When the teacher identifies a point for intervention, the teacher pulls a child or a small group of children together for a small intervention. The teacher is coaching this group at the point of need.
The top award-winning choir knows what it takes to accomplish greatness! The choir director holds individual singing lessons for his students. He also mandates alto, tenor, bass, and soprano lessons each lunch period to reinforce the separate parts to the songs. During the regular choir class, the whole group sings together. During small group lessons, the singers learn to sing as a section. During the individual lessons, each singer’s weakness is corrected and tweaked until perfection is reached.
Once a concept is taught at the whole group level, some children benefit from a small group level, and some benefit from individual instruction.
Whole group comprehension instruction
Before Reading
Explicit, Clear Teaching Point
Engagement of Students
Today your job is… (finish the sentence)
During Reading
All students read the text (on-grade level and below grade level text, varied depending on the day and the lesson) (How will I support my readers so that all readers will be successful with the text today?)
Format for Reading
Student Engagement
Reading not paper/ not dittoes
Read-Stop-Think-Talk
After Reading
Revisit the teaching point – how do I know that the students were successful today?
Small Group Comprehension Instruction (Lunch Bunch) (Let’s try this again) (We Do Group)
1. Individual children reread familiar books (at least 2, possibly 3) that have been previously read (while the teacher takes a running record on one child possibly)
2. The teacher tells the children to write from memory high frequency words that the teacher dictates. The words might be one a white board, might be in a notebook, depending if you are tracking their progress
3. Small group of children make words using magnets (or does a Making Words Lesson by Pat Cunningham) Teacher Directed
4. Teacher introduces a new book, children read it.
5. Cut ups with the new book
6. Child takes home old book with cut up strips.
7. Child rereads 2 previously written sentence strip stories and matches the cut-up words.
8. Child writes a new story based on book today – writes those he knows, blends others, teacher support. Read sentence, teacher writes on strip, and cuts out words. Child matches twice and puts together twice without matching.
Individual Comprehension Instruction (Independent Reading / Self Selected Reading)
Anything in the small group instruction could be done one-on-one.
During independent reading, sitting one-on-one and conferring with students is effective.
Filed under: writing Tagged: | Comprehension, Deb Renner Smith, Guided Reading the Four Blocks Way, independent reading, Self Selected Reading, shared reading, SSR
