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As you all know, one of my favorite things is supporting teachers and finding ways to help them with their current needs and struggles. With a lot of teachers getting into the full swing of school, routine, and procedures, I’ve gotten a lot of questions regarding small group instruction, how it’s structured, and what they need to do to keep their students engaged. To help answer these questions and so many more, I’ve brought in an expert, Sara Marye. In today’s episode, Sara is sharing all her tips on how to streamline small group instruction.
Sara Marye has over a decade of experience working as a classroom teacher and school administrator but is now CEO of The Stellar Teacher Company and a literacy specialist passionate about helping elementary teachers grow their students into lifelong readers. Sara’s mission is to make teachers’ lives a little easier by providing them with endless encouragement, effective strategies, and engaging no-fluff resources.
Being a literacy specialist, Sara has a lot of experience with small group instruction and how to be successful when setting up small group time. However, before even thinking about what activities to do with your small group, Sara wants you to think about three things: the time and frequency of your small group and how to keep the rest of your class engaged. Once those are established, then the types of activities your students do within your small group instruction will be more effective.
However, the bulk of our conversation revolves around how to keep the rest of your students engaged while you’re conducting small groups. Sara points out, that there’s more than one way to be an effective reading teacher and how to keep your students engaged in meaningful work. Nevertheless, the idea of students being independent is essential before you even start your small group instruction.
Throughout the episode, Sara shares invaluable and effective tips that range from how to set up your small groups to keeping your students independently engaged during small group instruction. Whether you implement these strategies right away or farther along in the school year, you are certain to have successful small group instruction!

What is Small Group Instruction in Teaching?
Let’s dive right into small group instruction because I know this topic is hot on everyone’s minds right now. Whether you’re a brand-new teacher or a seasoned pro, small group instruction is a big part of our classroom routines.
So, what is it exactly? Well, small group instruction is all about pulling aside a small number of students—usually about 4-6—and working closely with them on targeted skills. This approach allows us to tailor our lessons to meet the individual needs of our students, giving them that extra bit of attention that can make a world of difference. It’s the opposite of one-size-fits-all; it’s all about personalization!
Is Small Group Reading Instruction Effective?
You betcha, small group reading instruction can be incredibly effective—when it’s done right! The magic happens when we create a focused, intimate setting where students feel comfortable taking risks and making mistakes. The targeted approach allows us to really hone in on specific reading skills, whether it’s fluency, comprehension, or vocabulary.
But here’s the catch: the rest of the class has to be engaged in meaningful work too. Because if the rest of your kiddos are off task or lost, all that magic at your small group table goes right out the window. So, it’s crucial to plan what the rest of your class is doing while you’re working with your small group. Think of it as the behind-the-scenes work that sets the stage for your small group success.
How Can I Improve My Small Group Reading Instruction?
Improving your small group reading instruction starts with careful planning. First things first, think about your small group time: How much time do you have? How often will you meet? Are you doing 20-minute sessions every day, or maybe 45 minutes twice a week? Knowing the time and frequency helps you map out the best use of your small group time.
Next, you need to figure out what the rest of the class will be doing. This is crucial! Your other students need to be engaged in meaningful activities—whether that’s independent reading, workstations, or teacher-assigned tasks. And don’t forget, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. You gotta find what works for your planning style and your students’ needs.
Once you have that figured out, it’s all about setting clear expectations and routines. Practice, practice, practice those routines with your students until they’re second nature. Because when your kiddos know what to do, they’re not interrupting you, and that’s when the magic really starts to happen!
Examples of Small Group Instruction Activities
Now, let’s talk ideas because I know we all love some fresh, actionable tips. Here are some great options to keep your students engaged while you’re pulling your small groups:
- Workstations or Centers: These are fantastic for keeping kids on task with literacy activities. You can have a word work center, independent reading center, listening center, or even a research station. Students rotate through different tasks, giving them variety and keeping them engaged.
- Independent Reading: This is perfect for upper elementary grades and is super low prep for teachers. Let your students pick books they’re genuinely interested in, and give them tasks like filling out a graphic organizer or responding to their reading in a journal.
