I think one of the most important things I learned about my own teaching after going through the new State evaluation model this past year was that I spend more time planning my lessons for whole-group than I do for the work I do with small groups.
Laney Sammons’ provides some great insights on small group work in Chapter 5 of Guided Math. I have been using small groups in math off and on for the past two years, but I plan on using it consistently this coming year.
I made this simple chart to help me a I plan my instruction and placement of my students in groups.
Although students may all be working on the same “big idea” or skill, each group will be doing differentiated activities based on their formative assessments. This will be part of my planning and data notebooks.
While I’m working with a small group, the other students will either be working with my co-teacher in another group or participating in math stations in their math workshop.
Please visit my blog and learn more about teaching small groups and Chapter 5 in Guided Reading…
– Originally posted on Teaching Blog Addict