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To address the wide range of individual student variances and needs, reading instruction within one classroom must be data-informed and call on small group instruction and flexible grouping practices. This article delineates routines and procedures to help teachers organize their classroom environment and reading instruction to positively affect student achievement and meet the needs of diverse learners.
Picture a classroom of 25 students. Six students are learning new vocabulary and reading with the teacher at one table. Eight students are working at language and literacy workstations, some collaboratively, others independently. Five more students are helping one another sort and use new words at the vocabulary worktable. Meanwhile, six other students are reading self-selected, leveled books at their desks, independently or with a partner.
Every 20 minutes, a timer goes off and the students move to a different activity. There are smooth transitions between activities-each student knows where to go and what to do. Student helpers contribute to the speedy transitions, monitoring each group's use of time and ensuring that each workstation is tidy and adequately supplied for the next group.
Near the end of the 90-minute reading block, the students return to their desks. The teacher then conducts a 10-minute whole-class lesson to review previously taught skills.
This scenario may sound too good to be true. But with the right management system, this scenario is achievable in many classrooms, regardless of the students' ages or grade levels.
Managing instruction
Teachers work extremely hard to manage classrooms and instruction. They expend tremendous energy planning lessons, meeting the demands for assessment, and implementing curricula to help students achieve reading standards.
Some are more successful than others, but the unique challenge for most involves organizing whole-class and small-group instruction. "One-size-fits-all" instruction is not an option. Lessons appropriate for one group of students often do not meet the needs of another group.
To address the wide range of instruction within one classroom, teachers must become skilled at using data-informed, small group instruction (Kosanovich, Ladinsky, Nelson, & Torgesen, 2006) and flexible grouping practices (Foorman & Torgesen, 2001) to attend to individual variances and needs.
This article delineates routines and procedures to help teachers organize their classroom environment and reading instruction to positively affect student achievement and meet the needs of diverse learners.
Grouping for instruction
Successful reading instruction begins and ends with a clear understanding of what students need to know and be able do as defined by state standards. To gain that understanding, it is crucial that teachers establish processes for collecting and using appropriate data to determine students' needs and to inform teachers' decision making about which grouping practice or pattern will be used.
Decisions about grouping practices are generally easier to make than those about grouping patterns. Gibson and Hasbrouck (2007) recommend that teachers make decisions about whole-class or small group lessons based on:
- the purpose of instruction,
- the importance of the skill or concept, and
- how much time is available that day for instruction.
Depending on the students' skill levels and needs, a whole-class approach can be useful for the initial introduction of a skill or concept. This includes visually and verbally modeling a lesson. A whole class approach can also be effective for practicing or reviewing a skill that everyone has attained to varying degrees.
To ensure student engagement in whole-class sessions, teachers can have students respond in unison to questions or ask them to use signals, such as "thumbs up, thumbs down," to indicate agreement or disagreement to statements made or questions asked. In addition, teachers can use pairing to have students discuss a concept, spell a word, or use a new term in an oral sentence.
Whole-class sessions work for overview-type instruction or guided practice. But to meet the specific reading needs of individual students, teachers need to provide data-informed, explicit, skills-focused instruction in small groups.
Selecting students for small-group instruction involves decisions about grouping patterns. Teachers can use homogeneous (similar skill) or heterogeneous (mixed skill) grouping patterns.
Mixing skill levels within small groups using high/medium and medium/low skill groupings is effective for teacher-led instruction. However, some skills or instructional purposes (e.g., assessment) are accomplished more efficiently and effectively with similar skill groupings.
The key to successful grouping is flexibility and using what works to achieve the instructional purpose. Group memberships need to be compatible and changeable, reflecting what students can do and need. Regrouping should occur as often as achievement data indicate it is needed.
Organizing the environment
Effective instruction involves establishing predictable, organized workspaces with routines and procedures that help students understand expectations and successfully complete their work (Marzano, 2003).
Teachers should think about how a classroom environment can be organized to promote effective whole-class and small-group instruction, including space for collaborative practice opportunities.
Teaching Table
Select an area for a teaching table where teacher-led, skills-focused, small-group instruction can occur. Choose a space where you can sit with a small group of students and teach, yet still be visible to all students. It should be located near materials often used for instruction, such as student books, workbooks, and writing tools.
Keep in mind that most activities that take place at the teaching table will be interactive - students will share the learning experience with other group members to encourage oral language and vocabulary development.
To help you determine how best to organize a teaching table in your classroom, answer the following questions:
- What kinds of instructional activities will occur at the teaching table?
- How many students will participate at the teaching table at one time?
- How many groups will I form so that each student meets with me daily?
- What kinds of grouping patterns will I use at the teaching table?
Workstations
Workstations are learning centers where students gather to work on specific literacy tasks. They provide excellent opportunities to extend instruction beyond the teaching table.
Workstations can be set up to engage students in activities such as conducting word study, writing, or participating in small-group discussions.
You can create workstations by pushing desks together in a cluster or using small tables or space on the floor. Some workstations can be single-use only, such as a computer station. Include single- and multiple-use workstations so students learn to work independently and in small groups.
The number of workstations needed depends on the number of students you will assign to workstations during each small-group period. Usually you need options for one third to one half of the class.
Be sure that workstation materials are easily accessible, and store all materials in plastic containers with lids, organized by theme, use (e.g., particular month of the year), or skills so that they can be retrieved quickly.
When possible, change the activities at the workstations every few weeks to maintain student interest.
Know that creating beautiful workstations is not the purpose — you should not spend extraordinary amounts of time creating fancy workstations.
Improving instruction and spending more time planning effective ways to teach is more important.