- Teacher-Assigned Tasks: This could be anything from completing task cards, reading a passage with comprehension questions, working on a chapter of a class novel, or even cross-curricular work like reading a science article. It’s structured, purposeful, and keeps them focused.
- Must Do/May Do Lists: These are like choice boards and give students a mix of required tasks (must do) and options they can choose from (may do). It’s great because it allows for some independence and choice, which kids love.
- Mix and Match: Don’t feel boxed in by one method. You can start with independent reading and then switch to a workstation. It’s all about keeping things fresh and engaging!
Tips for Building Independence in Small Groups
Now, we all know that getting kids to work independently is a whole process. Start by laying out clear expectations and building routines. Don’t just jump into everything at once. Introduce one workstation or task at a time, practice it as a class, and then let them try it on their own. Slow down at the start to speed up later in the year!
Another pro tip? Create a visual aid like a slide, poster, or checklist that shows what they should be doing. This helps students stay on track without constantly needing to ask you questions while you’re busy with your small group.
And finally, think about ways to signal to your students that it’s small group time—whether it’s playing soft classical music or wearing a special hat. These little cues help set the tone and remind students of the expectations during this specific time.
Alright teachers, you got this! Small group instruction is all about finding what works best for you and your students. There’s no one right way, so trust your gut and go with what feels right. Keep those small groups focused, keep the rest of the class engaged, and you’ll be rocking it in no time!
Key points about small group instruction that we discuss:
- What you first need to do before selecting activities for your small group instruction
- Sara share a list of questions to ask yourself that will help make your students independent during small group instruction
- A variety of different activities you could do during your small group time
- Why you shouldn’t be on a specific timeline to begin your small group instruction
- An explanation of Sara’s 4T model for your small group structure that fits any grade level
Resources mentioned:
- Small Group Teacher Guide Freebie
- Life Coaching inside Wife Teacher Mommy
- Join the Wife Teacher Mommy Club!
- Wife Teacher Mommy: Mentioned on Podcast Amazon List
Connect with Sara Marye:
Sara Marye has over a decade of experience working as a classroom teacher and school administrator. She is now CEO of The Stellar Teacher Company and a literacy specialist passionate about helping elementary teachers around the world grow their students into lifelong readers. Sara’s mission is to make teachers’ lives a little easier by providing them with endless encouragement, effective strategies, and engaging no-fluff resources. Sara is also the host of the Stellar Teacher Podcast, where she loves to share her favorite literacy tips each week!
Small group instruction-related episodes and blog posts:
- Episode 28, How to Differentiate Instruction to Meet Every Child with Karel Dimalanta
- Episode 20, The 8-Step Test to Choose High-Quality Reading Materials
- Literature Circles: The Simple Guide for Teachers
- 3 Tips for Using Differentiated Reading Passages
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Read the transcript for episode 32, Small Group Instruction: Streamlined with Sara Marye:
Hey, teacher, friend, I hope you’re having a fabulous day so far. I’m so excited to be with you again today on the podcast. As I mentioned, I just love being here with you and chatting with you. And it’s just such a great time. As always, I would love to hear from you too. So make sure to DM me on Instagram so I can kind of hear what you love about this podcast what you would like to see, make sure to let me know.
Okay, so today I am excited to be here with Sara Marye. She is the owner of the Stellar Teacher Company. I brought her to the podcast today because we’ve had a lot of our followers ask about small group instruction and what to do during small group instruction, how to keep the rest of the class engaged while you’re pulling small groups, if you should do centers, how to do centers, do you have to do centers so many questions. And we are answering all of them today in this episode. So let me introduce Sara really quick. Sara Marye has over a decade of experience working as a classroom teacher and school administrator. She is now CEO of the Stellar Teacher Company and a literacy specialist passionate about helping elementary teachers around the world grow their students into lifelong readers. Sara’s mission is to make teachers lives a little easier by providing them with endless encouragement, effective strategies and engaging no fluff resources. Sara is the host of the Stellar Teacher Podcast where she loves to share her favorite literacy tips each week. And we are so excited to have her here on the show today. So let’s dive into today’s interview. Hey, Sara, I’m so happy to have you here on the podcast today.
Hey, Kelsey, I’m so excited to finally sit down and have a conversation with you.
