[MOSAIC] Reading question

[Joy]

Patty,
  An hour isn't much time, but I think you might be able to tweak things a bit and be able to get it all in. Working with small groups could actually help because you'll spend less time with the more able students. It might not seem so as you begin, but as you tighten up your classroom management and your students become more independent, you may wonder how you ever did it any other way.
   
  You are required to use the basal, but are you required to follow the teacher's guide? Are you required to do whole group instruction? Could the whole group instruction be a mini lesson? What would keep you from setting the more capable students loose on the assignment, and then have them work on a piece of literature using lit circle format? Perhaps they would complete the required work in a day or two, and only check in with you once a week, unless they hit a place that they don't understand. Then they would be challenged, yet still be using your basal and doing the required work. 
   
  That would free you up to work more closely with the other groups. When you work with the lowest and middle groups, make sure they are sitting in close proximity so they can overhear what you tell the other group. You could also have the other groups working with a piece of literature in lit circle format when they have completed the required work. Have them used a book that is easier to read.
   
  Could your lowest group reread the text while listening to a recording?
   
  Perhaps they could do the reading work, then do the history work and act as mentors to the other students? Maybe you could have the more capable students working as partners with the middle group. (They could "mumble read" together.)
   
  Just a few possibilities.


                Joy/NC/4
  jwidmann at rocketmail.com
  How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org
   









       
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