About the book – and how to use it

i. Why this book?

Teachers, instructors and faculty are facing unprecedented change, with often larger classes,
more diverse students, demands from government and employers who want more accountability
and the development of graduates who are workforce ready, and above all, we are all having to
cope with ever changing technology. To handle change of this nature, teachers and instructors
need a base of theory and knowledge that will provide a solid foundation for their teaching, no
matter what changes or pressures they face.

Although the book contains many practical examples, it is more than a cookbook on how to
teach. It addresses the following questions:

 is the nature of knowledge changing, and how do different views on the nature of
knowledge result in different approaches to teaching?
 what is the science and research that can best help me in my teaching?
 how do I decide whether my courses should be face-to-face, blended or fully online?
 what strategies work best when teaching in a technology-rich environment?
 what methods of teaching are most effective for blended and online classes?
 how do I make choices among all the available media, whether text, audio, video, computer, or
social media, in order to benefit my students and my subject?
 how do I maintain high quality in my teaching in a rapidly changing learning environment while
managing my workload?
 what are the real possibilities for teaching and learning using MOOCs, OERS, open textbooks?

In summary, the book examines the underlying principles that guide effective teaching in an age
when everyone, and in particular the students we are teaching, are using technology.  A
framework and a set of guidelines are suggested for making decisions about your teaching, while
understanding that every subject is different, and every teacher and instructor has something
unique and special to bring to their teaching.

In the end, though, the book isn’t really about teachers and instructors, although you are the
target group. It’s about you helping your students to develop the knowledge and skills they will
need in a digital age: not so much digital skills, but the thinking and knowledge that will bring
them success. For that to happen, though, your students need you to be on top of your game. This
book is your coach.

ii. The audience for the book

 The audience I am reaching out for are primarily college and university instructors anxious to
improve their teaching or facing major challenges in the classroom, such as very large numbers
of students or rapidly changing curricula, and also to many school teachers, particularly in
secondary or high schools anxious to ensure their students are ready for either post-secondary
education or a rapidly changing and highly uncertain job market. In particular the book is aimed
at teachers and instructors anxious to make the best use of technology for teaching.

I draw many of my examples from post-secondary education, but many of the principles will also
apply to teachers in the school or k-12 sector, although, as a former elementary/primary school
teacher, I am well aware that schools have far fewer resources and less technology support than
colleges or universities.

Throughout this book, I have struggled with the term ‘instructor’, because I argue that we need to
move from a transmission model of education (‘instruction’) to the facilitation of learning
(‘teaching’), even or especially in post-secondary education. However, the term ‘instructor’ is
often used to distinguish between post-secondary and school or k-12 systems, with ‘teachers’
being used for the latter, so throughout the book, I’ve tended to use both terms almost inter-
changeably. However, my hope is that we will all eventually become teachers rather than
instructors.

Lastly, although technology is a core focus of this book, I am not advocating ripping up the
current human-based educational system and replacing it with a highly computerised model of
teaching. I believe that although there is a great need for substantial reform, there are many
enduring qualities of a well funded and publicly supported education system based on well
trained and highly qualified teachers that will be hard if not impossible to replace by technology.
The focus here is in making technology work for both learners and teachers.

iii. Why an ‘open’ textbook?

Although I retain the copyright through a Creative Commons CC BY license, this book is ‘open’
in all five ways described in Chapter 10:

 re-usable: you are allowed to use all or part of the work for your own purposes (for example, you
can download any part or the whole of the book, and use it in your own teaching or
studies, without needing to ask for permission or to pay anything);
 re-distributable: you can share the work with others (for example, you can e-mail a section of the
book to a colleague or fellow student);
 revisable: you can take any part of the book, and change it for your own purposes, or translate
bits of it or all of it into another language, again without needing to ask for permission;
 re-mixable: you can take parts of this book and combine them with other ‘open source’ material
or resources to create a new resource (for example, take some of the podcasts from this book and
combine them with text from another open textbook to create a new work);
 retainable, which means there are no digital rights management restrictions (DRM), the content
is yours to keep, whether you’re a teacher or student.
There is only one restriction on all five activities, and that is that you acknowledge me as the
source (unless I am quoting someone else, or using someone else’s material, of course). Full
attribution is particularly important as an example for your students, who need to acknowledge
their sources! Also, if you do find the material in this book useful, I would appreciate your
sending me a e-mail to tony.bates@ubc.ca with any feedback about how you are using the
content, and how the book could be improved, but this is just a request, so I can improve the
book and track how it is being used.

