1. Teachers seem to often schedule their entire class for a day on Study Island (or another computer-based project where the students are largely working independently). The teacher's role is often to monitor the students on the computers or record the student results as they report in. If this is the case, then the suggestion is to schedule two days instead of one. Divide the class in half. Have half the students work on the computers or on the computer project. Work with the other half of the class in small group. On the second day, flip the groups. If someone needs to monitor/support the students on the computer, that's a great leadership opportunity for one of the students. If there is an instructional Aide in the class, that might be an opportunity for them, as well.
2. To get an even smaller class size, consider formalizing a group rotation format that will allow you to meet with groups of 10 (in the event that you have a class size of 30) so that you can target the needs of individual students. This will definitely require another adult for support, so it's most appropriate in classes where you have a collaborating teacher or a collaborating aide in the room. But here's how it would work:
The class would be divided into three groups. Group make-up, of course, is up to the teacher. It can be by ability level, language challenges, or heterogenous depending on the goal of the lesson.
The class period would be split in half with groups rotating at the halfway point in the class.
The whole class would be set up on a rotation that would look like this:
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Monday | |
| Group Red | Teacher A Teacher B | Independent Teacher A | Teacher B Independent | Teacher A Teacher B | Independent Teacher A | Teacher B Independent |
| Group Blue | Independent Teacher A | Teacher B Independent | Teacher A Teacher B | Independent Teacher A | Teacher B Independent | Teacher A Teacher B |
| Group Yellow | Teacher B Independent | Teacher A Teacher B | Independent Teacher A | Teacher B Independent | Teacher A Teacher B | Independent Teacher A |
So for the Red group, the first half of class on Monday would be spent in 20-25 minutes of direct instruction with Teacher A. At the halfway point in the class, they would move to Teacher B for some guided independent practice of the concept just taught. For the Blue group, they would start out Monday working on, perhaps, a computer program like Study Island or Fastt Math. Then, they would go to direct instruction with Teacher A. For the Yellow group, they would start out with Teacher B for the first half of the class and then go to the independent assignment for the second half of the class.
Some thoughts/ideas:
*.This rotation is set up so that every seventh instructional day is an assessment day, and then the teacher can reassign groups based on student need.
*. The role of Teacher B may be intervention. It may be language instruction. It may be upping the ante for the students who seem to be breezing through the concept. That's part of the cool part of this rotation.
*. Getting the students used to the rotation/having the grouping and the rotations posted on the classroom wall is key to the success of this idea. Otherwise, too much instructional time will be wasted in procedures.