I know we’ve been meaning to do this. For what, like a few months now.
Yeah, it’s been on our calendar. So we’re finally making it happen.
So excited about everybody who saw you at our event earlier this summer. They’re like, Oh, yay, Sara’s here. I’m sure. You did a great job. Thank you really excited to have you back. So can you introduce yourself to our listeners?
Absolutely. So I am Sara Marye. And I am the creator behind the Stellar Teacher Company. And I’m also the host of the Stellar Teacher Podcast. And I primarily create resources and provide professional development for upper elementary teachers specifically in the area of reading. That’s kind of like my favorite subject. I’ve been doing this full time at home for the last four or five years. Prior to that though, when I was working in a school, I worked as a first grade teacher, a second grade teacher, a fourth grade teacher, a literacy coach and an assistant principal. So I kind of feel like I’ve you know, sort of, I’ve experienced a little bit of everything in education, but I love that I get to support teachers now specifically in the area of literacy. That’s incredible.
I love that you have experienced with all those grade levels, you’ve been assistant principals, you’ve kind of seen like a lot of what goes on in different areas, different content levels and everything.
Yeah, anytime I like create resources or like put together my podcast, I really tried to like think of all those experiences and consider like, Okay, let me remember when I used to teach lower elementary or let me think about this through and administrators perspective. So I try to use all of my experiences when creating resources and content for my audience.
That’s incredible. And you’ve such a great podcast, like I remember here, you just celebrated like 100,000 downloads, right?
Yeah, which is a little bit wild. Yeah, I started my podcast a year ago or a year and a half ago in January. And it is I don’t know, it’s just so much fun. You I mean, you have a podcast so you know, it’s just like so fur there’s it’s interesting because it’s like every time I sit down to record I literally am having a conversation with myself. But I get so excited because I know I was like Oh my gosh. It’s like I’m having a conversation with all of my teacher listeners. So it really does. I don’t know, it’s a fun way to connect with my audience. And I love being able to put together episodes for them. And I love doing guest episodes too.
So fun. Okay, so today we are talking all about small groups and our listeners, they have been asking about this topic. So when you brought it up, I was like, oh, yeah, we’re doing that. So it’s definitely the time of year that teachers are getting ready to start pulling their small groups. And they might be feeling like, oh, maybe they’re a little overwhelmed by it, maybe last year didn’t go as well, or they’re a new teacher. So what can teachers do to make sure they have a successful year with pulling their small groups?
Yeah, this is like a big topic. And I feel like this is one of those things that whether it is the beginning of the school year, the middle of the school year, during the summer, like teachers are always asking, you know, how can I become better at small groups? Like what do I need to do to improve my small groups? And it’s interesting, because earlier this summer, I was getting ready to do a whole series on small groups. And I asked my audience, like, what questions do you have about small group instruction? Like if I was going to put together a podcast episode to help you with small groups? Like, what what questions do you have? And the number one question that I got about small groups was, what do I have the rest of my class to do? While I pull small groups? Which was kind of surprising to me because like, oh, wait, this isn’t actually about what happens at your small group table. But I actually think that that is such an important question when thinking about small groups, because, you know, if we don’t have a really good plan in place, or a really good routine, or a system in place, for the rest of our class, our small group lessons are really gonna be a waste of time. You know, it does not matter how beautiful and amazing and engaging your small group lessons are, if the rest of your class is chaos, and you know, not even chaos, even if they’re quiet and at their desks. But if they’re not engaged in something meaningful, then your small group instructional time is not going to be as effective as it is. So, you know, really, before you even begin to think about what you’re going to be doing during your small group lessons, you really need to have a clear plan in place for the rest of your class.
Absolutely. And I remember being a new teacher, and like I had what I was doing for my students ready, you know, I’m like, oh, yeah, I know what I’m doing. But then you’re like, oh, wait, this is the part I didn’t think about. So I feel like, you really do need to start with that. So you are prepared. So you can actually do that work with those small groups, and even when I posted on Facebook, some of our followers, they were like, Oh, what do you do with the other kids? So I think, yeah, this is key. So what do they do to plan ahead for the rest of the class?