To guide your decisions about workstations in your classroom, answer the following questions:
- What types of workstations will best support my instruction?
- How many workstations will I need to create?
- How many students will participate in each workstation during small-group rotations?
- What plan will I have in place for students who complete their work early?
Worktable
The purpose of the worktable is to allow students to study and work collaboratively with a partner or in small groups to complete practice assignments.
Activities at the worktable extend the skills taught and learned at the teaching table. Preferably, students have demonstrated at least 70% mastery of skills at the teaching table before practice is expected at the worktable.
Encourage students to provide corrective feedback to one another at the worktable so you are not interrupted while teaching another small group.
Allowing homework to be started and sometimes completed at school is an incentive for students to remain on task at the worktable.
Some common and effective practice activities for worktables include the following:
- Answering questions at the end of a story or chapter of a book
- Spelling or writing assignments
- Research or special project assignments
- Activities for reviewing vocabulary to enhance word meaning and oral language
- Worksheets or workbook pages from materials provided in the core reading program
Daily Schedule
Regardless of the amount of time you have for reading instruction each day, developing a daily schedule to alternate times for whole-class and small group instruction creates order and predictability.
A well-organized schedule posted in the classroom communicates expectations and reduces stress for teachers and students. Use the following steps to develop a daily schedule for reading and language arts instruction:
- At the top of a piece of paper, list the time at which the reading block begins, and at the bottom, list the time at which the reading block ends.
- In between these times, list any prescheduled activities that cannot be changed. Such activities include library, computer lab, P.E., or music.
- Look for open spaces on your list where you can insert periods for whole-class and small group instruction.
- Plan 10 minutes for whole-class overview.
- Plan 20-25 minutes for small-group or independent practice sessions. The number of sessions may vary between two and four, depending on whether you have a 60-, 90-, or 120-minute reading block.
- Plan 5-minute transitions between sessions. Once students develop routines, you will likely be able to decrease the transition time.
- Plan 10 minutes for whole-class closure.
Establishing routines and procedures
Developing procedures for daily routines is critical to effective instruction management. The first step in accomplishing this goal is to clearly communicate expectations for student behavior during the various activities that take place every day.
Develop procedures and then model each one. This will help students internalize the procedures, which will eventually become routine after repeated practice and feedback. For instance, decide how students will enter your classroom and determine which activities they should begin immediately. Make and post a list of procedures, and review them daily with students. Remove the list once routines are established.
In addition, use the same language for directions, such as "Go to the teaching table now please," and use consistent procedures for guiding students to activities (e.g., send the groups to the teaching table, then to the worktable, then to workstations).
There are countless procedures and routines that may be established. It is important that you prioritize those that will help you structure your classroom environment in ways that positively influence achievement. One of the most important procedures is that for rotating students through small-group activities to ensure that everyone participates in all activities at some point during each day or week.
Rotation Chart
Create a rotation chart that clearly communicates to students how they will participate in activities during small groups. The rotation chart should help students know
- what activity they will do first;
- when they will participate in each activity, including working with you in a small group; and
- which other students will be working with them in their small group.
You may want to color code the names of your groups.
A rotation chart that includes four activities-a teaching table, a worktable, workstations, and free reading with leveled books-is shown.
Lists of student names are attached at the top to identify group membership. The number of students assigned to each group varies according to student needs for skills-focused instruction.
Job Chart
To implement a procedure for delegating some of the classroom duties and responsibilities to students, develop a job chart and teach students to successfully perform each job so that you can provide uninterrupted small-group instruction and quick transitions while they are working.
Jobs will vary according to grade level, student capabilities, and teacher needs. Some job suggestions include the following:
- Chart caller: reads the rotation chart and helps students get to activities
- Timekeeper: monitors use of time in small groups and provides 5-minute warnings before transition
- Trash monitor: assists other students in keeping desks and work areas clean
- Voice level monitor: supervises and monitors noise levels
- Workstation monitor: monitors use of workstations and helps students clean up and make speedy transitions
- Worktable monitor: checks supplies and area surrounding worktable
- Supply monitor: checks supplies in classroom and checks supplies in and out that students may need to borrow (such as paper, pencils, etc.)
After getting to know your students, you may want to select some of them for specific roles that they will particularly benefit from assuming. For instance, you may want to assign the role of Chart Caller to a student who is reserved or who does not often assume a leadership role in the classroom.
Creating clear and consistent routines and procedures is essential to success. The management tools described here help teachers deliver effective instruction and help students know what they need to do and what they still need to accomplish.
Through the implementation of an organized classroom and meticulous planning for small-group and whole-class instruction, teachers can succeed at providing the explicit instruction and guidance that each student needs in order to excel.
About the author
Jill Slack, PhD, is a project director with the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) Southeast Comprehensive Center. She is a certified reading specialist, classroom teacher, ESL instructor, supervisor of instruction, and program evaluator.
References
Click the "References" link above to hide these references.
Foorman, B. R., & Torgesen, J. (2001). Critical elements of classroom and small group instruction promote reading success in all children. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 16(4), 203-212.
Gibson, V., & Hasbrouck, J. (2007). Differentiated instruction: Grouping for success. New York: McGraw-Hill. Kosanovich, M., Ladinsky, K., Nelson, L., & Torgesen, J. (2006). Differentiated reading instruction: Small group alternative lesson structures for all students. Tallahassee, Florida: Florida Center for Reading Research.
Marzano, R. (2003). Classroom management that works: Research-based strategies for every teacher. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Organizing for Effective Reading Instruction. SEDL Letter, 19(2), 7-11.
