Size
The smallest group is two. The largest recommended is six. Generally, in smaller groups each member participates more, fewer social skills are required, and groups can work more quickly. Larger groups generate more ideas, deal better with complex ideas, and create fewer group reports to process. Remember, it’s hard to get left out of a pair; triads tend to surface issues and are good for process observing; teams of four allow multiple ways to pair.
Formation
With a few exceptions, research favors groups which are heterogeneous with regard to academic achievement, gender, ethnicity, task orientation, ability, and learning style. Heterogeneous groups promote more elaborate thinking and explanations, and provide opportunities for students to develop feelings of mutual concern. Student self-selection of groups is generally not successful, although students may provide input for teachers to consider in assigning groups. Random assignment promotes the idea that everyone is expected to work with everyone else at some point. Random assignment can result in teams that are not heterogeneous or equal in ability, so are best used if the task is of short duration.
Duration
If the task is of some duration, the makeup of groups must be seen as “fair,” so the groups should be carefully structured. Groups that stay together for longer periods (4-6 weeks) form stronger bonds, develop more complex collaborative skills, and can tackle more complex tasks. Groups should remain together long enough to feel successful, but not so long that bonds become counter-productive. It is a usually a mistake to break groups up because they are having trouble functioning since members will feel unsuccessful in groups and transfer that feeling to the next group. Try to establish some success first!
Let me add the variations I have made to survive. When I taught a class of almost 40 students I divided my class into 4 groups because that’s the number of groups I could best manage for the amount of time I had allotted for mathematics. It also made it where I could use 4 stations easily.
I put multiple sets of same activities or games in each of the stations so that, at the most, 4 students would be working together on an activity. The leader took ½ of the group and the co-leader took the other half. (One teacher mentioned to me that I really sometimes had 8 groups but 2 at a time were going to each station. That’s one way to look at it… and, if it works for you, think about it that way!)
One of the most important things to remember about grouping is to “shake up” or vary the way students experience a concept. Students should have the opportunity to learn in a whole-group setting, working with a partner, in a small group with varied levels of understanding, and in a group with students who are at the same level for the specific concepts being studied.
How will you shake upthe grouping of students in your class in 2011?
About 8 years ago, before the movie “The Bucket List” was released, my brother asked me a great question. He asked me what my dreams were, what I wanted in my life, and what I wanted to make into reality. He also asked me if I had written them down somewhere and if I reread them on a regular basis. I told him I hadn’t put my dreams into words on a piece of paper, but I knew I should.
That day I wrote my “Dreams Become Reality” list. I go back and reread that list every few months. Sometimes I add to the list. Sometimes I modify the list. The most rewarding thing I do with my list is check off when I have made a dream into a reality.
Me with My 1979 Right-Hand Drive Postal Jeep...I always wanted to drive one when I was a kid and now I do!
As 2010 comes to an end I’m going to be able to check off a few more items. I know some more I’m going to add.
Do you have a bucket list? Have you written down your dreams, your goals? No time like the present to do it…
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” -Anne Frank
“How can I use the Tabor Rotation Framework if I’m a resource teacher and we only have pull out for 30 minutes per group of students?”
Many schools choose to “push in” rather than “pull out” when they provide resource services to their students. In one school district, all of the resource teachers were in the self-contained classrooms during the rotation time on Days 2 & 3 and during the readiness grouping on Days 4 & 5.
They found this to be one of the most effective ways to best make use of their time with their students. The resource teachers calculated the amount of time it took to come and get the students, take the students to the resource room, help everyone acclimate themselves to the new surroundings, begin the activity, bring closure to the activity, take the students back to their regular classroom, determine what the rest of the class was doing, and help the students begin working again. Not much of the 30-minute resource time was used in actual assistance for the students. Frankly, I’m tired just reading it!
