Reading Workshop: Grouping

• PRINT
• EMAIL

Flexible Grouping
Essential Experiences
Tips for Productive Work

Why Flexible Grouping Matters
Teaching reading should not be confined to whole-group interactions. To meet the needs of elementary and middle-school students, educators recommend a mixture of whole-group, small-group, one-on-one, and individual learning events. Research describes the benefits of the following groupings:

• whole-group events: gatherings, shared reading, teacher read- alouds, discussions, sharing students' projects, book talks, mini-lessons.
• small-group events: book discussions and dramatizations, mini-lessons, conferring, one-on-one interactions
• individual events: silent reading, journal entries, self-evaluation, choice in reading

During whole-group discussions, and as heterogeneous groups of children talk about books, developing readers can observe how proficient readers go about summarizing, synthesizing, posing questions, and so forth. Over time, observations and guided practice, combined with scaffolding from teachers, help struggling readers develop their own strategy models.

Each day, teachers who interact with their middle school students observe them at work, confer with them, and read their journal entries. The information gathered enables teachers to decide how to group children for reading instruction and when to move each child forward.

Essential Grouping Experiences

Independent Free-Choice Reading While students read, teachers can hold short one-on-one conferences, giving students individualized support on selecting readable and interesting books.

Strategic-Reading Groups Pairs or small groups of students with similar needs work with the teacher on understanding and applying reading strategies.

Literature Discussion Groups Small heterogeneous groups talk about books they've read that relate to a theme and/ or author study.

Tips for Productive Group Work

• Review behavior guidelines frequently, as students need reminders.
• Create a signal for immediate quiet, such as flicking the lights.
• If students are rowdy, give them one warning.
• If unacceptable behavior persists, stop the activity, explain why, and tell students you'll try group work on the next day.

Laura Robb, a classroom teacher for 34 years, currently teaches eighth grade at Powhatan School in Boyce, Virginia, and coaches teachers in grades K-8. She is the author of Reading Strategies that Work (Scholastic Professional Books, 1996) and Whole Language, Whole Learners (Morrow, 1994).

Learning Center: The First Week
Helps teachers developing a clear idea of what they hope to gain from using learning centers and explains how to prepare accordingly.

Staff Workshop Instructions: Building Family and Community Relationships
Instructions are presented for teachers in building family and community relationships. One of the goals is to design ways of supporting and empowering families and communities through respectful, reciprocal relationships. Also see "Teacher Handout: From - Building Family and Community Relationships."

Staff Workshop Teacher Handout: Early Years Are Learning Years - Eight Ways for Young Children to Be Smart
Stone expresses eight ways for young children to be smart. Various intelligences discussed include logic smart, person smart and nature smart. For more information, see "Workshop Topic: Recognizing Individual Learning Styles", linked to this page.

BOOK INFORMATION	Amelia Bedelia Young readers find this eager-to-please housekeeper, who takes all her instructions literally, as charming and irresistible as Amelia Bedelia's employers do. Expressive illustrations of the well-intentioned and warm-hearted Amelia's comical mishaps complement the light and humorous tone.