In order to provide more differentiated instruction last year, the second grade team started teaming for a portion of the Language Arts time each day. We had five second grade classes. Each teacher had just over 20 students. All students were pre-assessed at the beginning of the year on their reading skills. From this test students were assigned to one of five groups. The below-level learners were assessed every two to three weeks. The other students were assessed about every three months. However, teachers were able to move students at any time to another group that they determined might better fit the students’ needs.

• The top group consisted of all above-level learners. They could work on extension activities because those students were already reading fluently with adequate comprehension.
• The next group also had above-level learners. They were not quite as high so they spent some time working on comprehension skills, but a lot of time was spent on group work and writing.
• The middle group students were at-level learners on fluency but below-level learners on comprehension. That teacher was able to work on lots of activities to increase student comprehension of their reading.
• The second to the bottom group had below-level learners in their reading fluency. An additional teacher joined the regular classroom teacher during this time. That gave the lowest students in that class a ratio of 6 students to one teacher. The regular second grade teacher worked on both fluency and comprehension with the rest of the class. She also met with small groups during that period but not daily.  The additional teacher worked with her small group in about the same way that I did.
• The most intensive group consisted of below-level learners and far-below-level learners. I had that class and three additional teachers joined me for this time. The students in my room were in small groups the entire time. The most intensive students were in groups of three to five. I had the highest of the below-level learners in my room. I usually had four to six students.  The additional teacher in the group just above mine would move students between our groups about once a month. We both spent time on phonics, lots of time listening to the children reading aloud, practicing high frequency words, and chunking words into phrases. We spent a little time on comprehension but the focus was to increase their reading speed. I worked on Dolch words with the kids daily. I sent lists home with kids and we would do speed drills with those words.

I think the 30 minutes a day that we grouped students by their ability level especially the far-below-level and below-level learners increased their reading ability. It was much easier to differentiate instruction at that time because most of the students at that time were at the same level.

Have you ever been part of an experience like this? What do you think about being responsible for a different group of students for thirty minutes a day?