Instead, the classroom teachers, and all resource teachers who worked with them, met for team planning together. Copies of the completed Tabor Rotation Planning Guides were given to everyone who worked with the students–for once they were all on the same page! With this information in hand at least 3-4 weeks before the instruction occurred, the ESL teachers were also able to “front load” declarative knowledge, vocabulary, and provide experiences for the students who needed a more in-depth understanding.
During the Day 1 of the Tabor Rotation Framework, the resource teacher circulated to his students to check for understanding and to give clarification for the activities being placed in the week’s stations. On Days 2 & 3, Station Rotation Days, the resource teacher rotated to the stations where his students were working or gave teacher direction to two of the stations.
On Days 4 & 5, Readiness Grouping Days, the resource teacher met with her students while the classroom teacher met with other readiness groups. The resource teacher sometimes gave students additional assistance for completion of the Application Menu of Options which is given to all students for independent/partner work.
If the resource teacher was “pulled in” instead of the students being “pulled out,” the students actually received 30 minutes of additional support. It takes planning and scheduling for the adult…but, since it’s worth it for the students!
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” -Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy
“The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” -Stephen R. Covey
“Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.” -Rodin
“I get that the Whole-Group Mini-Lessons shouldn’t be 45 minutes long since the students aren’t listening after 10 or 15 minutes anyway. I would like to know if I can use smart boards, interactive videos, lessons from the teacher’s guide, and other things.”
Yes, you can use whatever pedagogical tool is most effective to help students understand the simple concepts you are teaching during the Whole-Group Mini-Lesson. The primary things to remember about the Whole-Group Mini-Lessons are:
Use pre-assessment tools to determine which concepts your students do and don’t know. If most of your students understand a concept, then you don’t need to teach it for a prolonged period of time. You may review briefly, but not make those mastered concepts comprise your entire lesson.
Stay in your order of instruction or scope & sequence. You should be teaching grade-level concepts.
Be timely. You may want to set a timer and have a student let you know when you have 3 minutes remaining.
Make the instruction meaningful to the students. Provide opportunities for them to make a real-world connection.
Use thinking partners so students can interact and share what they have just learned.
Infuse genuine enthusiasm. When you are excited about the learning which is occurring, then students will be, too!
“Education is knowing where to go to find out what you need to know; and it’s knowing how to use the information you get.” -William Feather
“You can always find a capable helping hand at the end of your own sleeve.” -Zig Ziglar
It’s just a few hours away from winter break for schools, but dedicated educators are still asking for more to prepare for the coming semester. Many of you have asked for resource information as the secondary level. This poem is for you.
To Have Succeeded
To laugh often and much,
to win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children,
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends,
to appreciate beauty,
to find the best in others,
to leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch…
to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
“A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.” -Francis Bacon
“Talent alone won’t make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is: “Are your ready?” -Johnny Carson
During follow-up conferencing this week I was asked a wonderful question. The teacher, from McKinney, Texas, asked if I could recommend some different Exit Questions. He said his students were growing tired of the same questions they’d had since the beginning of school. I first congratulated him on his regular use of small group activities and exit questions. I also promised him I’d post suggestions.
What are exit questions? In the Tabor Rotation Framework they are one of the ways teachers hold students accountable for the information they have learned. There are three basic questions which are recommended as classes implement Tabor Rotation. [Simple exit questions]
Exit questions also help students summarize the activity or game. A teacher can also use them for formative assessment and as a tool to assist in Clipboard Cruising. Student responses to exit questions can provide additional information when the teacher is forming Readiness Groups for Days 4 & 5 of Tabor Rotation.
George Ashline offers this explanation about the importance of exit questions,
“Exit questions such as these are a useful tool that can be used in a variety of educational situations and can offer valuable information and perspectives to those involved….These formative questions are presented and answered in a short period of time at a natural breaking point in instruction, and provide immediate feedback about participant understanding of the “big picture.” They also provide an opportunity to modify instruction and address any widespread confusion or difficulty.”
Here are more general questions a teacher could post in the room. When it’s time to respond, the teacher could empower the learner and let them choose the question.