Yeah, so there are I mean, there’s tons of different things. First of all, that you can have your students engaged. And one of the things I like to remind teachers is that there is more than one way to be an effective reading teacher. And there is more than one way to effectively engage your students while you’re pulling in small group instructions. But before you make a plan for, you know, what it is that you want to do, whether it’s workstations or independent reading, you really need to like take a step back and think about your small group instructional time, you know, I know everybody has a different literacy block, as far as how long it is, they have different expectations from their district in terms of how many days they’re supposed to pull small groups. So you really need to think about the time and the frequency of your small group lessons, you know, are you going to be pulling small groups every day for 20 minutes? Are you going to be pulling small groups everyday for 45 minutes, because how you engage your class for 20 minutes daily looks different than how you engage them for 45 minutes. And if you’re only pulling your students for small groups, you know, two days a week, that’s going to look different than if you have small groups running every single day. So before you even decide this specific types of activities, and how you want to structure the rest of your class, you really need to think about, you know, how much time am I actually spending with my small groups. And then once you have kind of this, you know, big picture plan in place, then you can really think about, okay, what types of activities are going to be the best use of this time while I’m meeting students in small groups?
Oh, yeah, that’s so good. I think it’s so important to keep in mind those things, time and frequency, and all of that, because if you don’t plan ahead, knowing all of those different components, then it’s not going to go over very well, for sure.
Yeah. And it’s like there was one year when I taught second grade. And we were expected to pull small groups every day. But we had a very short amount of time to do it. And I really only had time to do like one small group a day, it was about 20 minutes. And so it’s like doing centers for 20 minutes was really not like a good use of that time. Because by the time everybody got the transitions and the materials, and all of that, it’s like we spent more time getting ready for the center’s and we actually did and so it’s like during that year, I was like this is a better use of our time is to just do independent reading or a specific task rather than the rotation. But you know, I was like, I have to do centers. And it’s like, no, actually, I can do I can do something else instead. So yeah, thinking about what you know, how much time do I actually have and what is the best use of that time? I think it’s really gonna help teachers to set up a plan for the rest of their class that will be really effective.
I love that thought because they think everybody their go to like you mentioned his centers, like I need to do that. That is the right way to do it. And like you mentioned, there’s no one right way. And it does depend on the time period you have and the district’s expectations. So yeah, I think that’s A really great idea. And you mentioned so you mentioned reading stay reading centers or workstations independent reading, do you have any other ideas of things, if they don’t do centers what they could do to keep their students engaged while pulling small groups?
Yeah. So you know, and a lot of this comes down to like a teacher’s planning style, and your planning preferences and workstations are an option, you know, or centers. And I think a lot of times those terms workstations, and work centers are used interchangeably. But in case your audience isn’t familiar with that term, if we’ve got new teachers, but you know, a workstation is basically you know, you’re coming up with a list of literacy tasks. And while you’re pulling in small groups, your students are going to rotate through those tasks. So maybe they are doing like a word work center, or a, you know, independent reading center, or a listening center or research center. There’s tons of options for centers, but centers are you know, where you are, the students are participating in a variety of literacy tasks independently while you’re playing small groups. And then another option is, and this is one that I used a lot, and I think is great for upper elementary is independent reading. And really, that was really low prep for teachers. If students are doing independent reading, while you’re pulling in small groups, then you know, most often they’re going to have some sort of self selected independent reading texts. So they can find the genre and the topic of texts that they’re really interested in. And over time, they’re going to slowly build up their stamina, but they’re gonna spend most of their time reading and or responding to reading. And so maybe, you know, they’re reading and they’re filling out a graphic organizer, or they’re reading and completing some questions times. So that is another really good option. But other options that I think sometimes teachers forget is you could easily use that entire time for a teacher assigned task. And this could be anything, this could be having your students complete a set of task cards, this could be a reading passage with comprehension questions that are related to the objective that you just taught, this could be if you’re doing like a whole class novel, this could be having them read a couple chapters in their novel and then respond to it. This could be having them prepare a book talk, you know, it could be whatever task is, it could be even something cross curricular, you could have them read a science text and learn something in a different subject. And again, complete an assignment. So really, any teacher assigned task could be used during your independent or during your small group time to keep your students engaged. And then another option is giving students what I like to call a must do or may do list really, it’s kind of like a choice board. And this is kind of like a combination of, you know, reading centers, workstations, as well as teacher assigned tasks. And so if you want to give kind of your students that freedom and that flexibility to do more than just independent reading, or more than just read a passage and complete an assignment, you can give them a list of like the must do activities and the may do activity. So it’s like the must do are obviously you know, if you’ve got a specific assignment, a passage, a chapter, you know, some activity that they need to complete, they have to do that, but then you could give them some may do options. And maybe that is they get to read on a computer or listen to an audiobook, or maybe they get to do a word work activity, or maybe they get to do a poem of the week routine, or you know, something else, maybe there’s a writing about reading tasks. So it’s a variety of tasks, and then they get to choose the ones that are interesting to them. So, you know, these are just, these are just really some options. There’s the possibilities are endless. And I think it’s important for teachers just to consider what works with my planning style, and my management style, and what is going to be most engaging for my specific group of students.
