Pulling Small Groups - Leading the Circus and Making it Meaningful

     There is something about the phrase "pulling small groups" that starts to freak out middle school teachers.  I think a lot of it is because so many of us are trained for secondary classrooms where not as much differentiation takes place or is expected.  Well, unless you are in a Read180 classroom.

     The first year I taught Read180 I felt like the ringleader of a chaotic, but meaningful, circus.  Read180 is set up for about 20-25 kids to work in three parts - Independent Reading, Software, and Teacher-led rSkills Workshops.  Yes, I had managed group projects, but not stations or small groups.  This was an entirely different beast.  I felt overwhelmed because I was really teaching three different pieces in one class - AT THE SAME TIME.  I had a principal that sent me to the Internet to watch how small groups should work. I'm still so grateful for a principal that recognized YouTube could be Professional Development and actually encouraged that.  

    That year pushed me past the survival mode of teaching.  I learned so much about groups, stations, and how they could support learning in my classroom.  In hopes that you don't make the same mistakes that I did, here are some things I learned my first year of working with groups that I use for Small Groups now:

1. How to Design Groups

     Grouping has to be flexible.  The types of groups you will want will depend on the skill or task the students are practicing.  For example, even with reading, I switch from homogeneous groups to heterogeneous groups depending on the skill.  If we're working on fluency practice, I will pull a small group of kids that might have the same obstacle in fluency, like phrasing.  However, if I want kids to hear better readers, I might put them in groups with higher readers.  For grouping, I wait until after kids have taken the benchmark test in STAR, and I use the "Instructional Planning - Class" report.  This allows me to group kids however I want, and see what skills that particular group needs.  This is an amazing tool, I'm already panicking about what will happen in January when our district moves to a new reading assessment.

Where you post your groups should be consistent, but make sure it is something that can easily be changed.  I post mine on the side of the Promethean board, but on laminated strips of paper, so I can change the groups with ease.

2. Prepare Ahead of Time

     Teaching is an art and a science - we've all heard it before.  Grouping kids and what to do in groups is the scientific part and something that needs to be prepared before class.  Small group time is precious and shouldn't be wasted trying to gather materials or supplies.  To help, I keep buckets in my room for each day of the week.  Inside each bucket, I place copies needed for groups that I'm working with on those days.  When it is time to meet in groups, I pull that bucket and sit at the small group table.  This means I know how I'm differentiating things before I come into class.  Everything I need is in that bucket, so I'm not rushing around the room or my searching my desk trying to find anything.  

  It also means preparing your classroom space for groups.  Pencils, highlighters, lead, etc. are all in the cabinet beside my small group table so that I don't waste time with kids who don't have those things with them.  Because if you haven't worked in a middle school, kids will find any and every excuse they can to get out of their seat 20-30 times a class period!

3. Teaching Routines is Mandatory

     My first year in middle school, I was completely shocked by what kids didn't know how to do.  You mean I have to teach them how to get out a notebook for class???  Ain't nobody got time for that!!  Well, as the first team I worked on put it -  you better make time for it!  Spending a couple of weeks teaching routines in your room will save you DAYS and WEEKS worth of instructional time later.  Our district pacing guide last year included a three week window at the beginning of the year that included only collaboration, listening, and speaking skills so that we could work on routines.  IT WAS AMAZING!!!  I wish we had done that this year, because I'm already noticing little things creeping up, stealing my time when I'm in groups.  For example, I used to have a touch light that I turned on behind me when meeting with a small group.  It meant that I wasn't supposed to be disturbed when working with that group, so you needed to ask classmates for help.  In between groups, the light would go off for 2-3 minutes so that other students could ask questions.  I haven't been doing this and I'm noticing my groups are taking longer now because of the interruptions.  It is something we're definitely going to have to practice again after Fall Break...

4. Not Meeting With Each Group Daily is Okay

     I hate saying this and even though I do it, I still cringe thinking about it, but...*Gulp!*...it is okay to spread your meetings over a two or three day period.  For example, we've just started argumentative writing in my classes.  We read Chew on This and students have to write their essay over an issue in the fast food/junk food industries.  After talking about credible sources, students were to find sources and start taking notes.  My lowest group was given an article on their reading level from Newsela.  (I chose their argument for them so I could offer more assistance.)  I knew they could read the article on their own, but taking notes would be a problem.  I gave the article to those students and left them to read.  My average readers were told to find their first source, and then I met with my advanced readers to show them the graphic organizer and told them to work on finding all of their sources and begin taking notes.  Then, I went back to my average readers to check their sources.  Right about that time, my lower readers had just finished reading, and I pulled them to help them begin their notes.  I didn't meet with my advanced readers until the third day, so I could check all of their sources and notes at once.  They loved being left to work without the frequent monitoring and I had time to work with my kids most likely to shut down and not do the work.  This worked out beautifully, and for the first time in three years, I don't have a student who is not ready to write this paper!

     I definitely have learned so much about grouping and pulling small groups, but I'd love to learn more.  How do you pull groups and how do you use groups to differentiate?  Comment with your favorite tips below!

Love and Sparkle,

Positive Polly, Negative Nancy, and Kona Ice

   
     I think September is one of the most difficult times for teachers.  The shininess of a new school year starts to fade.  Hopes for change fizzle.  Kids start to show their true colors, so you start to see issues for the first time.  September is the month I feel myself go from Positive Polly to Negative Nancy...and I hate myself for it.
      I sat in a meeting today and cried.  No joke.  Just a normal professional development meeting and cried.  Now, if you come back here often to read what's happening in my little corner of the world, you will realize I am emotional and cry often.  Even at things most people don't.  Like Fox and the Hound.  I watched 30 minutes of it when I was 7 years old and cried hysterically.  To this day, I still can't make it through Fox and the Hound, Bambi, and Ice Age. Don't judge me...well, okay, but just a bit.
     I cried today because I could actually feel a weight coming down on my shoulders.  I could feel myself morphing from Positive Polly, with all of her "Do what's best for kids!" and "That's not asking too much!" to Negative Nancy, and all of her "You've got to be kidding me!" and "Why are we all being punished?"  At that very moment, I felt like a failure and it was making me become Negative Nancy.
    And what did I do?  What any good middle schooler does - I blamed everybody else.  At the time, it was everybody's fault, but my own, that our school scores are low.  It was because other teachers don't do enough to help our kids.  It was because everyone else doesn't spend time building relationships with kids.
     All day, I kept thinking about why it was everybody's fault, except mine, until I had my second cup of Kona Ice for the night.  Again, if you're going to judge, just judge a little.  Kona Ice is like a miracle drug and helps you see things clearly - I promise.  Anyway, I realized that by becoming Negative Nancy and complaining about things over which I have no control, I had just become part of the problem.  Positive Pollys are needed at times to say, "Hey, this does suck, but how do we make it better?  What can we do to make it work? How can I help?"
    My personal challenge for the rest of the quarter is to say good-bye to Negative Nancy, to keep being Positive Polly for as long as I can hold out.  And if that means I need Kona Ice daily, than so be it.

Love and Sparkle,