Small group genre conferencing
One of my goals this year is to get to know my students better and provide more focused interactions to help them find books. I love one-on-one interactions, but with many students and little time, it will take me weeks to conference with everyone. I decided to try mini-groups so I could address students' interests but do so in a way that will allow me to reach more students in less time.
3rd-5th graders began class by reading about 4 different genres.
Students then wrote their name on a post-it and placed it on the genre that most interested them. I broke them into 4 groups according to like genre interests.
Groups rotated through 4 stations:
We had only 5 minutes at each station, but this kept everyone moving. Each group had a "Paper Manager" and a "Navigator" to help keep the group organized. At the end of the class I collected the genre paper with the post-its so I could record who was interested in which genre.
In 4th and 5th grade I added book trailers to the genre station. I love sharing book trailers with students, but when I use these with a whole class I don't find them to be especially effective. They may generate great interest, but inevitably there is 1 copy of a book and many students who want it. We raffle it off and have the others place holds, but the excitement dissipates when you have to wait for it. Using book trailers in smaller groups I found to be more effective. Students worked with each other, "I will take this book this week. You take that one. Next week we can switch."
Working in smaller groups felt so much better. A large class feels impersonal. One on one takes so long. Small groups felt just right. Now, I need to think about how I can modify this model and use it again (without it becoming old).
3rd-5th graders began class by reading about 4 different genres.
Students then wrote their name on a post-it and placed it on the genre that most interested them. I broke them into 4 groups according to like genre interests.
Groups rotated through 4 stations:
- B3 (Big Book Bonanza) - looking at books of their chosen genre
- Book checkout
- Jokes
- Read it/Do It (looking at active non-fiction books)
We had only 5 minutes at each station, but this kept everyone moving. Each group had a "Paper Manager" and a "Navigator" to help keep the group organized. At the end of the class I collected the genre paper with the post-its so I could record who was interested in which genre.
In 4th and 5th grade I added book trailers to the genre station. I love sharing book trailers with students, but when I use these with a whole class I don't find them to be especially effective. They may generate great interest, but inevitably there is 1 copy of a book and many students who want it. We raffle it off and have the others place holds, but the excitement dissipates when you have to wait for it. Using book trailers in smaller groups I found to be more effective. Students worked with each other, "I will take this book this week. You take that one. Next week we can switch."
My takeaways
Working in smaller groups felt so much better. A large class feels impersonal. One on one takes so long. Small groups felt just right. Now, I need to think about how I can modify this model and use it again (without it becoming old).
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