I love that. And I feel like just hearing you list all these ideas, really, the possibilities are endless. And I feel like all these ideas, you gave are fabulous, and then I’m sure they sparked like, you know, oh, I could do this, or I could do that. So teachers, listen to your gut, listen to what your intuition is telling you. Because like we mentioned, there’s no one right way to do it. So these are so many great ideas.
I was gonna say teachers can even do like a mix and match, right? If you want your students to do independent reading, they could independently read for like 15 minutes, and then jump into a workstation or complete your teacher assigned tasks. So I think sometimes we get stuck in this idea, like we mentioned, it’s like, oh my gosh, everybody’s doing centers or workstations. I have to do that. Or it’s like, everybody’s doing independent reading. I have to do that. But it’s like no, really just think about like, how much time do you have? What do your students need practice with what is going to be easy for you to plan and prep and what is going to be easy for your students to stay engaged in and there’s no right or wrong way to do it. It’s just a matter of you know, being intentional about how you’re setting up that time.
Love that. Okay, so I know so many teachers introduced workstations at the start of the year so we talked about that is one of the options or they slowly build up their students reading stamina, but they still get interrupted when they start to pull those small groups. So what can teachers do to truly make their students independent during that time?
Yeah, because it’s you know, it’s like one of those things where it’s like, during the first couple of months of the school year, it’s like, we’re all in that honeymoon phase, where it’s like, students will listen to the expectations, they’ll actually complete the tasks. And after a while, it’s like, even if you built up your independent reading stamina, your students start to lose interest in reading or even if you’ve practiced your center transitions, like students forget them. And so I think it really is important. However, you set up your small group time for the rest of your students that you take time, first of all, to really communicate your expectations. And it can be helpful for teachers to just take some time and kind of do like a brain dump of like, in order for my students to be successful with fill in the blank, whether that is stations independent reading this teacher assigned tasks, what do they need to know? And so thinking about what do they need to know in terms of their like behavioral expectations? What do they need to know in terms of their interaction and their collaboration with their classmates? Or if it’s their independent practice, and thinking of things like if students are completing a graphic organizer? It’s like, what is your expectation for them completing that? Are they including, you know, two to three pieces of text evidence? Are they writing with their best handwriting? Is that going to be finished by the end of their independent reading? Do you expect them to have that done, you know, halfway through their reading, or at the end? If they’re doing centers or workstations? What happens if they finish the task early? What do they do next? What happens if they don’t finish the center and you’re ready to rotate? What happens if there’s not enough materials for the students in the group? So really just kind of doing that brain dump and thinking through if I’m going to use you know, this specific structure, what do my students need to know and write down everything because the more sort of like crystal clear you are in your expectations, the easier it’s going to be for you to communicate that to your students. And really, you don’t want your students guessing on anything, you want them to know exactly what they’re supposed to be doing during this independent time. But I think one getting really clear on your expectations, and then making sure that you teach that to your students, which means we need to train them. I think it’s like one of those things that we train students with independent reading, right, we slowly build their stamina. And sometimes we train them with centers, and like we practice transitions, and we show them the center chart. And you know, we have students, you know, rotate and you know, put the materials away and put the materials down. But so often, what I see happens, especially if teachers are doing workstations is they try to jump into workstations so quickly, with the best of intentions. But I think rather than you know, introducing the five different centers that you’re having to your students and wanting them to like jump right into it, introduce one center or workstation at a time, practice that whole group, let the students practice doing that independently while you’re observing and really just slowly build their stamina with whatever it is. The same thing with like a teacher assigned tasks. You know, if you’re assigning giving your students on assignment, the first assignment shouldn’t be read three chapters of the novel and write a summary. Like, they’ll eventually be able to get that but the first teacher assigned task might need to be read a paragraph and write one sentence to answer this question. So you know, really think about how can I slowly build up their stamina for whatever the task is, you know, if you’re