1. Write one thing you learned today.
2. What area gave you the most difficulty today?
3. Something that really helped me in my learning today was ….
4. What connection did you make today that made you say, “AHA! I get it!”
5. Describe how you solved a problem today.
6. Something I still don’t understand is …
7. Write a question you’d like to ask or something you’d like to know more about.
8. What mathematical terms do you clearly understand or have difficulty understanding?
9. Did working with a partner make your work easier or harder. Please explain.
10. In what ways do you see today’s mathematics connected to your everyday life?
Fred Haise: I know why my numbers were wrong. I only figured it for two people.
Jack Swigert: Maybe I should just hold my breath.
-from the movie, “Apollo 13”
“We’ve made our Whole-Group Mini-Lesson on Fridays about problem solving. Word problems, especially multi-step ones, are really challenging for our students. Do you have any ideas that have worked for you?”
Maybe the inability to comprehend the text is what is standing in the way of of your students using their known math skills. If the student can’t comprehend what they’re reading, then they can’t complete the problem. Students need to make a “my-world-connection” to the concepts they’re studying, or there’s no place to “hook” the new knowledge in their brain. One of the ways of helping students make meaning out of word problems is to teach them to think about it as a story. I’ve posted a strategy for word problems which encouraged the use of a story map, give the problem characters, plot, setting, sequence of events, and a solution. [https://glennatabor.com/2010/08/word-problems-or-conceptual-connections/]
Many word problems infer the math skill or operation a student is to use. To help your students “read between the lines,” teach them the comprehension strategy of visualization.
What is visualization? I like the way Harvey and Goudvis describe it,
“Visualizing is like a movie in the mind. Visualizing brings joy to reading. When we visualize, we create pictures in our minds that belong to us and no one else….When we visualize, we create our own movies in our mind. We become attached to the characters we visualize. Visualizing personalizes reading, keeps us engaged, and often prevents us from abandoning a [text] prematurely.”
[from Harvey & Goudvis, from Strategies that Work, 2000, p. 97]
Why would visualizing help a student work a word problem? If the answer’s not written directly and clearly, then the student will have to use good comprehension skills to understand it. If a math teacher teaches students how to make a movie about the word problem in their head, then they can partner inferring with visualizing.
Again, I’ll let Harvey and Goudvis speak,
“Visualizing and inferring don’t occur in isolation. Strategies interweave. Inferring occurs at the intersection of questioning, connecting, and print. Visualizing strengthens our inferential thinking. When we visualize, we are in fact inferring, but with mental images rather than words or thoughts. Visualizing and inferring are first cousins, the offspring of connecting and questioning. Hand in hand, they enhance understanding.
[from Harvey & Goudvis, Strategies that Work, 2000, p. 96]
To teach students how to visualize word problems, I use the steps suggested by Wilhelm in Reading is Seeing:
Create mental images of observed concrete objects. Bring in interesting objects and have students handle, study, and carefully observe each object. Then have them close their eyes and imagine the most detailed version of the object that they can. Prompt them to describe the item to their classmates; other students can chime in with details they would add or change. Finally, have students open their eyes and compare their eyes and compare their mental pictures and descriptions with the actual object they were attempting to imagine, noting how their vision and the object are similar and different.
Create elaborate mental images of imagined concrete objects. Now ask students to visualize an absent concrete object with which they have previous experience. Next, use guided imagery prompts to have them create ever more detailed visions of this object. For example, you could ask students to imagine a car, then provide additional specific details to get students to refine their visualization. You might prompt them to see a red sports car, or a red Corvette.
Envision familiar objects and settings from their own experience. Next, prompt students to imagine familiar objects or scenes from home, such as the sugar jar in the kitchen, a clock, their bedroom, or a favorite place in their neighborhood.
Add familiar actions and events, then relationships and settings. Ask students to envision a familiar event or action, like a tea kettle whistling or to run a brief video clip they have seen back through their mind. Then ask them to build on an imagined object, such as the car described in step 2, by visualizing it in a driveway on a sunny day, then pulling out of the driveway, squealing its wheels as it peels out, and stopping at a stop sign. Visualization skills are extended when students describe the relationship of the object to other objects or characters or put the object in motion or in a situation. The more sophisticated they become at envisioning, the more their visions will move and involve these kinds of relationships.
