Day 3: Interactive Small Group
Question: Are your students’ thinkers or responders?
Interactive Small Group vs. Co-op Group
Interactive small group gives a teacher the ability to pull a small group from the larger class and focus on their specific need. The teacher may be stretching an advanced group or monitoring and catching-up students in need of help. Using the previous comprehension strategies of making connections, asking questions, visualization, drawing inferences, determining important ideas and synthesizing information, interactive small group has three key elements: Introduce Text, Reading Text, and Discussion of Text.
ISM
Flexible
Based on need
Multiple issues can be addresses
Can be advancing or remedial
Teacher involvement or lead
Discussion/Reflection afterward
Co-op
Students driven
Usually single issue
Teachers give all groups equal attention
The word differnetiation is bantered about often, but you get a real sense of how these strategies help a teacher plan for that more effectively. We all know that you cannot possibly be prepared for everything, but maybe by having tools like this in the bag, one could be comfortable with the unknown.
Looking back at the posts involved in this discussion I realize how difficult it must be to get a good grasp on 3 or 4 days worth of information. I would be happy to continue the discussion and share what I’ve learned. Feel free to leave a comment or your email. If I don’t know the answer, I am sure I can connect you with someone who does.
