Small group literacy

Scheduling Small-Group Literacy Instruction for Middle-School Students

Heres one example of how you can divide a 50-minute class period and balance whole-group literacy instruction with small-group instruction that meets the needs of students who need more support.

For specific instructional strategies, see Effective Instruction for Middle School Students with Reading Difficulties (www.brookespublishing.com).

Schedule Breakdown

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
10-minuts	Whole-group instruction: vocabulary strategy	Whole-group instruction: vocabulary strategy	Whole-group instruction: comprehension strategy	Whole-group instruction: review comprehension strategy	Whole-group instruction: review instruction: comprehension or vocabulary
	Grouping and focus: teacher led comprehension	Grouping and focus: n/a	Grouping and focus: teacher led guided practice	Grouping and focus: n/a	Grouping and focus: n/a
	Group 3 with teacher: decoding	Group 1 with teacher: decoding	Group 2 with teacher: multisyllable word reading	Group 3 with teacher: decoding	Group 1 with teacher: decoding
	Grouping and focus: teacher led and word recognition	Grouping and focus: independent practice (pairs)	Group 2 with teacher: fluency	Groups 1 and 2 partner reading (pairs): fluency	Group 2 with teacher: multisyllable word reading
	Group 1 and 2 independent practice (pairs): comprehension	Group 3 with teacher: decoding and word recognition	Groups 1 and 3 independent practice (pairs): vocabulary	Groups 2 and 3 partner reading (pairs): vocabulary	Groups 1 and 3 independent practice (pairs): vocabulary
		Group 3 with teacher: Guided practice: vocabulary		Group 3 with teacher: decoding and word recognition	Group 1 with teacher: vocabulary and comprehension

From Effective Instruction for Middle School Students with Reading Difficulties, by Carolyn A. Denton, Ph.D., Sharon Vaughn, Ph.D., Jade Wexler, Ph.D., Deanna Bryan, & Deborah Reed, Ph.D.