Small Group Instruction

Do you remember Charlie Brown's teacher?  How did she sound?  Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.  I'm sure when teachers stand in front of their rooms and lecture to the whole class, the only thing a special group of students hear are the words of Charlie's teacher!

But why?  The stuff we teach them is sooooooo interesting, right?!  Well, unfortunately for us, we often find more interest in it than our students.  Maybe what we're teaching is too far below a students' learning level...he already knows the stuff.  Or, maybe a student is missing the necessary skills to understand what you're saying.  Of course, there is always the student (or students!) who just have a hard time attending to a task, especially if the task consists of "sitting and getting."

For these reasons, we do not do whole group instruction in our classroom.  Instead, we use small group and individual instruction as the primary format of how we deliver content to students.  We have structures set in place where the majority of students are working on different activities, giving us the opportunity to work with small groups of students.

Small group instruction is valuable for several reasons, most of which are obvious.

• The setting itself often takes away many distractions, allowing students to better attend to what you are saying and/or doing.  
• When we work with students in small groups, we are better able to differentiate the students' instruction, ensuring it is appropriate for their developmental learning levels.  
• While doing small group instruction, we can better informally assess how students are responding to the instruction.  You can have individual conversations with the students in your small group or make observations of what they're doing to assess their level of understanding.
• It is also often easier to tweak an activity when you're only working with five or six students, versus 25 students, if you see what you planned is not working as well as you thought it would!  (Not that that ever happens, right?) 

There are also other benefits of small group instruction.

• Students likely feel more comfortable participating in discussions and activities, as the small setting is a natural safety net for them. 
• Relationships can easier be built between students and teachers, as well as amongst students themselves.  
• Students also learn and practice how to respect other students' ideas and beliefs, which can be difficult for children, as they often live in the Me Me Me World!  
• It is often easier to make learning more relevant when you are planning for a small number of students, which is often critical in building connections for students and increasing engagement!

I usually really enjoy my small groups, as it gives me a chance to not only more effectively teach my students, but also to learn more about them and laugh with them!

Encourage Student Voice

When you think of the decision maker in the classroom, who do you think of?  The teacher of course!  The teacher should decide things such as what activities the students will do, when they will do them, who they will work with, what consequences will be put in place when there is a discipline issue, what the rules in the classroom will be, and everything else, right?  Yet, when students walk out into that great big society one day and are expected to be productive democratic citizens, are they supposed to just "sit and get" everything with no expression of their own thoughts and opinions, as in many classrooms?

Of course not.  That is one of the pieces of our democratic society...the citizens are encouraged to express how they feel about issues and act on them through processes such as voting, attending council meetings, contacting government representatives, etc.  So, why are schools not encouraging students to use their voice and contribute more to their education?

When we include students' ideas in classroom practices, we are not only showing that we value and respect our students, but we are also setting up an environment where students will take more ownership of the decisions that are made.  For example, our class (I team teach with another teacher.) had a community meeting to decide what we needed to do when students didn't complete their nightly reading homework.  During this discussion, the students came up with consequences that we should put in place to deal with this concern.  So, whenever students didn't do their homework, rarely would they complain about the consequence, as they had discussed and agreed to the consequences when they were established by our community!

We have had students help us make decisions about discipline, our daily schedule, instructional activities, fundraisers, recess protocols and expectations, as well as many other practices in our classroom.  The power of students' ideas is truly amazing when we give them the opportunity to be a true contributing member in our classrooms.  Many, many times the students come up with fantastic ideas that we never even considered! 

Valuing and respecting students' opinions and ideas is an invaluable teaching strategy to integrate into the classroom, as it not only increases students' ownership of classroom practices, but it increases engagement, makes students feel valued, empowers students to verbalize their ideas/beliefs, and teaches them how to respectfully listen to others ideas, even if they disagree with those ideas.  

So, listen...truly listen...to your students and see the positive impact it can have in your classroom!   

Make It Relevant!

Making learning relevant can be a difficult practice, as what is relevant to one student may not be relevant to another!  However, sometimes just connecting the students' learning to what's going on in the world around them can help build the relevance of a certain skill or concept.  

For example, when teaching students about government, involve your own city and state governments as part of the instruction.  What decisions have been made by the local and/or state government that has impacted the students in your classroom?  In our last study of government, our city government had decided to shut down a local swimming pool (which happened to be in one of the lower socioeconomic parts of town...a whole separate topic of discussion) and replace it with a splash pad.  The students had no idea that their government made this decision, one which many of them were not happy about.  Through this one vehicle, the students experienced how government officials are elected (They were curious just WHO made that decision), the process in making decisions (and of course laws) in the government office, how members of a democratic society can express their views/opinions on issues, including how to respectfully disagree with a decision made by government officials.  I assure you, they were more interested in our study of government because of this one "hook" than they would have been had I been standing there telling them facts about government with no connection for them.  

