ELA Small Group Reflection

For my small group instruction I was asked to take reading level groups to a small table

and work with them on reading diagrams for understanding (the teacher did not tell me what

their actual reading levels were, she just called the students to the table for me). From the

diagram they were meant to understand the purpose of the diagram, how to read it, and how to

answer questions that were to be directly answered from it. The materials that were needed for

this small group lesson included the Get to Know Humpbacks worksheet and colored pencils.

With each group I had them first tell me what they seen that was on the paper. Students

answers included a title, a diagram, bold/key words, and questions to answer. I then had each

student take turns reading each box within the diagram until we had read each one. Once we had

finished reading the diagram I had the students choose 4 different colored pencils. They were

given the instructions that for each question they were to use a different color to mark where they

found the answer within the diagram. We went through each question as a whole group and I

allowed them to discuss what they thought the answer was before they were to write it on their

paper. Once we had found the correct location within the diagram they underlined it and then

colored in the part of the whale that corresponded.

The intended outcomes of this small group lesson was to ensure that students understood

the different ways in which text could be presented to them. They had been working on text

features for several days and that is why they were so quick to name the title and bold words. I

did not have any students that severely struggled with this worksheet. They were all aware of

how to use the text to get their answers and how to read a diagram. In the future I may allow the

students to work more independently first to see exactly what each student can do instead of

working through each step as a whole group. The students did well with working together
throughout the entire worksheet, but it was difficult to gauge exactly where every student was

when they answered aloud.