January 30, 2009
After the students have checked in and we've recorded their choices on our clipboard, we release them for the duration of the round. It takes about a minute for the small group we've elected to work with to get settled in.
We take advantage of this transition time to hunker down next to our most at-risk students. It takes only a few seconds for them to reiterate what they are working on and for us to let them know we can't wait to check back to see how it went, but the brief bit of attention is often all that's needed to ensure their success. Once the small group is done and has moved back out to their Daily 5 choices, we follow up with the same at-risk students. This promptly reinforces success and helps them sustain independence throughout the morning.