giving your students a must do may do list give them one must do and two may do options to choose from, you know, if we give them seven or eight choices in the beginning, they’re going to be overwhelmed with it, and they’re not gonna be able to complete it, you know, completely. So really just thinking about this idea of training our students for whatever your system and structure is. And that means being really clear on expectations, slowly building the stamina. And then of course, practicing is an important part of that. I remind teachers too much at the start of the year, slow down, so you can speed up later in the year, like you cannot practice enough at the start of the year, because the more you practice, and the more second nature becomes the students, the easier it’s going to be, you know, later on in the year. But I think also taking time to provide feedback and to reflect so if you are doing centers or workstations every time you complete a center rotation reflect how did that go? Did we all follow the expectations? You know, everybody know what they’re supposed to be doing? Did we all have the materials like were we effective and on task with our transitions, you know, if you were doing independent reading, it takes time to reflect at the end of it. So reflect and provide feedback to your students. So that way, they continuously know how they can improve.
Sara, this was gold. What I loved what you said is like, you know, you start with a brain dump, but I love brain dump. So I feel like it’s just sometimes if you’re overwhelmed, you need to do a brain dump. It’s like get it all out. And then from there, you can figure out what you need and build their stamina and then make sure you’re always giving feedback so you can improve. I just feel like that was really good and a great way to apply that all to centers and really you could do that with like anything when you’re teaching.
Oh, yeah, you know, and I think it’s just there’s so much on a teacher to do list and we know we always know like the end goal, right? Like we want our students to be independent with center so let’s go ahead and jump right into it. But it’s like sometimes the best thing to do is take a step back and like for you as the teacher just just really think through okay, what do I want this to look like? Like how am I actually going to get to that end goal of students being independent and sometimes it takes a few more steps or a little more practice than we originally planned on.
So good Sara. Okay, so what are some other things that teachers can do to ensure students are independent?
Yeah, you know, these are things that you can do at the start of the year, when you are launching your small group routine, you know, whatever that is centers, independent reading, teacher assigned tasks. And these are also things that you can kind of come back to and sprinkle in throughout the year. Because again, it’s like, if you’ve been a teacher for any amount of time, you know that at some point during the year, whatever habits or behaviors you started, the year with, your students are going to forget. And so sometimes you need to sort of like you know, recommit to what it is that we agreed to at the start of the year. So a couple things that you can do is, first of all, you can create an essential agreement with your students. And this is basically just rather than you as the teacher, saying, here are my expectations for you, you’re creating the expectations with your students, so you’re getting them, you know, to get some buy in. And anytime I’m creating essential agreements with my students, I like to remind them like, what is your goal as a student for this experience? Like, why are centers or independent reading going to be important to you? Like, how are you going to benefit from this? So I already I know how to read I’ve already mastered the fourth grade standard, like this is not for me as your teacher, this is for you. So like, how are you going to benefit from this? So getting them some skin in the game? And then having them really come up with like, what are the things that we’re going to commit to this year and then having them sign off on it. And when students create an essential agreement, kind of like that contract, you can refer back to that all throughout the units like, Hey, you guys agreed to this at the start of the year, like we need to hold true to that. So create an essential agreements, just about any sort of behavior expectations can be great. I think having a visual, you know, whether it is like a slide that shows your center rotation, a slide that lists off the assignment for independent reading, or how much time they’re supposed to be reading for, if it has the list of must do may do activities, but you want to create some sort of visual that students can refer back to. So that way, they’re not coming up to you during your small group lesson and saying, Excuse me, I forgot what I’m supposed to do, or I finished this assignment, I don’t know what to do next. So creating some sort of visual display that students can check and sort of understand what are my next steps, it could be a bookmark, it could be a sticky note on their desk, I mean, the possibilities are endless, but coming up with some sort of visual that students can check back to so that way they know what they’re supposed to be doing during this time. Other things that you can do, as I always try to