Small Group Instruction
Small group instruction supports students through strategy lessons and book clubs. Teachers select and prioritize the structure of small group instruction based on students’ needs alongside text and curricula demands. My recent work with instructional coaches from several school districts helped me to revise and clarify my current definitions. This small group work takes place within a 40-minute ELA period, while other students are working independently, reading core texts or in book clubs themselves.
strategy lesson to support understanding character’s choices (students bring their own independent reading text to the group)
Strategy Lessons
Strategy lessons focus on a common need among a group of students that may be at a range of reading/writing abilities. Groups for strategy lessons are formed by teachers revisiting their conferring notes and noticing trends (often aligned with current reading and writing work) that need supporting or extending. Teachers first coach into strategies with students using familiar materials (and model as needed), then students try the strategy in their own reading/writing.
book club meeting to discuss their chosen text
book clubs
Book clubs support all readers by nurturing stamina, rich comprehension, discourse and responding to self-selected text/text sets. The teacher’s role is to facilitate focused conversations while students select their group’s pace for reading and discussing their selected materials. Students should each determine their personal fluency rate based on how many pages they read within 10 minutes. This will help readers plan for reading in and out of school in order to keep up with their group’s pacing. Book clubs may (but do not have to) align with current curricula content and readers should revisit their personal fluency rates each time they read a different genre.