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Back in January, I wrote a post sharing four strategies to support small group behavior management. The post's focus was on the students at the small group table. But what about the rest of the class? What are they doing during this time? How do they stay on task without a teacher's constant monitoring, circulation, or positive narration? I found myself asking these questions during my fourth year of teaching. I had 33 students and no TA, interventionist, tutor, or any warm adult body during my reading small group block. Our school was short on helping hands and my turn for assistance came during the math block.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, thank goodness for veteran teachers and mentors!
The teacher next door had 25 years of experience and results that showed she took her craft seriously. She made small group classroom management look like something that "just happened" because her class ran so smoothly. With her support, and plenty of reading, research, observations, and videoing my own classroom for reflection purposes, I soon found that small group time with 33 students and no additional support was not only possible, but also enjoyable and productive!
The Three C's of Classroom Management: Small Group Style
When thinking about any element of classroom management, be it transitions, voice volume, or small groups and centers, I find myself always looking at my three C's: clarity, consistency, and connection. These are foundational for a well-run classroom. Below I lay out exactly how to build success into your small group time, using the three C's, so that both teacher and students thrive.
Clarity
Before the school year begins, I outline what exactly I want this time to look like, sound like, and feel like. I get as specific as possible, every...tiny....detail.
New to teaching and you aren't sure what to consider? Here are some questions to get your outline going:
How loud can a classroom be before students are distracted by the volume?
What volume do you want your room to be at?
How much movement are you comfortable with?
Will students be moving stations during this time? Or will the stations be at their tables and they are picking which one to do in front of them?
What will transitions from your small group to an independent station look like? Sound like?
Will students need to bring anything from their desks to your small group table? Or to other centers?
How do you want the classroom to feel during this time?
How will you hold students accountable for work? Will students record work in a center's notebook? Or will there be regular worksheets?
Will you spot check their work each day? Each week? Will you take certain stations or work as a grade to ensure it is being completed?
Will you begin your small group session by reviewing their independent station work?
Will the type of activities at each independent work station be consistent all year? (Pro-tip: they should be! More on that in a later post!) What kinds of activities will be included?
Once you've started thinking about these questions, you'll find so many more details that you can attend to! And, of course, once you actually start the school year and introduce your centers, you may find more areas to shore up that you didn't think of originally. The point of this outlining exercise, however, is to avoid being caught off guard too much. "An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure," as Benjamin Franklin once said.
Once you have clearly defined your expectations, transfer it into student friendly language. Bring in anchor charts and visuals. Take time during the small group time of day to explicitly teach the expectations, routines, and procedures that will make this block run smoothly.
Here's an example of an anchor chart to introduce transitioning between centers. I've laid out in clear, student-friendly language how students should look, sound, and how the classroom should feel during this time.
For the first full month of school, my small group lessons and activities are slightly shorter in length than a typical lesson. I always have content planned so that the student practice of routines is authentic, but my expectations for how much work we will accomplish are lower because I am not just teaching content in the first month. I am also teaching behaviors, social skills, routines, and procedures. Teaching these things well (so that the rest of the year is set up for success!) requires time and attention.
Consistency
Once you've got a clear plan in place and you've taught the expectations to your students, it is time to PRACTICE, PRAISE, PRACTICE! Consistently. All day. Every day. Forever. (I kid...kind of).
At the beginning of the year, open the small group time by teaching the expectations--voice volume, movement allowed, work quality, getting the teachers attention, etc.
As you teach the expectations, model exactly what you are looking for. If you are teaching students how to move from your table to their independent work station, you will sit at your table, show them how to stand silently, push in the chair, and walk to the independent work area.
After the teacher shows how it looks and sounds, call on one student to model it for the class. As they act out each part, narrate exactly what they are doing. (I.e., If they are modeling how to work silently and independently, then say "I see how Makayla is seated safely and calmly in the chair. Jonathan is completely silent. Alaysha's pencil is writing the whole time. (or) Marco is silently following the text with his/her finger and eyes.").
After one student successfully models the expectation, have a group of students model it. Again, narrate exactly what you see and hear. (I.e., "I see Charli moving silently and carefully from the table to their station. I see Alicia taking the quickest, shortest route to their station so they do not waste their valuable work time. Glen sat down at the work station and began working right away. James is silently holding up the pencil signal to let me know he needs a pencil without disrupting anyone else's learning.").
