Choice Lit Topic: Guiding Groups
How many? How often? How to assess? What’s the teacher’s role? We share flexible and creating strategies for leading groups, and teaching students how to partner and work well with classmates independently. Resources include everything from planning and assessment forms to scores of video examples of groups in action at many grade levels.
Results
Sticky Notes Small Group
Sean Moore meets with a group of second graders to remind them of the value of using sticky notes during reading in this quick video.
Conversational Skills in a Boys Book Club
Linda Karamatic observes a second-grade boys book club using tokens as a cue for turn taking, and then discusses her observations with the students.
Strong Girls Book Group
Franki Sibberson shares a range of books that include compelling female characters with a group of fourth-grade girls. Here is a list of the books mentioned by Franki in...
Research Book Clubs for Struggling Readers
This past fall one of our fabulous learning support teachers and I were sitting on the carpet after school trying to think of a way to get a student we...
Group Conference in First Grade
Katie DiCesare meets with Anna and Brendan to help them learn from each other and prepare to share their rereading strategies with the whole class.
Building Stamina and Book Choice Skills
Franki Sibberson continues her discussion with a group of fourth graders who often abandon books.
Abandoning Books Discussion
Franki Sibberson meets with a group of her fourth-grade students who often abandon books during independent reading. The previous day the group had brainstormed reasons why they abandoned books on...
Nonfiction Reading Group in First Grade
Katie DiCesare brings together a group of her first-grade students who are reading nonfiction, helping them to expand the ways they share what they are learning with classmates.
The Cure for Value-Added Grief? Teacher Research
Data: what a loaded word. We’re living in a data-driven society, where data is collected, analyzed, and used to make decisions about everything from identity theft prevention to hospital infection...
Notebooks, Goals, and Writing About Characters in First Grade
Katie DiCesare confers with a group of first graders about their writing notebooks, goals, and drafts about the characters they are studying during reading workshop.
Teaching Syllable Breaks in Kindergarten
In kindergarten, table groups are a natural and informal way to help groups of students learn new skills through eavesdropping. In this short video from Mandy Robek's kindergarten class, Mandy...
Grouping Struggling Students for Word Study: A Case Study
Word study is the favored, go-to instructional strategy for all struggling learners. Teachers run to it so often that most struggling learners have been thoroughly steeped in phonics by the...
Nonfiction Reading Group in First Grade
Katie DiCesare brings together a group of her first-grade students who are reading nonfiction, helping them to expand the ways they share what they are learning with classmates.
Assessment to Grouping: Fifth-Grade Group on Character Traits
Karen Terlecky meets with fifth graders who both share the same need identified on a recent formative assessment, inferring character traits.
Assessing Learning During Student-Led Book Clubs
My most important job during book clubs is to know what my sixth-grade students are thinking. The point is to increase the rigor and accountability of each student through the...
Using Wipe-Off Boards with Young English Language Learners
It is January, a time to review teaching practices and rethink, reorganize, and re-energize. January is a perfect time to refine skills-based teaching practices, and wipe-off boards are the perfect...
Guided Reading with Kindergarten English Language Learners
Max Brand takes two kindergarten English language learners from reading a familiar book to exploring a new text, and explains in the debrief how he targets specific reading skills.
Staying Focused in Literacy Workshops
Clare Landrigan meets with a group of four 5th graders to talk about goal setting in reading workshop. Each student leaves with a specific goal for their reading.
Running and Reading Logs
Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan have ideas to assess and refresh logs in the classroom. In this video excerpt, Clare uses the analogy of how runners use logs to chart progress and set goals and encourages the students to come up with a log that will help them as readers.
Expanding Definitions of “Just Right” Books
Tammy Mulligan works with two seven-year-olds to teach them strategies for building reading stamina. After discussing the “take a break” strategy, she introduces them to the “make a plan” strategy and has them practice.
Do They Care? Empathy Book Clubs
Students are sitting in circles, heads close together, excitedly talking about books, and using the words “I felt empathy when . . .” over and over again. The murmurs of...