This book has been published as I wrote it, a chapter at a time. I published the first draft of most
sections in my blog, Online Learning and Distance Education Resources, to get feedback. This
book is published as an open textbook for many reasons, but the main one being that I see open
publishing as the future for education. In a way, it is a proof of concept. I could not have done
this without excellent support from BC campus, which at the time of writing is leading a
major open textbook project for the provincial government of British Columbia in Canada, and
without additional support from Contact North, Ontario.

iv. Independent reviews of the book

Shortly after publication of the first full draft of the book, I requested three independent experts
in the field to review the book. The process that was followed, and the full, unedited reviews, can
be seen in Appendix 4.

v. Different ways to use the book

If you have found your way to this book web site, you can read it off the screen at any time and
anywhere. Just bookmark the home page (http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/) then click
on any chapter heading or any section in the content list.

The book will download in epub, pdf, and mobi versions, so you can print out or download the
whole book if you wish, for straightforward reading. In general, it is best to read the book online
direct from this web site, if you can, as when it exports to different versions, sometimes the
illustrations get moved around to fit the page or screen layout. Also reading on the small screen
of a mobile phone may be somewhat frustrating as the graphics will be very small. Reading on
tablets should not be a problem, except the graphics may not always fit as intended.

The book can also be downloaded in xHTML, Pressbooks XML, or WordPress XML from the
home page, so you can edit or adapt the book or parts of the book for your own use.

The book is written on the assumption (based on research) that most reading will be done in
chunks of one hour or less, so each section of a chapter can be completed in one hour at the
maximum (some sections will be much shorter).

Many of the sections will have suggested activities, which mainly require you to reflect on how
what you have read relates to your own work or context. These activities will usually take no
more than 30 minutes each.
 Each chapter begins with a set of learning goals for the chapter, the topics covered, a list of
activities for the chapter, and the key takeaways or main points made. To access this, just click
the chapter heading (e.g. Chapter 1: Fundamental Change in Education). [Note that text in red
indicates a live link/url – just click on it to activate it. This doesn’t always show clearly on
screens under certain conditions so run your cursor – or finger on mobile devices – over the text
to see where the links are.] The arrows at each side of the page will take you either to the
previous page or the next page.

There are many different ways this book could be used. Here are some suggestions:

 straight read through (over several days) for personal use: this is probably the least likely, but
there is a logical sequence and a continuous, coherent argument that builds up through the book;
 read a specific chapter or section that is useful for you, and come back later to other sections or
chapters as you need them (use this preface and/or the list of contents on the home page as a
guide);
 do the activities that follow most sections;
 use the book as the core reading for a course (or part of a course) on how to teach in a digital
age. You can use the activities I have suggested, or, if you use one of the editing formats
(XHTML, Pressbooks XML or WordPress XML), you can replace the activities with your own.
 at this stage it is NOT possible to output just sections of the book, without making special
arrangements.

This book – as indeed are open textbooks in general – is a work in progress, so keep checking
back to see what new features are being added over time. As new developments occur, I will try
to ensure that they are incorporated so that the book stays up to date (also you can follow my
blog at tonybates.ca). I intend to add podcasts giving my personal spin on each chapter, a full
index will be developed to supplement the search facility, and I will be looking to make changes
based on feedback from readers.

vi. An overview of the content

Chapter 1 Fundamental change in Education

This sets the stage for the rest of the book. Chapter 1 looks at the key changes that are forcing
teachers and instructors to reconsider their goals and methods of teaching, In particular it
identifies the key knowledge and skills that students need in a digital age, and how technology is
changing everything, including the context in which we teach.