A colleague of mine also used a current election of city government officials to drive her study of government, which turned into an amazing unit!  The kids even had candidates come in to talk to them so they could make an informed decision on who they wanted to run their local government!

Making learning relevant also has a direct connection to research .  When students can decide to learn about topics that are important to them, their learning is automatically made more relevant!  

If we stop and take the time to think about ways we can connect students' learning to things that are important to them, the students are going to be more actively involved in their learning, which will result in increased achievement.   

Engaging Work

When thinking of effective teaching strategies, it seems natural to think about and want strategies that will make the kids enjoy learning.  In so many classrooms, textbooks and workbooks dominate the work that is completed by children.  I haven't found many textbooks or workbooks that are full of activities that engage students, yet!

Creating or finding activities that are hands-on, allows students to demonstrate their creative side, allows for collaboration, and that appeals to students' interests is a strategy teachers can use to increase engagement and achievement in the classroom.   Where I teach we are continually creating activities based on the students' needs, the students' interests, and of course, the state standards.   Click here if you'd like to see some of the activities I've created and used in my classroom!

You certainly don't have to rely on creating activities in order to increase your students' engagement, as there are thousands of activities out there that are already made!  Do any Google search on a topic you're studying, along with your grade level, and you can find a wealth of activities, many of them free!

So, think outside the box when you're planning your students' instruction.  Go beyond the confines of those textbooks and workbooks and choose activities that will help your students learn, while increasing their engagement at the same time!

Research, Research, Research!

Students often have a natural curiosity to discover new things, which can benefit us as educators!  Now, when they want to discover the best way to make their peer blow a gasket, that doesn't necessarily benefit us; however, their natural curiosity really can be a vehicle to teach the curriculum.  One way we can do this in our classrooms is to allow the students to research!

Research can look different in the classroom.  The students may be researching a topic under a common theme, or they may be researching topics that are simply of interest to them.  For example, in our classroom we had students researching topics such as poisonous snakes, poverty in Mongolia, cancer, Ireland, and malaria all at the same time.  (It is amazing what important topics students may choose to research, especially when adults plant some seeds to spark their interest!)  We've also had different groups of students researching The French and Indian War, The Mayflower Compact, The Boston Tea Party, and Early Colonization at the same time during our study of American History.  While we guided them with the topics, we gave them some background information on these topics and let them generate the questions they wanted to research.

The number of reading and writing skills that are naturally embedded within research are too numerous to list.  Often times, there are social studies, science, and math skills embedded within the research as well!  Some teachers use research to explore specific social studies and science topics.  For example, if the curriculum requires students to learn about the different landforms, a teacher may briefly share the various landforms with the class (just an overview)  and then let the students (or groups) select specific landforms to research and then share with the class.  The kids become the experts of their topic! 

Research is an effective teaching strategy in the classroom, as it is a way to meet many curricular expectations, while engaging the students in topics they find interesting!  

Give Them Choice!

Giving students choice is another effective teaching strategy that will increase engagement in the classroom!  Many of us prefer to have some type of choice when doing a task.  For example, just the other day I asked my husband, "Do you want to dust, or do you want to sweep?"  Without hesitation, he said, "I'll sweep!"  He immediately got the vacuum and got the sweeping done.  He very much appreciated being able to choose which chore he did, and he did it without putting it off for two hours!  

Kids are the same way.  (No, no I'm not saying men are just like kids!)  When we offer them choice in the classroom, they feel they have more control over the situation, and they are more willing to get on with the task.  Choice can come in many forms.  In terms of academics, students can choose what book they read, which problem they solve (as in the CGI problem in the post about differentiating learning), which partner they work with, which activity they complete that day, what topic they research, etc.  In terms of behavior/discipline, students can choose which consequence they feel is most appropriate, which classroom they want to go to for their timeout, which students can help them solve their problem, which student(s) they feel they can work the best with, etc. 

Obviously, there are some situations where we have to make the choice for them.  For example, my teaching partner and I had two students last year who could NOT work well together!!  Even when we had our student intern with them, they could not resist the temptation to goof around.  So, they lost their privilege of choice in terms of working together.  When students' choices impede their academic and/or social growth, then we must step in and "help" them by making choices for them.  However, while the students I just referenced lost their choice of working together, they still had many other forms of choice throughout the day.

There are some kids who may just want you to make a choice for them.  While I feel this is certainly okay if it will help the child academically or socially, it should be our ultimate goal to build their decision-making skills, as the ability to make decisions is something they will need throughout life!

Think about different ways you can increase student choice in your classroom!  The students will appreciate it, and you will be pleased with their increased engagement!

Differentiate to Increase Engagement

How many of us can remember not wanting to get up and go to school?  Even as an "A" student, I can certainly remember feeling that way!  The days spent filling in worksheets and completing textbook pages were often torturous!  They were so BORING! 

