There are many ways to heterogeneously group students. For example, after gathering formal and informal data on the students’ abilities to read fluently, a teacher may divide the class into three groups based on their performance (e.g., eight students in a low- skill group, eight in a moderate-skill group, and eight in a high-skill group) and rank order them within each group. Next, the teacher may create heterogeneous small groups of three students by selecting the students at the same rank within each of the skill groups. Alternatively, the teacher may strategically select which students are grouped together based on his or her observations of the students and knowledge of their other strengths and weaknesses, including social and behavioral considerations. Then, in their assigned small groups, students may complete a reading fluency activity in which each student is assigned a certain role (e.g., the student from the high-skill group could be designated to model fluent reading while the other two students follow along; the student in the moderate-skill group could practice reading the same passage next; and the student in the low-skill group could be the last to practice, after twice reading along while their peers demonstrate fluent reading). Higher-skill students could provide feedback to peers that stretches them to think metacognitively about the way they accomplish fluent reading (e.g., about how reading with prosody involves varying intonation, stress, and tempo based on the meaning of the text).
Updating Groups Regularly
Researchers recommend that teachers regularly update small-group composition to adapt to their students’ evolving needs as they respond to effective instruction (Castle et al., 2005; Watts-Taffe et al., 2012). Teachers may choose to change small groups for many reasons, including because progress-monitoring assessments indicate mastery of content by certain students (who may benefit from engaging with more challenging material in a different small group). In certain instances, progress-monitoring data may indicate the need to reduce group size for more intensive instruction. When individual students demonstrate specific challenges not experienced by their classmates or require higher-intensity interventions, transitioning to a smaller group or even 1:1 instruction can be a strategic response.
ALIGNING PRACTICE WITH RESEARCH TOPIC PAPER 14
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