1. Abigail Dougherty, Sue Crosland, Kelly Padilla, Monica Bennett
2017 Summer Administrators’ Conference
July 24-25
Landstown High School
Leveraging Flexible Small Group Instruction to Transform Student Learning
Abigail Dougherty, Sue Crosland,
Kelly Padilla, Monica Bennett

3. This presentation supports building teacher/leader capacity in the following disposition area(s):

4. LEARNING INTENTIONS
Participants will compare and contrast the characteristics of guided reading groups and strategy groups and their instructional use.
Participants will deepen their pedagogy around how teachers can transform small group instruction so that students are empowered to lead their own learning.

5. With your table group, read and sort the cards in your bag
With your table group, read and sort the cards in your bag. Ensure that you are able to articulate why you have grouped certain cards together.

6. Reflecting on our journey: Where we have been…
Guided Reading Instruction
Daily
City-wide
Integration of word study instruction and practice
Instructional level texts, usually teacher-selected
Homogenous grouping
Possible alignment with the whole group objective

7. Reflecting on our journey: Where are we going…
Personalized learning that is student-driven
Increased collaboration and communication between all stakeholders
Student goal-setting that will move readers forward along the continuum of literacy development
STRATEGY GROUPS

8. Strategy Groups in Action

9. With your group—
Revisit your sort if needed.
What teacher actions did you observe?
What student actions did you observe?
Discuss any instructional implications.

10. Guided Reading Strategy Groups 20 - 30 minute lesson 7 -
Instructional level text
Independent level text
Students reading on similar DRA levels
Students reading on
different
DRA levels
(could be
the same)
“Before
, During,
After reading”
“Connect
, Teach, Engage,
Link”
structure
structure
Teaching point determined based on
Teaching point planned in advance using
student actions during reading and
mentor text as model
taught after reading
Teacher confers with each reader during
Teacher confers with each reader during
reading to prompt
for fluency
and
reading to coach through strategy use
comprehension

11. But what about flex groups?

12. Implementing Strategy Groups

13. How do teachers decide what to teach?
DRA2 Continuum
Formative and summative assessments
Anecdotal notes from guided reading
Independent conferences
New document in front matter to provide structures for conferences

14. Revised Suggested Daily Schedule

15. Revised Suggested Daily Schedule

16. Student Agency
Goal-setting conferences allow students to take ownership of their reading development
Students who are working on similar goals can be called together for a strategy group, regardless of level
During the strategy group, students can determine how they are going to practice and track their use of the strategy that will lead them toward achieving their goal

17. Collaboration across reading levels
Connecting to the 5 Cs
Collaboration across reading levels
Communication and collaboration with peers on strategy usage
Peer-to-peer coaching opportunities

18. Reflection
Have you seen strategy groups happening in your building already?
How can your team (administrators, literacy leaders, TLLT, etc.) support teachers in transforming their small group instruction to include strategy groups?
What additional supports might your building need?

19. Strategy Groups… THIS NOT THAT Are purposefully planned
Include teacher modeling with mentor text
Are a part of the comprehensive literacy model
Enable students to be leaders of their own learning and increase metacognition
Are done on the fly
Use the same text with all students
Are done in lieu of traditional guided reading
Use grade level text selected to remediate specific grade level objectives

20. LEARNING INTENTIONS
Participants will compare and contrast the characteristics of guided reading groups and strategy groups and their instructional use.
Participants will deepen their pedagogy around how teachers can transform small group instruction so that students are empowered to lead their own learning.