Chapters 2-5: Epistemology and teaching methods

These chapters address the more theoretical and methodological aspects of teaching and learning
in a digital age. Chapter 2 covers different views on the nature of knowledge and how these
understandings of knowledge influence theories of learning and methods of teaching. Chapters 3
and 4 analyse the strengths and weaknesses of different methods of teaching ranging from solely
campus-based through blended to fully online. Chapter 5 looks at the strengths and weaknesses
of MOOCs. These chapters form a theoretical foundation for what follows.

Chapters 6-8: Media and technology

The focus in these three chapters is on how to choose and use different media and technologies
in teaching, with a particular focus on the unique pedagogical characteristics of different media.
Chapter 8 ends with a set of criteria and a model for making decisions about different media and
technologies for teaching.

Chapters 9-10: Modes of delivery and open education

Chapter 9 addresses the question of how to determine what mode of delivery should be used:
campus-based; blended or fully online. Chapter 10 examines the potentially disruptive
implications of recent developments in open content, open publishing, open data and open
research. This chapter above all is a messenger of the radical changes to come to education.

Chapter 11 and Appendix 1: Ensuring quality in teaching in a digital age

These take two different but complementary approaches to the issue of ensuring high quality
teaching in a digital age. Chapter 11 suggests nine pragmatic steps for designing and delivering
quality teaching in a highly digital teaching context. Appendix 1 looks at all the necessary
components of a high quality learning environment.

Chapter 12: Institutional support

This chapter very briefly examines the policy and operational support needed from schools,
colleges and universities to ensure relevant and high quality teaching in a digital age.

Scenarios

There are ten ‘what if’ scenarios scattered throughout the book. These are semi-fictional, semi-,
because in almost every case, the scenario is based on an actual example. However, I have
sometimes combined one or more cases, or extended or broadened the original case. The purpose
of the scenarios is to stimulate imagination and thinking about both our current ‘blocks’ or
barriers to change, and the real and exciting possibilities of teaching in the future.
Art Can Be a ‘Bridge’
Wendi Pillars, a national-board-certified teacher, has used art in many forms
in multiple content areas for more than two decades. She is the author of two
books: Visual Notetaking for Educators, and more recently, Visual Impact!
Transform Communication in Your Boardroom, Classroom, or Living Room.
Find her on twitter @wendi322:

You’ve all seen it. You give instructions or present information to your students and
swear up and down it was So. Clear. Surely everyone understood it because you
explained it so well; undoubtedly, any assessment will prove this!

Alas. If only it were that simple.

Everyone thinks so differently, envisions words and information uniquely, and

interprets information based on their own experiences and contexts. It’s what makes life
beautiful and interesting and serves as the basis for my use of art in class, whether
creating, analyzing, or simply admiring.

Allowing our learners to reveal, enhance, and express their understanding in myriad
ways brings learning to life. It’s important to remember that art is more than “drawing
pictures”; at its core, all art is a powerful thinking and feeling process. Producing and
consuming photos, music, visual art, poetry, sculptures, videos, visual notes, role plays,
and more, provides a richer focal point for learners. Art in all of its forms provokes
questions and curiosity and readily serves as a model for much of the academic thinking
we aim for students to embrace.
Art can serve as a model for claim and evidence: “What do you think caused this?
What was the effect of this (either the content or the process of the art)? What makes
you say that? How do you know? What was the artist’s purpose? Who was the intended
audience? ...” These thinking skills can then be transferred to more traditional text, but
now students have an anchor.
Art can serve as a warm-up or pre- and post-assessment: “What do you see? Tell
me more. What happened before this art was created (again, content or process of
making it)? What do you think we will be learning about now, based on this art? How
has your understanding about this art changed from the beginning of the unit? ...”
Art can serve as an assessment or to raise awareness like this novel use of Show
Your Stripes to highlight our warming climate in a compelling yet simple way. Visual
notes are a platform for students to connect past and present information, for active
recall, and spaced repetition. Video storytelling, photo essays, and podcasts encourage
students to take risks and see and share life through an unforgettable kaleidoscope.
Art can also serve as a bridge among cultures. My students have participated
in Creative Connections for several years, where students exchange art pieces on an
agreed-upon theme with students from other countries. From this work, they’ve
analyzed their own values and compared them with others’ in widely different parts of
the world. They have laughed, wondered, questioned, and most importantly,
remembered what they learned years on.

