Part ONE was all about setting up your classroom environment and structure to better accommodate small group instruction.
✅Workshop is set up and running.
✅Procedures and routines have been taught for gathering for minilesson and then moving into independent work.
✅Strategies and tools have been introduced so that students may begin engaging in their reading work.
✅Now it's time to begin small group instruction and conferring with students.
Small group instruction is not just about the small group at the table with the teacher, it's also about what the other students are doing.
When your classroom community is established with routines, procedures and structures to support independent work, your small group & conferring will run smoother and hopefully uninterrupted. Which brings us to...
STEP TWO
Thoughtfully map out your small group meetings
and conferences each day (each week)
Picture this…
You’ve just finished the minilesson for workshop and you have sent students out to work independently.
Everyone is moving to their cozy reading spots with their book boxes and settling into their reading work.
Now what?
Workshop is the busiest time of the day. It goes FAST!
So you have to be thoughtful in your planning.
Make a plan for meeting with students.
Map out which group you are going to meet and when.
Make a plan of the conferences you need to have based on an “I Need A Conference” chart and those with whom you need to meet during the week.
Sure, this is probably going to change throughout the week, but you have started with a plan and it can always be adjusted.
Planning the groups you need to meet and the students with whom you need to confer ensures that you will have face to face meetings with all of your students each week.
Check out the tool here that is a template (as shown above) used for creating a schedule of which groups and students you will meet with each day during workshop.
Let’s walk through a possible scenario of a 60 minute workshop.
The minilesson is completed (10-14 minutes)
Students are moving into Independent Work Time (40-45 total minutes)
**The teacher grabs her clipboard and small groups folder.
As students are transitioning, the teacher walks around the room and tells the first small group to gather at the small group table and reread a previous guided reading book until she gets there or independently read. (1 minute)
**The class is settling, the small group is gathering and the teacher moves over to one student to confer. (5 minutes)
**The teacher confers with another student (5 minutes)
**The teacher meets with the small group (15 minutes)
**Teacher asks the 2nd small group to gather at the small group table.
(1 minute)
**Teacher confers with another student while the 2nd small group is settling in at the table (5 minutes)
**Teacher meets with 2nd small group. (15 minutes)
Whole Group gathers for the Share portion of the Reading Workshop (4-5 minutes)
WOW!! That IS fast!
Now this is just one scenario and happens to be what I used in my classroom on a daily basis.
Some days, I conferred with more students and met with only 1 small group or met with more small groups and conferred with fewer students.
It depended on the circumstances of the day, the student needs and how the work was going.
By the end of the week, I would have met with small groups and conferred with most of my students.
That's a lot of face to face time with students during the week.
Sometimes you need to see the big picture so that you can plan a thoughtful schedule of group meetings and conferences! Grab this template to map out the big picture of your day or week. Grab the FREEBIE download of the group and conference planning tool as shown above.
Next up is Part 3 with tools to create thoughtful and intentional plans for small group instruction.
Until next time...
