What are some challenges you are facing this year regarding small group reading instruction in your class? What are some ideas you are planning to implement from this book that might help you with these challenges?
This year it has been very difficult for me to meet with my lowest students every day in small groups. As suggested in the book, I am planning to find hidden pockets in my schedule to meet with this group such as early in the morning as the students enter my classroom.
One challenge that I am facing is having a sufficient amount of time to work with as many groups as possible in one day. Those groups that consist of students who read at a lower level consume most of the time during small group instruction. After reading Chapter 1 and 2, it emphasizes that more thoughtful plans (which may consume more time) are more helpful for struggling readers, than to aim at trying to meet with all your groups daily. In order to meet with higher readers that are more independent, I will refer back to teaching points taught during whole group lessons and assign them ways to utilize those strategies during their independent reading. I allow all those students who read at a higher level to form their own reading book buddies in order to hold each other accountable for different expectations in their reading. They later come to reflect what they have employed in their reading, with the teacher, which may not be during the scheduled daily small group time throughout the day. This is a method that I use so that higher readers have their reading development skills met as well. In facing the challenge with time, I will try to use a different method in preparing lesson plans for small group instruction. I like the template idea provided from the book that lists segments before, during, and after reading. It also has space provided for the teacher to list the focus or teaching point, the level of the book, the title, warm-up activity and a reflection portion. Having a plan that is more organized and addresses a specific concept in a variety of ways, will allow for the small group instruction to transition smoothly and I can move on to the next group. If I feel something did not go as planned or something didn’t work well in the plan for that lesson, I can address it with that group the next day.
I have notice that I am spending more time with my lower group. I will like to implement a chart that manages small groups over a two week period. This is a great idea to help with management in guided reading.
During snall group instruction, the students that are not in the group have a tendency to interrupt the group. In the book, Debbie Diller suggests the use of a physical object that reminds students not to iterrupt during small group instruction. An example of a physical object is a red stop sign.
Some of the challenges I am facing this year regarding small group instruction are: -students who come to my class are working at various instructional levels so it is difficult to form groups - the lesson sequences that are expected to be completed in half an hour take longer. The ideas I am planning to implement are: setting up mini work stations so that I can put some students to work independently while I focus on one or two students who are functioning at approximately the same level and have similar needs.
Some challenges I am facing this year with the small groups are with several students with different special needs, whether it is speech or them needing glasses and my special case of a students with hearing loss. In the small groups I am incorporating the reflection of the story as well as the retelling, and I am sure that will help at the end of the year’s DRA testing. The good thing is that I am seeing interest in the students to improve their attitude and increase their awareness through the independent conferences.
One of the biggest challenges in getting the lower reading students to accelerate their learning and having them feel successful. I would like to implement the clipboard assessment during the different reading structures to keep track of literacy behaviors to make planning more purposeful.
One of the challenges I had this year was having students in the intervention groups with a very different reading level. It was hard to meet the needs of all of them.
2. My biggest challenge is having my students constantly interrupting me during my small group lessons. I am frequently stopping to remind my students to solve their own problems or to be productive during independent work stations. I really like how the teacher in the book used a visual reminder for her students. I will create a visual reminder for my students. I will use a sign that reminds them not to interrupt my small group lesson and reinforce consequences for students who chose to ignore the image. I will create meaningful independent work stations that would reinforce their newly acquired knowledge from my whole and small group lessons.
This year it has been very difficult for me to meet with my lowest students every day in small groups. As suggested in the book, I am planning to find hidden pockets in my schedule to meet with this group such as early in the morning as the students enter my classroom.
ReplyDeleteOne challenge that I am facing is having a sufficient amount of time to work with as many groups as possible in one day. Those groups that consist of students who read at a lower level consume most of the time during small group instruction. After reading Chapter 1 and 2, it emphasizes that more thoughtful plans (which may consume more time) are more helpful for struggling readers, than to aim at trying to meet with all your groups daily. In order to meet with higher readers that are more independent, I will refer back to teaching points taught during whole group lessons and assign them ways to utilize those strategies during their independent reading. I allow all those students who read at a higher level to form their own reading book buddies in order to hold each other accountable for different expectations in their reading. They later come to reflect what they have employed in their reading, with the teacher, which may not be during the scheduled daily small group time throughout the day. This is a method that I use so that higher readers have their reading development skills met as well.
ReplyDeleteIn facing the challenge with time, I will try to use a different method in preparing lesson plans for small group instruction. I like the template idea provided from the book that lists segments before, during, and after reading. It also has space provided for the teacher to list the focus or teaching point, the level of the book, the title, warm-up activity and a reflection portion. Having a plan that is more organized and addresses a specific concept in a variety of ways, will allow for the small group instruction to transition smoothly and I can move on to the next group. If I feel something did not go as planned or something didn’t work well in the plan for that lesson, I can address it with that group the next day.
I have notice that I am spending more time with my lower group. I will like to implement a chart that manages small groups over a two week period. This is a great idea to help with management in guided reading.
ReplyDeleteDuring snall group instruction, the students that are not in the group have a tendency to interrupt the group. In the book, Debbie Diller suggests the use of a physical object that reminds students not to iterrupt during small group instruction. An example of a physical object is a red stop sign.
ReplyDeleteSome of the challenges I am facing this year regarding small group instruction are:
ReplyDelete-students who come to my class are working at various instructional levels so it is difficult to form groups
- the lesson sequences that are expected to be completed in half an hour take longer.
The ideas I am planning to implement are: setting up mini work stations so that I can put some students to work independently while I focus on one or two students who are functioning at approximately the same level and have similar needs.
Some challenges I am facing this year with the small groups are with several students with different special needs, whether it is speech or them needing glasses and my special case of a students with hearing loss. In the small groups I am incorporating the reflection of the story as well as the retelling, and I am sure that will help at the end of the year’s DRA testing. The good thing is that I am seeing interest in the students to improve their attitude and increase their awareness through the independent conferences.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest challenges in getting the lower reading students to accelerate their learning and having them feel successful. I would like to implement the clipboard assessment during the different reading structures to keep track of literacy behaviors to make planning more purposeful.
ReplyDeleteOne of the challenges I had this year was having students in the intervention groups with a very different reading level. It was hard to meet the needs of all of them.
ReplyDelete2. My biggest challenge is having my students constantly interrupting me during my small group lessons. I am frequently stopping to remind my students to solve their own problems or to be productive during independent work stations. I really like how the teacher in the book used a visual reminder for her students. I will create a visual reminder for my students. I will use a sign that reminds them not to interrupt my small group lesson and reinforce consequences for students who chose to ignore the image. I will create meaningful independent work stations that would reinforce their newly acquired knowledge from my whole and small group lessons.
ReplyDelete