Arrwa Mogalli Instructional Coach Dearborn Public Schools Strategy Groups “ Arrwa Mogalli Instructional Coach Dearborn Public Schools 1

This session is designed to explain: What are strategy groups? How do teachers form strategy groups? What are the key components? What is the procedure for implementing a strategy group? What you can do at home with your child? Strategy groups help us use our instructional time most efficiently and are a way to partner students who are working on the same strategy.”

Strategy Groups are… Planned to be aligned to Common Core Standards 2-3 students per group 5-10 minutes long Flexible It is not about the book or the level. It’s about the strategy. Above level students do not have to be seen daily. Strategy groups Students are grouped according to the reading strategy they need to work on. Students read their own books according to their own individual level. Students read their own “good fit” selected books. The focus of the session is to work on the specific goal that the children are working on. Groups change depending on the individual needs and goals for every student. Groups meet for 5-10 minutes. Groups are meant to be fluid. 3

How do we form Strategy Groups? Teachers review data choose a strategy. Data is selected from… Observations Classroom assessments District assessments State assessments Why strategy groups? We want to accelerate the growth of these at-risk students. In a strategy group, struggling readers work with classmates of varying levels on a particular skill. Through strategy groups, the teacher meets with students who need support in like areas, even if they are reading at different instructional levels. These groups are student centered. Each learner concentrates on and applies the strategy to his or her own good-fit text. With support from a caring teacher and collaboration with other learners, all children can succeed. Strategy groups uphold the culture of learning in the classroom as students see each other as travelers on the same journey. 4

Procedure Review and discuss the strategy Model Teacher models new strategy or can use a student to model the strategy if it was previously taught. Practice Students practice strategy with teacher support. Students practice without teacher guidance. One on One Materials-Anything with Words, Leveled books, Library books, Poems, Magazines Magnetic letters or tiles Post-it notes Whiteboards Notebooks Usually the student is given their goal & strategy in a conference so a review of the goal & strategy is done to start each group. Teacher may decide to do a brief 1:1 conferring with each student from the strategy group before moving on to conferring with other students. 5

Strategy Group Video https://www.thedailycafe.com/articles/Chunking-Letters-and-Sounds-A-Foundational-Accuracy-Skill video: 7 mins In this video, Joan models the foundational accuracy strategy Chunking letters and sounds together. She is careful to show the students the importance of going back and rereading to make sure the word makes sense. Using gradual release, Joan begins to have students practice with help, and then independently As you watch the video notice and write down what the teacher and students are doing. 6

What you can do at Home with your child? Retelling strategy Retelling Graphic Organizer Summarizing strategy Summary Graphic Organizer Upper Elementary Summary Graphic Organizer Lower Elementary

Thank you! If you have any questions please feel free to email me @ mogalla@dearbornschools.org or post a comment on my blog http://iblog.dearbornschools.org/mogalla/