As an educator now, I have come to discover it doesn't have to be that way.  There are so many ways to thoughtfully teach children by truly engaging them in the content they are learning.  Making their learning relevant, hands-on, collaborative, project-based, providing them with choice, and simply differentiating their instruction are just a few effective teaching strategies educators can use to make learning engaging in their classrooms!

First, I need to clarify something...when I say we and our classroom I am referring to my teaching partner and me, as we team teach in an Intermediate (4th/5th) grade classroom.  We share one huge double room, and typically have around 50 students in our class.  (It's been as high as 58 and as low as 43.)  So, needless to say, I share all my teaching decision-making and do very little solo anymore!  :-)   

Now, back to effective teaching strategies!  Let's talk about differentiating instruction as a means to engagement.  I have been blessed to teach in an urban, public, multi-age, democratic school for the last 14 years where textbooks are only used as resources and worksheets are frowned upon.   Each child has his or her own individual learning goals, which come from Ohio's Content Standards.  These goals are based on the student's individual learning needs.   Our philosophy is that students are often at different developmental levels (Think about it...we don't all learn to walk and talk at the same time, so why would we all learn things at the same time?); therefore, we should not expect to get in front of the room and teach a lesson that is going to meet everyone's independent learning needs.  In our classrooms, you will often see students working in small groups, with partners, or independently, but you will rarely see whole-group instruction going on.  

Simply differentiating instruction is one way we make learning more engaging for students.  If a student is being provided instruction that is either too difficult for him or too easy for him, it is automatically going to be less engaging for him!   

So, what are some ways we differentiate?  Well, there are many ways we differentiate, but I'll just start with some basic examples.  As part of our math instruction, we do Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI).  For this part of our day, we develop word problems that are based upon interest surveys that the students fill out, so every CGI problem is a relevant problem about one of the students in the room.  When we make these word problems, we make three different sets which represent three different levels.  For example, the word problems may be:

Hard:  Adreanna spends five hours each week doing her chores.  Her parents pay her $1.50 per hour.  How much money will Adreanna make in a week? 

Harder:  Adreanna spends five hours each week doing her chores.  Her parents pay her $1.50 per hour.  How much money will Adreanna make in a month?  

Hardest:  Adreanna spends five hours each week doing her chores.  Her parents pay her $1.50 per hour.  How much money will Adreanna make in a six months?  

We read over the problems with the students, and they then pick and complete the problem they feel is at their learning level.   The majority of the students do a fantastic job picking a problem that is level-appropriate; however, they are kids, so we do sometimes have to encourage them to pick a problem that is more challenging.  Likewise, we also have students pick problems that are too challenging for them.  When this happens, we will encourage them to start with a problem at a lower level, and then let them try the more challenging problem after that.    Or, sometimes we may have them buddy up with another student doing the same problem so they can work together on it.

As the students complete their problems, we walk around and talk to them about their strategies and check their work.  Sometimes, we collect them and use them as assessments.  At the end of CGI, we pick three students to share their work, so the students are hearing their peers' thinking strategies, which can help grow their own thinking!

Another way we differentiate is by using Writer's Workshop.  Writing time begins with a short mini-lesson, followed by Status of the Class, and then the students work on their individual stories.  As students work on their stories, we have a chance to sit with individual students, talk about their writing, focus on their specific writing strengths and weaknesses, and support them in the areas they need.  We do have periodic writing prompts that we score to monitor where the students are in terms of grade-level skills, and they do have to write about the different genres throughout the year; however, it is not everybody doing the same thing at the same time.  They are working and growing at their individual paces.  

One other way we differentiate is by using students' individual books and/or book clubs to teach reading comprehension.  We never use the same text for the whole class, unless we are wanting all the students to have access to the content of the text.  If that's the case, we ensure there are safety nets for the students who read below the text level and extensions for the students who read above the text level.  We organize our comprehension instruction by teaching the students the various skills as the year rolls out.  They often practice their understanding of these skills in student-selected book clubs where they are working collaboratively.  

Eventually, after we have worked on several different skills, they begin using their Reading Response journals.  Inside the front cover of their journal is a list of the specific comprehension skills (i.e. main idea, cause and effect, summarizing fiction, theme), along with a rubric.  After the students do independent reading, they choose one of the skills to reflect upon.  One student may give examples of cause and effect in their fiction book, while another student may give examples of fact and opinion in their nonfiction book.  The students have to include in their entries what book they're reading, what pages they read, and what skill they are demonstrating.  We collect their journals, score them, and keep track of the skills they are demonstrating, as well as the ones they need to work on.  We use this knowledge to guide instruction in our individual conferences and small groups.  The students know they have to eventually have a response for all the comprehension skills, so they sometimes have to select their independent reading materials accordingly!

These are just a few of the ways we differentiate within our classroom to help increase student engagement.   Often times differentiating takes extra time and thought into the instruction on our part, but it's so well worth it to see our students grow and develop at a level that is most appropriate for them!   

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