Picture characters, settings, details, and events while listening to a story read or told aloud. Read aloud imagery-intense narrative and expository informational text (be sure to read both) about events, settings, processes, or ideas that are familiar to students so that they will have images from their recent experiences to draw on as a resource. Stop periodically to ask students to share their mental pictures; you might even ask them to identify what experiences they drew on to create their images.
Study text illustrations and use them to create internal images. Discuss text illustrations of all kinds with students as you read with them. Discuss how illustrations work in various ways to give readers a sense of setting or context, characters, concepts, mood, interactions, relationships, actions, events, and trends.
Create mental pictures independently. Prompt students to create mental pictures as they read on their own. It can be effective to invite students to create journal entries or drawings that respond to prompts provided at strategic points in the text.
[Reading is Seeing, Wilhelm, 2004]
After using narrative or expository texts for steps 5-7, go back and used math word problems. Use clips from movies which contain problem solving situations. Apollo 13 is a great one. The scene in which the scientists at NASA are given a bag of items and are asked to develop a way to get the square object to fit in the round hole is an excellent example of problem solving.
After watching the clip, discuss what the students saw and what math was involved. Then have everyone close their eyes and intricately describe the scene from the movie to a partner. After comparing their different mental pictures from the movie, read excerpts from the book, Apollo 13, Lost Moon, by Jim Lovell. Ask the students to create a movie in their head for each portion I’ve read.
After practicing visualizing using the book, then ask the students to work with their partner and write word problems using Apollo 13 as the context. The students practice visualizing, inferring, questioning, and connecting. Then they should practice using these comprehension strategies with word problems from their own math text. Post the the steps listed above to be used on a regular basis.
Try visualizing with your own students and SEE what happens the next time they encounter word problems!
“ Our mission was called “a successful failure,” in that we returned safely but never made it to the Moon. I sometimes catch myself looking up at the Moon, remembering the changes of fortune in our long voyage, thinking of the thousands of people who worked to bring the three of us home. I look up at the Moon and wonder, when will we be going back, and who will that be?” -Jim Lovell, from “Apollo 13”
“What is the most useful game you’ve ever played with your students?”
If I had $20 to spend on games, the commercial game I would select is the card game called the 24 Game. [www.24game.com]
Created in 1988 by Robert Sun, it has engaged and fascinated every student I’ve ever had. The game has evolved into nine different versions. The single-digit version of the 24 Game has four numbers when added, subtracted, multiplied, or divided will equal 24. There’s always more than one way to find the answer for each card.
My favorite story about using the 24 Game comes from my experience as a self-contained 4th grade teacher. One day my class had a visitor from the superintendent’s office. She passed by the Games Station and watched as students gazed intently at the one-dot card. The students were excited and boisterous when they discovered the answer. She leaned down and asked one student if “all they ever did in class was play.” The leader of the group looked up and said, “Yes, we do have fun and play in our class, but we learn at the same time. In fact, when we play the 24 Game, we’re practicing computational proficiency, mental math, order of operation, and algebraic reasoning. Would you like to try it?”
I couldn’t have said it better myself and have recommended that everyone try the 24 Game and watch what happens with their students!
“What is the most useful game you’ve ever played with your students?”
If I had $20 to spend on games, the commercial game I would select is the card game called the 24 Game. [www.24game.com]
Created in 1988 by Robert Sun, it has engaged and fascinated every student I’ve ever had. The game has evolved into nine different versions. The single-digit version of the 24 Game has four numbers when added, subtracted, multiplied, or divided will equal 24. There’s always more than one way to find the answer for each card.
