Hi Dixie: My first response is we have to work with who we have and the resources available. In the past, I've had better prepared stuednts lead lesser prepared ones in activity-based lessons. For reading or writing assignment, I usually have the students work independently as I need to assess their individual performance. But in discussions, everyone's kind of on a level play field - especially if an opinion based discussion. One effective method of working with different learning levels is to mix brighter with lesser students, give one component of a topic, then each in the group can participate to whatever degree they're able. Seems like all benefit from this exercise. Regards, Barry