It’s no coincidence that we relish art in all forms from different historical eras and
regions of the world, that our curiosity is piqued, and that we linger just a little longer
when more of our senses are involved in the experience. What might constitute “art” in
your classroom context, and how can you integrate it to make content unforgettable?

‘Art as Assessment’
Keisha Rembert is an award-winning educator who is passionate about anti-
racism and equity in schools. Currently, Keisha is a doctoral student and an
assistant professor of teacher preparation at National Louis University:

Art, in all its forms, is a text, and texts can be used in myriad ways. Art is often a text
that humanizes and tells a story, and as a history and ELA teacher, I believe it is
imperative for students to understand the human story and engage in its complexities.
When tackling hard topics or concepts with students, I turn to art as an entry point. I
find students eager to engage with art because they can often find elements of self or
points of difference more readily given the visual and personal nature of art.

Here are some other ways to position art in your classroom:

Art as inquiry. Art naturally invites questioning, observation, discussion, and
exploration. It facilitates critical analysis. I have shown videos of Indigenous dances and
asked students to generate questions about what is being communicated. I have used
historical photographs to start to unlock what they want to understand and know about
a historical event. It becomes part of a larger text set that we continually come back to to
question what we know and what we need to know.
Art as assessment. One of my favorite assessments is to give students an image in
history class and ask them to use their newfound knowledge to dispute what they see. I
could see this working also in an ELA classroom with illustrations and book covers. In
one of my classes, the final project is to present a curated art gallery that reflects the
learning they have engaged in through the unit, tying each piece to a concept and
explaining that connection. These assessments centering art require students to apply
their understanding in thoughtful and complex ways.
Art as cultural representation. Art is itself culture and offers additional
opportunities to introduce cultural diversity into the classroom. It also offers students
free expression to create and bring themselves fully into the classroom while challenging
assumptions.
Art to facilitate writing. A photograph (a painting, a dance, a sculpture, etc.) is worth
a thousand words. Those thousand words often flow when students are presented with
art. It is an easy entry into writing. Art can be used to initiate, inspire, or extend writing.
It also gives students opportunities to increase their visual-literacy skills.

Art as Differentiation
Delia M. Cruz-Fernández, has been in education for over 20 years. She has
been a mathematics and Spanish teacher, high school assistant principal,
and is currently working as a district ESL specialist and advocate for
Multilingual Learners Education:
As a high school Spanish teacher, I used art in my class to teach about culture and to
incorporate the use of vocabulary and grammar taught in the unit in a real-life situation.
Using art as a means for students to communicate in writing. Incorporating pieces of art
from artists of a Spanish-speaking country, students read about the painter’s biography.
As an expansion, the students researched the country of origin of the painter. The art
was purposefully chosen with the thematic unit in mind. If we were discussing the topic
 of “the family” in class, for example, I used a painting from Botello that portrayed a
family or “Las Meninas” de Diego Velázquez.

Incorporating art in my class allowed me to differentiate the activities according to the

students’ Spanish-language level of proficiency.
Native Spanish-speaking students were able to use an advanced academic language such
as, background, front, in the middle, and even specific shapes and describe shades of
color. Some students’ writing activity was to write a story, narrating what happened
before the painting or after the painting. For example, observing Calle (Street) from the
Colombian painter Fernando Botero, my students described the family, their clothes,
what day of the week they thought it was, and the time of the day. One student claimed
that the people in the painting were going to have a nice lunch as a family.

For beginning students, I provided the following:

 Sentence starters
 Word bank
 An exemplary description
 Paragraph starters

For students who were intermediate, I provided the same as for beginners but added
possible questions as a guide.

I found that by adding art in my classes, students were able to make connections to
previous knowledge and other content areas. I recall a Spanish 3 exam about art.
Students participated in structured conversations (Seidlitz & Perryman, 2010); one
student was playing the role of a museum police officer and the other student was
playing the role of the museum curator. In this scenario, there was a painting stolen
from the museum, the police officer had to ask questions of the curator such as describe
in detail the stolen painting. Each student is provided a color copy of the painting as a
reference.

