As you think about next school year, do you wonder what the best way to divide and level your classes for math and reading is? 

Join us in this episode as we dive into the art and science of creating leveled small groups.

Topics Discussed

• The benefits of small group instruction at the middle school level
• Tips for setting up groupings
• Tips for managing group work time

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Resources

--> Head to Ellie's blog HERE and HERE for more tips on managing math centers in middle school

https://cognitivecardiomath.com/cognitive-cardio-blog/math-centers-in-middle-school/

https://cognitivecardiomath.com/cognitive-cardio-blog/math-small-groups-in-middle-school/

--> Take a closer look at the Footloose task cards discussed in this episode HERE:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Cognitive-Cardio-Math/Category/128315-Math-Task-CardsFootloose-137198

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Ellie 0:00

As you think about next school year, do you wonder what the best way to divide and level your classes for math or reading is? Join us in this episode as we dive into the art and science of creating leveled small groups.

Ellie 0:14

Welcome to The Teaching Toolbox Podcast. I'm Ellie, and I'm here with my friend Brittany.

Brittany 0:19

Hello.

Ellie 0:20

Today we'll discuss strategies that not only meet students where they are, but we'll also talk about how to help propel them to new heights of mastery. Whether you're a seasoned educator or just starting out, this episode is packed with actionable tips to transform your classroom.

Brittany 0:37

Before we jump into how to implement small group instruction, let's touch on the Why. Why should we even bother creating small groups, and designing instructional time that includes them? Well, using small groups in middle school classes offers many benefits that significantly enhance the learning experience for students. For example, small groups foster a sense of collaboration and teamwork, allowing students to engage more actively and share their diverse perspectives.

Ellie 1:12

This format can encourage shy or less confident students to participate more, as the smaller setting feels less intimidating than whole class discussions. That definitely would have been good for me personally, as a student. But I don't think we did small groups very often, as a student - No. Small groups also enable teachers to provide more personalized attention and tailored feedback, addressing individual student's needs more effectively. Honestly, the only small group thing I can remember is being sent out in the hallway, in fifth grade math for a small group to like go over stuff together. That's the only kind of small group thing I can really remember. Doesn't mean it didn't happen. But that's what I remember.

Speaker 1 1:59

The only one I remember is gifted and talented. And we were sent to the closet, between the office and the gym, to teach parents how to use computers.

Ellie 2:12

Oh, okay.

Brittany 2:15

That's how old I am. Using small groups can promote critical thinking and problem solving skills, as students have to work together to tackle tasks and challenges. And overall, small groups can create a more inclusive, interactive, and supportive learning environment for middle schoolers.

Ellie 2:37

So do small groups have to happen every day or every week? That can depend on how much of a need you see for that small group interaction, depends on what subject you teach, or it can even depend on how much you want to give students a regular opportunity to discuss concepts. For example, when I taught language arts, we had small group novel studies on a regular basis. In this case, students each had roles that they had to perform in the group, they had items, they were accountable for every day, and they pretty much ran their own groups within the specific reading workshop parameters we had set up. I would spend time with two groups a day to check in, monitor, ask questions, and that kind of thing. But in math, I took more of a centers approach and met with groups of students during that center time.

Brittany 3:27

Yeah, I only ever use small groups in ELA class, and students were leveled and then placed into one of four or five or six groups, depending on how large my class was that year. I met with each group every couple of days, except for the group shown to be the lowest, I was fortunate to have a tutor that I shared with only one other class. And Karen was simply amazing. And she worked individually with my low students twice a week on reading comprehension, spelling, etc, sometimes grammar and that kind of thing. And so then I could also pull that group twice a week as well, where the other groups only got pulled once a week,

Ellie 4:14

okay.

Brittany 4:15

And then for math, we would level all the classes first, and then divide them between all the teachers and so they might not have the same teacher that they would have for their core subjects. And I was given the advanced class, which was already a smaller class, so I usually only had around 12 students.

Ellie 4:38

Oh, wow.