Once you've taught, modeled, narrated each expectation. Have the class practice as a whole. For the first week, I do not do as much teaching at my small group table. I am working on explicitly teaching the class their independent practice and stations practice expectations. Students come to my table and work on something silently, while I sit at the table observing the class's behaviors in their independent stations.
Provide feedback. Often. Pause the whole group practice sessions every five minutes at first to give feedback and time for students to reflect (How did the classroom look? Sound? Feel? What will we do differently this next time?). Work your way up to only pausing every ten minutes. Then fifteen. And so on. In no time at all students will have had enough practice, praise, and reflection to successfully work independently while you manage your group.
If they can master these expectations at the beginning of the year, then the rest of the year will run smoothly and we will make up for that first week's lack of teaching easily!
Connection
Connection has a few pieces. Building relationships with students is essential for good classroom management. (There are sooooo many articles about this these days that I'm not going to spend much time on this). I will say that being fair and consistent is a great way to earn students' respect and trust.
But connection needs to go beyond just student relationships. There's connection with the families. And there's connection to students' lives--to some bigger ideas and goals.
Connection to the family
In the first week of school it is imperative that we call every students' family (parent, grandparent, guardian--whoever the main caregiver is) and share a positive something about their child.
"Hello ___, this is Mrs. Readhead. I am ___'s fifth grade teacher. I just wanted to call to tell you how honored I am to be his teacher this year. Today he was so on task during math, I was really impressed. I can't wait for this year to unfold. Please let me know if ever have questions or concerns. We are a team."
or
"Hello ___, this is Mrs. Readhead. I am ___'s fifth grade teacher. I just wanted to call to tell you how excited I am to be working with her this year. Today she really showed leadership by following our hallway expectations and modeling good citizenship in the cafeteria. I am certain we are going to have a wonderful year together. Please let me know if ever have questions or concerns. We are a team."
There are so many different ways to say this and so many little things to comment on for positive behaviors.
Can't find something nice to say because you really just have that one child who out the gate is a bit of a spit-fire?
"Hello ___, this is Mrs. Readhead. I am ___'s fifth grade teacher. I just wanted to call to tell you how excited I am to have him/her in my class. Her/his passion/zeal for life is so contagious! I can't wait to see him/her put all this energy towards working hard in class. I know this is going to be a year of growth and fun! If you ever have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. We are a team!"
We do this because 1) building relationships with the school community, beyond just the students is important, 2) teachers can't do it alone--we really do need to partner with parents and sometimes parents are unsure what that partnership should or could look like so it is helpful to open the door to partnership first and 3) sometimes students have tough days and do not want to listen to us teachers, but when we've established a good report with parents, we can unite and really support the students together
So if a student is really struggling during independent work time while you pull your small groups, you can call up the parent on the phone (who you now have a positive relationship with because you made those initial calls) and say,
"Hello, this is Mrs. Readhead. I'm calling because ___ is having a tough time focusing on his independent work today during our reading rotations. This work is important and I care about his learning. I'm hoping if you speak with him, it could help get back on task so that he can have a positive and productive day."
Quick Version of How to Have a Successful Small Group Time
Start by visualizing exactly how you want your small group to look, sound, and feel like.
Think each little detail through and then write those expectations down in child friendly language.
Create anchor charts with the expectations clearly defined, describing how the class should look, sound, and feel at each part of the small group time (transitions, independent work, group work, early finishers, etc.).
Be sure to have your well-defined plan for small group time mapped out clearly before trying to introduce it to your students.
Call every parent/guardian within the first week of school to praise their child and establish a positive relationship (then if you need their help later on with challenging behaviors, you can act as a team to support their child).
Explicitly teach these small group expectations, breaking each one down, and practice them consistently (first the teacher models the expectation, then a student, then a group, then the class practices).
Pause periodically (every few minutes, increasing the time between pauses throughout the week) to positively narrate what you see during the first week or two and have students try it again if they do not meet the expectations.
As students master the routines, wean off the pauses and narration and watch your groups flow.
Revisit expectations and practice as necessary (after any school break!). If you notice a child off task, follow up that same day before the behaviors spread to the rest of the class. Catch behaviors early so your groups do not get out of hand!
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