My favorite illustration about the effectiveness of using the 24 Game comes from my experience as a self-contained 4th grade teacher. One day my class had a visitor from the superintendent’s office. She passed by the Games Station and watched as students gazed intently at the one-dot card. The students were excited and boisterous when they discovered the answer. She leaned down and asked one student if “all they ever did in class was play.” The leader of the group looked up and said, “Yes, we do have fun and play in our class, but we learn at the same time. In fact, when we play the 24 Game, we’re practicing computational proficiency, mental math, order of operation, and algebraic reasoning. Would you like to try it?”
I couldn’t have said it better myself and have recommended that everyone try the 24 Game and watch what happens with their students!
“The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people, but real management is developing people through work.” -Agha Hasan Abedi
“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.” -Peter F. Drucker
“As we get ready to implement these groups do you think it’s necessary to take a few days and talk about the norms or rules of behavior that are expected?” With the second semester just a few short weeks away, many middle school and high school teachers have asked me this question. The answer is yes. This blog post will share some websites, articles, and ideas which support the use of small groups and meaningful instruction.
Lesson Plans Inc. asserts the following, “Keeping students on task is the most important rule of all. If your high school or middle school students are doing what they should be doing, then you don’t have any management problems.” [http://www.lessonplansinc.com/classroom_management_student_engagement.php]
Richard Strong, Harvey Silver, and Amy Robinson conducted a decade of research on what kept students on task and what engaged them. They found that students who are engaged in their work are energized by success, curiosity, originality, and satisfying relationships. When teachers used this information to guide their instructional decisions, then student engagement increased and classroom management issues were almost non-existent.
[http://www.middleweb.com/StdntMotv.html]
But, what are some specific ways a teacher prepares students for using small groups? Harry Wong suggests teaching the following procedures:
· Bell work assignment
· Opening morning procedures
· Students entering procedures
· Students leaving procedures
· Walking in the hall procedures
· Procedure if student finishes early
· Getting the class’s attention
· Quieting the class procedure
· Listening to/responding to questions
· Getting the teacher’s attention
· Roll taking procedure
· Collecting papers
· Distributing papers
· Disaster drill procedures
· End of class/day dismissal procedures
If you’re going to be implementing small groups using the Tabor Rotation Framework, then visualize every minute of the structure. Think about how each of your classes will respond and how you would like for them to respond. Model and practice all behaviors with your students—regardless of their age! The only way a procedure is internalized correctly is if it is modeled, shaped, and practiced in the correct form.
After thinking about the procedures, you might want to observe your environment. Alfie Kohn describes what to look for in an effective classroom and what might be of cause to worry. Some of the good signs are:
· Chairs around tables to facilitate interaction
· Evidence of student collaboration
· Frequent hum of activity and ideas being exchanged
· Different activities often take place simultaneously
Over the last month I have had the privilege of working with teachers from many different schools. Yes, just a few short weeks before the winter break, schools are wanting more professional development. This occurred because they want to learn and improve—no matter when the opportunity arises during the school year. I am in awe of these educators due to their unending desire to do what is best for all their students.
Last night I watched the movie, “The Blind Side” again. The essay written by one of the main characters, Michael, struck a chord with me. It reminded me of the teachers with whom I have worked this year. I have tried to express how highly I think of you…maybe Michael’s essay will do it for me…
“Courage is a hard thing to figure. You can have courage based on a dumb idea or a mistake, but you are not supposed to question adults or your coach or your teacher. Because they make the rules. Maybe they know the best or maybe they don’t. It all depends on where you come from and where they come from. Didn’t at least the six hundred guys think of giving up and joining with the other side? I mean The Valley Of Death! That’s pretty salty stuff.
That’s why courage is tricky. Should you always do what others tell you to do? Sometimes you might not even know why you do something. I mean any fool can have courage. But honor, that’s the real reason you do something or you don’t. It’s who you are and maybe who you want to be. If you die trying for something important, then you have both honor and courage, and that’s pretty good. I think that’s what the writer was saying. That you should hope for courage and try for honor and maybe even pray that the people telling you what to do have some, too.”
