I've heard quite a bit from (customized learning advocate) Bea McGarvey and friends about the value of grouping and regrouping students. As I mentioned in my prior post, organized small group instruction has not played a major role in my classroom in recent years. There has been more of a focus on individual instruction complemented by small group instruction based on immediate need. This was likely a mistake along the way for me.
While situations calling for whole class instruction remain few and far between, I've been making greater use of planned, small group reading instruction of late. I like what I've seen so far.
My initial emphasis has been on my weakest readers. Remember, these students were already receiving reading instruction at their level via video lessons, choices of readings, constructed response assessments, and Learning Target Projects. This approach was complemented by individual instruction on an as needed basis. However, I was missing an opportunity to push the learning to a higher degree. That is why I began a new series of Readers' Meetings. For these students, the initial focus has been on reading strategies, first in literature and soon in informational text. This has proven to be an effective approach as subsequent meetings are revealing that the learning is in fact taking place. Best of all, the structure of our customized approach allows these meetings to fit comfortably into the classroom framework.
Next in my sites will be my strongest readers. They will also participate in Readers' Meetings, though their meetings will be more of the Comprehension Focus Groups variety. My initial thinking is that these meetings will bring students together having read different pieces, of varying genres, all sharing a common theme or issue. The discussion will require students to consider how their readings and the readings of others fit together to form a greater understanding.
Once this second set of Readers' Meeting groups are underway, I'll shift my focus to the middle. I've left this subset of my class for last because data clearly shows that they are the group best served by my customized approach. (Please don't misunderstand this! All students are being well served by this approach. It's just that the middle group seems to be served quite a bit more than their peers at the extremes, not a unique occurrence in classrooms.)
And so, the journey continues with this new venture of grouping and regrouping students.