Brittany 4:39

So we primarily worked as a whole class, or sometimes completed center or station activities.

Ellie 4:47

When I taught fourth grade, for a couple of years, one school that I taught and we had, I don't know eight to ten 4th grades and we did that same kind of thing - tested everyone and then placed them, leveled them into the into different classes, so that was a little bit different than when I ended up teaching in middle school. I think some of the biggest challenges and getting started with grouping is how to actually set up the groups, how to decide what to focus on, and what to do with other students if you're working with a group. So let's start with some of those challenges. If we think about math classes, in particular, sometimes we have classes that are very heterogeneously grouped or very mixed ability, so the need for more individualized instruction might be greater than for the classes that are more homogeneously grouped or all about the same ability. In cases like this, it can be a good idea to first assess student's needs. So you're not just jumping in and saying, Okay, well, I'm gonna put you guys here, and you guys in this group, you know, we need to know what some of their needs are. There were some years that I would do this in the beginning of the school year with a grade level test, and I would actually go through and list every single concept and list every single student and who was strong in which one and etc. But oftentimes, that test would be too broad, to give a good picture of what student's knowledge and background was for each separate unit. So I would need more information about students needs.

Brittany 6:19

Yeah, I would sometimes do a similar test and I would just by the end, I would be so frustrated because I was like, this is too confusing, it's too much information to really help me. So a couple of options for determining student needs for small groups can include standardized tests, using last spring's standardized test, or maybe a beginning of the year, like NWEA test - you can get super fast results with those and see where your students are at. Another way is a diagnostic test using a pre assessment for each unit, identify where students are at with those specific skills. A third way is a curriculum pre assessment, your specific curriculum may include a pre assessment test to help gauge student's progress in the skills specifically taught in that curriculum. Another way is a comprehensive exam. This exam covers a range of topics to assess students understanding and skills. This exam should include problems on arithmetic, basic algebra, geometry, and word problems, if it's a math test, obviously. And then a fifth way is just through observation and participation, this is obviously going to take longer, but you just observe students during class activities and participation, to gauge their understanding and how they're performing.

Ellie 7:47

And that is very important. You do have some students who don't perform well on tests. And you may assume that because they didn't perform well on the tests, they do have a deficiency in a certain skill. But once you start watching them and seeing what they're doing, and how they're thinking, it might not be what the test is reflecting so that that piece is very important.

Brittany 8:10

Yes, and sometimes you might have to ask kids like orally, because they're just not good at writing, or showing their work, or whatever, but they can explain things like a genius. You'll also want to implement periodic assessments throughout the year to reevaluate and adjust groupings based on that student progress.

Ellie 8:33

Yeah, I tended to do that unit by unit. And sometimes it was, it was a lot of pre testing, it was a lot of paperwork. But I sometimes did do that unit by unit, because sometimes students who really needed time with me for one unit would be really strong and another. And you don't want to necessarily keep those groups the same if they're doing much better at a different scale or different concept.

Ellie 8:57

Yeah, we tried to do this at my second school, but found as the year got going, and the groups became more and more spread out, it became more and more difficult to move kids and adjust them to where they should be.

Ellie 9:14

I see what you're saying. Yeah, I see what you're saying.

Brittany 9:16

And it was very unfortunate, but kids would have skipped 20-30 lessons because of how spread out the three math teachers were and the different groups were.

Ellie 9:29

So that's more going like from one math class to another.

Brittany 9:33

Yeah,

Ellie 9:34

Rather than, like the small groups within your classroom, okay,

Brittany 9:38

Because all our small groups within the classroom were pretty heterogeneous.

Ellie 9:43

Okay.

Brittany 9:44

I mean, homogeneous, sorry. And so they would have had to switch class an entire class. They'd like a whole different teacher.

Ellie 9:51

Gotcha. Yeah, that was, I think, a similar experience with the fourth grade.

Brittany 9:55

And so we just couldn't see doing that and it just, it was unfortunate for the kids, because that's not how we hoped it would work.

