small groups were put in place to raise confidence, role play, promote skills and encourage participation…this kind’ve goes against what you’ve said intially but I would do the same thing if it was the boys. It did help and I hope the girls are more confident as a result, heading into secondary school.