Small Group or No Small Group?

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From a live workshop participant:

At the CAFE workshop, I learned about grouping students by reading strategy rather than reading level. It made so much sense that my children would be able to bring any good-fit book to the small group and I would provide instruction on a strategy they needed. I was excited to try it out. As I jumped in with both feet, I found myself relieved that I didn’t have to find a book to match the varied levels of the students. I was also excited by the amazing progress that happened when students were taught strategies with a book of their choice!

Fast-forward to spring. My students have been growing by leaps and bounds and I am delighted. However, I am finding that some of the growth is stalling and it is getting harder to group my students into small groups since their needs are more and more varied. How do I keep the learning progress and momentum going?

We love hearing when teachers have the courage to make a change in the best interest of their students. From the sounds of it, things are going great!

When we meet with students by strategy need rather than putting them in a small leveled group, we make learning about the student and not a program. When two or three students have the same need, this instructional practice is simply more efficient. Sometimes, however, we have a student who is the only reader in the class working on a specific strategy. How do we find a group for this student?

We don’t. This surprises teachers who are accustomed to placing every child in a small group, but your question illuminates the reason we don’t have to follow that former practice. As children grow as readers, their needs become more and more varied. When this happens, they don’t all fit into a set number of nice, tidy groups. Instead, we have some small groups (no more than three students each) and individually confer frequently with anyone who is not part of a small group.

Ninety minutes of literacy instruction may include one to three whole-group lessons, one or two small groups, and 9 to 12 conferences. Or one or two whole-group lessons and 12–15 conferences with no small groups. The important thing is that we focus on meeting each child’s specific needs with high-quality instruction and extended practice in good-fit books of their choice. The setting in which this instruction takes place depends entirely on the needs of the students in front of us.

So, how can you keep the learning progress and momentum going? Meet with them individually, a few times a week or every day if needed, so they can progress in the goals that will help them be successful, lifelong readers.

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