Right, right. So once you have some student levels, you want to decide if you want your small groups to be homogeneous groups within your class according to their skill needs, which allows for targeted instruction that meets students where they are. Or you might want mixed ability groups, because mixed ability groups can encourage peer learning and collaboration. In my language arts novel groups, I typically had mixed ability groups and mixed personality, or leadership styles to minimize any potential conflict since students ran the groups themselves most days. And if my math groups work together, without me for certain tasks, I usually used mixed ability groups, but I tended to go more with skill needs when I was working directly with those groups. So how big do you think these small groups should be?

Well, I think the optimal size for a group is about three to five students. It's a manageable size, and it encourages participation. It almost requires participation, it doesn't let kids hide.

Right.

It's small enough to give students the chance to speak up and share their thinking without feeling intimidated, and it's big enough to allow for some different ways of thinking or different ways of solving problems, which students can share and maybe help each other see their concepts more clearly, or in a different way. There are times in small math groups when a student's way of explaining a concept to another student makes the concept more clear than the way the teacher explained it. And that is one reason talking a math class is so important and small groups can encourage that.

Absolutely agree. So once we've made our decisions about how we're going to group, what are some of the best ways to make sure using small groups works in the class time that we have? How do we make them work efficiently keep all students on track and work toward the goals that are laid out for them? There are a couple of ways to do this. First, I think you have to have a class discussion about groups and about behavior, role model that group behavior, you need to discuss the roles that will be in place if you're having roles. How do they work? What are the expectations? Second, you could use a rotation model like centers or stations. And if you're thinking I can't do centers, I have a really short math class or I have really short class periods, don't worry, I have a blog post about organizing centers in 40 minute class periods.

For centers or stations, you would set up different stations with various activities that all address the same concept. You want as many stations as you have groups. The groups then rotate through the stations spending a set amount of time at each one. Usually you would divide your class period by how many groups you have.

Or if you have a really short class period you might have to do in two days.

Yes. One of these stations can be a teacher led station that you use for direct instruction, guided practice, or question and fix time. Another can be a collaborative station where students work together on problems or projects. A third could be an independent station, where individual practice or computer based learning is done. Ellie has these great Footloose task cards for these stations and students are able to move around the room to get their cards, giving them some movement during that independent work time. And we will link those in the show notes.

Yeah, and you think they might, you know, get distracted and talk and whatever, as they're getting up and down together cards, but they really never did. They just go get their card, do their work, move on.

You can also have an enrichment station that includes advanced activities or extension activities for quick finishers. And if students don't finish all of their center activities, you can always send it home for homework. And we'll talk more about homework on a future episode.

Oh, the homework. If you don't want to use official centers, you can use a flexible scheduling style with your small groups. You can adjust the frequency of your meeting times and simply base those small group times on student needs and progress. Maybe you have a plan to incorporate a small group day a couple times a month, and then adjust how often groups meet and rotate. If students have a greater need for small groups during one unit, then you might meet with them more frequently. But if there's not a great need, then maybe small groups aren't needed at all for that unit.

This is often how I ran my math class. No day was ever the same. It kept the kids on their toes and they never got complacent or bored with things.

Absolutely. That's great.

So to wrap up, our implementation plan would be an initial preparation phase, where we conduct initial assessments, plan our groups, and prepare differentiated materials and activities. Then we implement our plans by using small group instruction, running formative assessments to monitor progress, and then adjust grouping and instruction as needed. Finally, is the evaluation phase, where we review student progress regularly, gather feedback from students, and adjust the approach for the next quarter, semester, or year. By following the structured approach, we can create a dynamic and effective learning environment that meets the diverse needs of all our middle school math students, reading students, or any group we care to level and use small groups with.

Awesome, thank you for laying out that plan for us. I love it. We hope this episode added some new tools into your teaching toolbox. If you'd like to hear more on this topic, head to our website and let us know we'll link that in the show notes. If you liked this episode, be sure to share it with a friend and tag us on Instagram or Facebook. We'll be back soon. Bye.

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