think about how can we create sort of a separate environment or a cue or a signal for our students that when we’re doing small group instruction, it’s a little bit different than our normal time, which means if we’re doing small groups, our behavior needs to be a little bit different than we’re doing a whole group instruction. So you know, teachers can do something like wear a special hat or a set of glasses or have some sort of prop so that we their students know, it’s like, okay, this is small group time, I’m not going to be interrupting my teacher, because she’s wearing her small group hat. Or if you have, you know, specific music, if it’s like classical music that just softly plays in the background. And the only time you play it is during your small group time, that’s going to be a cue to your students. That’s like, okay, we’re starting our small group time, our behavior is different. We’re working on our independence, like I’m teaching students that my small group, everybody else has their job, and they’re independent at their desk, or having a specific signal, whether it’s a bell at the start of your small group time, a light switch, you know, if you turn the lights off, and just have lamps on, just try to think of other sensory cues, so that way, your students are sort of just reminded of the expectations. So I think having, like I said, the visual reminders, and then just thinking about how can we sort of set apart this time, so students are like, Okay, this is a little a little bit different than when we’re doing other independent practice or partner practice or a whole group lessons, it just reminds them that their expectations are supposed to be a little bit different during small group time.
I love all of this. And I feel like these have been such great tips for thinking about how to set up their class for success in small groups. So we’ve talked a lot about, you know, the other part of the class and setting expectations and everything. But now what about can you share a quick tip about when you actually start to pull those small groups?
Absolutely, because let’s be honest, it’s like the whole point of like, setting up our class to be independent is so that way, when our students come to our small group table, we can have a meaningful, engaged lesson. So you’ve done the hard work now, right? Your students are engaged, they’re independent, and now you’re ready to actually pull your students at your small group. First of all, let me just say, don’t rush the process. Like if it takes you two weeks, three weeks, even a month to get your students to be independent, it is okay if you don’t pull small groups until your class is fully independent. But when you are ready to start pulling small groups, there’s really kind of a couple of things that you want to sort of like think about. One of the things that I like to encourage teachers is to come up with a structure for their small group lesson that is set up in such a way that you could use it for kind of whatever objective whether it is a comprehension objective, a word study objective, a writing about reading objective, but your structure for your small group lessons should put the burden of the work on students. I know I spent so many years pulling small groups to my table, and I would spend 15-20 minutes talking to them basically, and teaching and, you know, showing them and giving an anchor chart and providing examples and then all of a sudden I would look down at my clock and be like we’re out of time and you did not get a chance to practice at all and the magic of small group instruct happens when students have an opportunity to practice the objective at the small group table and you are there to provide support. So you want to make sure that the structure of your lessons is set up so that way students can actually practice and I have a very simple structure. So if teachers are, you know, just getting started with small groups, and they’re like, I’m not sure what to do during this time, I have a very simple structure, it works with any grade level, any objective, I call it, the 4 T model. And during your small group lesson, you want to target a specific skill or objective. So you only have 15-20 minutes. So you’re not trying to get them to master an entire standard or understand an entire word family or all of the roots, like you’re picking one small bite sized objective, and you’re going to target that objective during your small group lesson. And this should maybe take one to two minutes, where you just simply say, today, we are going to be learning how to make inferences about characters. And that’s it. And then the next part of your lesson is the teach. And the teach is where you are going to take one to two minutes short amount of time, and you are going to explain to them what it is that they are doing. And most of the time, when you are putting students in small groups, you are re teaching something that they’ve already been exposed to whole group and you are providing scaffolding and support and opportunities to practice. And so this is this should not usually be brand new content for the students. So you might pull out an anchor chart, you might show them an example from a mentor text, you might pull out some, you know, vocabulary, word cards, whatever it is, but you’re going to spend just two minutes teaching them whatever this specific objective is. And then we have the tackle