When Should Whole Groups Be Taught In Small Groups

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There are questions as to what defines a small group and which concepts are more successfully taught in small or whole groups (Tiberius, p.1). One of the main benefits of small group instruction is the social interaction it provides for students. “As the members of a group get to know one another, they become more informal and interact more.” (Tiberius, p.2). Students also perform better when they are actively completing a task instead of just sitting and listening to the teacher lecture. In this article, Tiberius references Piskurich, who found that small group instruction could increase the independence of the student (Tiberius, p. 3) Small group instruction also allows students to see that their classmates can struggle with the same material they are struggling with and they can all help each other out because they are all working towards one common goal (Tiberius, p. 3). Most reading instruction groups are divided up based on students’ reading level, but small groups can also be effective if they are divided up by skills. This allows a teacher to focus on one specific skill. These groups are especially important in the primary grades when students are learning to read (Jones & Henriksen, 2013). …show more content…

A teacher must establish rules for the small group. Another component of small groups is that the teacher needs to make sure that students are actively engaged and participating. This can be difficult if the small group involves choral reading because the teacher has a hard time assessing students as individuals. When completing small group instruction, it is necessary to praise the students. This lets the students know what actions that the teacher would like to see throughout the small group instruction (Weiss,