Making Small groups work Series Part II

FORMING FLEXIBLE GROUPS BASED ON DATA 

Gone are the days of permanent ability groups—the most effective small groups are fluid and responsive to students’ needs.

How to Group Effectively:

🔹 Use student data (assessments, conferences, exit tickets) to form targeted groups.

                  Data can be informal or Formal   

🔹 Group by skill, not level—focus on what students need support with right now.

                  Types of Small  groups:

                          1. Strategy groups

                          2.  Guided Groups

                          3.  Book clubs/literature circles

                          4.  Skill Based

Conferences can be considered small group:  they will inform you of student needs and allow you to do a quick teaching point.

        Types of Conferences: 

             1.  One on One

             2.  Partner Ships

🔹 Reassess and adjust groups every few weeks to keep instruction relevant.

                 Groups should be flexible,  and you mind find that students are  needing to be in several groups,  that is okay,  those students are the ones you need to check in with daily.

                 Re assessment doesn't mean it has to always be a standardized assessment.  It can be results from a progress monitoring tool your using, from observations and/or from checklist. 

Teacher Hack: Use a student data tracker to keep tabs on progress and make informed grouping decisions.

When groups are formed with purpose and flexibility, small group instruction has a greater impact.

Hit the follow button, for more tips ideas and resources for the reading classroom

What’s your biggest small group challenge? Drop a comment below—I’d love to help! 

#SmallGroupSuccess #TeachingELA #ReadingWorkshop