section, which is going to be maybe eight to 10 minutes long. And this really should be the bulk of your small group. And this is where the students are going to be reading a text, they’re going to be answering questions, they’re going to be manipulating words, whatever your objective is, you want your students to practice and during this tackle portion of the lesson, you’re going to observe students, you’re going to check in with them. You know, if you’re teaching lower elementary, you probably want to listen to them read to check in on their fluency. But you’re just sort of there to say, Okay, how is this going? You’re practicing this now? Are you understanding? Do you have questions? How’s it going? How can I support you, and maybe you need to give students you know, question stems, or maybe they need, you know, a graphic organizer, or maybe you need to point out something in the text and give them a prompt to help them move forward. But they should be doing the bulk of the work during your small group lesson. And then the final thing that we should do during our small group lesson is transfer. That’s the final t. And ultimately, what we want to remind students is that we don’t want them just to apply this specific objective or skill during our small group lesson, we want them to do it anytime that they are reading. So we want to remind them that you can do this, when you sit down to read independently, the next time you’re practicing, when you’re at home and give them whether it’s a tip, a reminder, you know, if you give them an anchor chart that they can take back to the desk to put in their journal, whatever sort of your objective is, see if you can give them some reminder. It’s like, okay, now that you’ve practiced this, I want you to keep practicing this on your own. So the 4T model is target, teach, tackle, transfer with the most important thing being the tackle. So students get time to actually practice during the small group lesson.
So good. I love all of this. You’ve shared so much information, I feel like our listeners will just be able to take this and apply it to their small groups. And you know, however they decide to do it, whether it’s workstations or whatever they do. And I think you mentioned that you have a freebie for our listeners. Is that right?
Yes, absolutely. So I have a small group teacher guide. And it really explains a little bit more about the 4T model and how you can make that work. And then it also has a sample lesson for inferring character traits for upper elementary teachers. So if you want to see what an actual sample lesson would look like using that structure, you can grab that in my small group guide, the link is stellarteacher.com/small-group-guide. But hopefully you can link to that in the show notes. But I would love for teachers to grab that. And like I said, it kind of breaks down and explains a little bit more about the 4T structure as well as give us like a lesson plan template and some sentence stems to help them apply that in their classroom.
That’s amazing. And so gracious of you. Thank you for putting that together. And I’m sure they’re going to love that. So where can our listeners find you to connect? I know we mentioned we have your awesome podcast.
Yeah, so I just like you, I have my podcast that comes out every week. So if you want to hear more about small group or anything related to literacy tune in the Stellar Teacher Podcast, but teachers can also find me on Instagram. I am at @thestellarteachercompany. And then my website is stellarteacher.com is kind of the hub for everything you can find my podcast there, my Teachers Pay teacher’s store, we have a reading membership for upper elementary teachers that is linked on my website as well. But I always say this, I love connecting with teachers. So if you have specific questions about anything I talked about today, or really anything related to literacy, send me a direct message on Instagram. I love chatting literacy, and just anytime I can support teachers and encourage them, I’m always happy to do so.
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the show today Sara.
Thank you. This is so much fun. Yes. Thanks, Kelsey.
More about Wife Teacher Mommy: The Podcast
Being an educator is beyond a full-time job. Whether you’re a teacher or a homeschool parent, the everyday to-do list is endless. Between lesson planning, grading, meetings, and actually teaching, it probably feels impossible to show up for your students without dropping the ball in other areas of your life.
Wife Teacher Mommy: The Podcast is the show that will bring you the teacher tips, practical strategies, and inspiration that you need to relieve the stress and overwhelm of your day-to-day. Your host, Kelsey Sorenson, is a former teacher and substitute turned homeschool mom. Tune in weekly to hear Kelsey and her guests cheer you on and help you thrive as a wife, teacher, and mommy. Because with a little support and community, you can do it all. For access to every single Wife Teacher Mommy resource, join the club at educateandrejuvenate.com/club.
One Response
This podcast was recommended during the Thursday Sessions. It was a great recommendation. I have been trying to work in groups as some of my students need more help with Math than others. It’s the keeping the rest busy while I help the ones who need extra instruction that I have been trying to work out. Great information! Thank you!