Qualities of Effective Strategy Group Instruction:

 In an effective strategy group, the teacher tends to start by talking for a brief amount of time
and then gives students the bulk of the time to work (alone or in pairs). The teacher tells the
members of the small group why she called them together, and she is direct and clear about
this. You’ll want to hear a line like, “I’ve gathered you together because…” and the reason is as
direct and clear as possible so the students understand exactly why they are there. The teacher
is as inviting and enthusiastic as possible to get the students energized.

 The teacher may need to provide a brief demonstration or example or explanation. This
teaching should be kept as brief as possible in order for the majority of time to be spent on
student’s own work. This often involves revisiting a familiar text like your demo writing or read
aloud. The teacher is more apt to take time to demo or to show an example if the content is
new(ish) for kids. If less support is needed (as in a follow-up small group), the teacher may
simply name the teaching point and invite kids to get started.

 The teacher should a clear, specific vision for the work that students will do in the strategy
group. Often, this means teaching something that’s easy for students to approximate very
quickly and roughly, without a lot of new teaching.

 Directions should be clear and concrete. You may choose to refer to a written document
charting the steps or a tool reminding students of the strategy.

 Make sure the small groups offer the most time possible for students to practice the work. You
want to see the teacher get the kids started on their work quickly and stay out of their way
while they get started. In the transition between the teacher talking and the kids working (at
the 1-2 minute mark,) you’ll hope the teacher signals with words like, ‘Get started’ or ‘Good
luck,’ and then holds back for a tiny bit, watching the kids as they get started and being quiet
before coaching.

 As students get started, you’ll want to see the teacher touching base with each individual in
the group (this could mean working with each student, but it doesn’t always have to mean this.
It could mean that the teacher is looking over the student’s shoulder at the student’s work to
check in on how it is going). You want to see the teacher circle among the students, coaching
into/observing/checking on one reader’s or writer’s (or one partnership’s) work after another.
This is apt to look more like coaching than conferring one-on-one. Often the teacher will say
something, and then move on instead of checking in on what the child does with that prompt.
The teacher will later come back to the child. Your goal is to keep all students working once
they get started.

 It helps for the teacher to not get sidetracked by other possible needs that arise. For example,
if the work involves reading with fluency and the child gets stuck on word-solving, this would
be a time to tell the child the word instead of teaching a second strategy for figuring it out.
 When the teacher coaches into students’ work, you are hoping to hear the teacher use lean
prompts (Keep going! Try it another time!) to offer quick guidance.

 Ideally, you want to see the teacher encouraging the readers or writers to do whatever new
thing they are doing not just once, but repeatedly across their book, across pages, even across
different texts.

 Hopefully the teacher’s coaching is having some influence and the readers/writers are making
progress. This often won’t be mastery—be sure to celebrate kids approximating the work and
getting a tiny bit better.

 As children are practicing their work, the teacher may choose to leave the group and come
back after a while to do a quick check in and to give the link to the group.

 Before ending the group, you’ll want to see the teacher talk to the whole group for another
minute, before she leaves to work with the next small group.  In the link, you’ll want to see the
teacher restate the teaching point and let the children know when she’ll meet with them again
(if she is) and what she expects them to do in the meantime.
 Structure of a Strategy Lesson
(Reading and Writing Workshop)

Quick Intro
“I gathered you together today because
I noticed…”

Quick Teach
*1-2 minutes*
“So I want to teach you ONE thing that
readers/writers do…”

Choose Teaching Method:

 Demonstration
 Explain and Give example
 State Teaching Point

Guided Practice
*5-7 minutes*
“Go ahead and give it a try…”

Get students to try the strategy…

 In a shared text AND in their
own reading/writing
 In their own reading/writing

Prompt students to continue to use the

strategy while they read/write and you
coach in…

Link to Future Work

“So from now on, whenever you…”
 When and Why
 Leave
artifact/reminder/strategy card
with the readers/writers