Make Every Second of Your Small Group Instruction Count

When students aren’t able to read effectively, it impacts every aspect of their education. That’s why we must ensure that our reading groups have high-quality small-group instruction and effective time management. We need to make EVERY… SINGLE… SECOND of our precious small reading group time count.

Tips For Making Every Second Of Small Group Instruction Count

There are three little things that make a big difference:

Establishing routines
Planning for unexpected interruptions
Having transition activities

Together, these three things free you up to focus on your teaching and drastically cut down on transition time. So, let’s talk a little bit about each of them.

Establish a Routine

The first step in effective time management during reading groups is establishing a consistent routine. Routines are teachers’ friends. They are key to smooth transitions. That’s the plain and simple truth. Don’t underestimate the power of a great routine. Time spent teaching routines at the beginning of the year will pay off for the rest of the year.

Use some sort of signal to mark the transition to the next activity or group. Make sure your students know E-X-A-C-T-L-Y what to do during and after the transition. The more specific you are, the better your students will do. List out the steps and the sequence of tasks. Plan it out! Over-plan it. you can loosen up later.

For me, that was a bell. Any instructions I gave came before the bell. When I rang the bell, my students knew to begin transitioning. They knew exactly what the next thing to do was, and so they got on with it.

Routines make your job easier because once you establish a routine, you no longer have to stop and explain what you want your students to do. Routines free up your time and energy to focus on teaching.

Prepare For Unexpected Interruptions

Transitions don’t always go smoothly. Things happen. A computer shuts down. Someone’s glue bottle won’t work. A kid tries to climb into the plastic file box head first and gets stuck. Head down, feet kicking in the air. (Yes, that happened. I never did find out why.)

Having a plan that takes into account the reality of unexpected interruptions. Without a plan, your small group ends up sitting at the table, talking and bored, while you deal with whatever urgent issue has cropped up. So, have a plan that accounts for interruptions because you know they’ll happen.

Use a Transition Activity

The solution is to have a transition activity at the start of your small groups. Students need a set activity that stays the same every time you meet them. Your goal is to find an open-ended activity that can last for a few minutes.

Your transition activity is an independent activity. (Remember, even your most needy students will need to do this independently.) If you can make it a fun activity that they only get to do at the start of small groups, your students will rush to get started and stay focused on it, too. Don’t forget that it should serve an academic purpose, too.

Here’s one idea I have used to buy myself a few minutes to ensure all my other students were on task before starting small group instruction. I set out a student whiteboard with a laminated word find and a basket on top of it. Everything they needed was in the basket. They didn’t need to find any supplies or bring anything with them.

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Dry erase boards
Markers
Shower mitts
Pencils (These pre-sharpened pencils are my favorite!)
Erasers
Sticky notes

When my students came to their reading group, they grabbed a magnifying glass and started looking for the words to write down. They continued until everyone was at the table. If everyone was ready, I would set a timer for one minute.

Once the time was up, they erased the word find, put up the materials, and got out the special pencils, erasers, and sticky notes. Depending on the purpose of our lesson, they took notes, wrote word pattern words, or answered a question on the sticky notes.

Planning for interruptions made it possible for every second of my reading groups to count. My students were engaged from the second they arrived at the small group table. Plus, I had a minute or two to ensure everyone else was engaged in their task before starting the lesson.