Reference
Seidlitz, J., & Perryman, B. (2010). 7 Steps to a Language Rich Interactive
Classroom.  San Clemente, CA: Seidlitz Education.
Using Art for Creation
Irina McGrath, Ph.D., is an assistant principal at Newcomer Academy in the
Jefferson County public schools in Louisville, Ky. She is a co-creator of the
ELL2.0 Google site and enjoys creating and sharing resources to support
English-learners and teachers of ELs. Irina is also a co-director of the
Louisville Writing Project (LWP) and a University of Louisville & Indiana
University Southeast adjunct professor:
Why Art?

Language, while a central and primary form of representation of thought, is not the only
way humans communicate (Eisner, 2002). Visual art, drama, music, and technology are
sign systems that separately or in conjunction with language allow students, particularly
those who are not proficient in the English language yet, to share ideas and demonstrate
learning.

One of my favorite ways to use art in learning is during writing time. Several years ago, I
collaborated with an ESL teacher on a unit focused on building peer-to-peer and
student-to-teacher relationships that incorporated blending visual art with writing. The
task consisted of each student writing a letter to his or her teacher and placing it in an
envelope attached to the back of a self-made collage. The final products were displayed
together as a large mosaic of stories.
Using Reading to Support Writing
In the unit, three texts were used to stimulate ideas for the student letters. If She Only
Knew Me by Jeff Gray and Heather Thomas was used as a mentor text to set the tone
and help the students develop an understanding of why it is important for teachers to
know who they are and their diverse backgrounds. The book describes challenges the
main character, Justin, faces at school and home. His teacher is not aware of these
challenges, but if she only knew about them, she would have acted differently toward
Justin.
The students also used Let’s Go See Papa  by Lawrence Schimel and “Immigrant
Teens in Their Own Words: Interview with Pierre” to help them develop ideas for
writing. They also participated in several “stations” where they were asked to view and
discuss photos, poems, and videos describing the lives of immigrants and refugees and
respond to the following prompts: If these photos belonged to a student, what do
you think would be important for the student’s teachers to know about him or
her? What connections can you make to your own life?

Once the students generated a list of ideas, they picked one that they felt was most
important to share with others. They wrote their first drafts and shared them in small
groups.
Using Art to Tell a Story

At the start of week two of the unit, ELs learned about the five basic art elements that
make up all objects in the world—dots, circles, lines, curves, and angles—and how artists
manipulate these elements to express ideas. The students discovered that composition
and the spatial arrangement of visual images in artwork is essential to how messages are
conveyed by an artist and how a message is received by an audience. Additionally, the
students learned that artists also utilize color, which is often categorized as either warm
or cool, to evoke emotions. After learning the basics of art and the ways in which it can
be used as a communication medium, the students were introduced to the concept of
collages.

To prepare for the creation stage, the students were tasked with finding photos to
include in their personal collages—many of which were brought in from home. Photos
were carefully scanned using a school scanner and then printed on colored ink to
preserve the originals. Additionally, the ELs were given old magazines and books to cut
out pictures and letters to enhance their own photos and provide a stronger image story
to the viewer. Each student received a piece of 9x9 white card stock paper to build his or
her collage. Finally, the English-learners spent several days making final revisions and
editing their letters before typing their final drafts. In the end, it was evident that
combining art with writing was a powerful experience for the students. It offered them a
new mode of communication and representation, making writing engaging and fun.
‘Teach the Routine’
Valentina Gonzalez is a former classroom teacher with over 20 years in
education serving also as a district facilitator for English-learners, a
professional-development specialist for ELs, and as an educational
consultant. She is the co-author of  Reading & Writing with English Learners and
works with teachers of ELs to support language and literacy instruction. Her
work can be found on Seidlitz Education and on MiddleWeb. You can reach
her through her website or on Twitter @ValentinaESL :
 Image by Valentina Gonzalez

I didn’t learn overnight how to make small-group instruction work for my students and
for me. When I taught mainstream language arts (reading and writing in elementary
school), we planned together as a team. Planning went very quickly because the more
experienced teachers would bring their lesson plans from previous years and tell us
“newbies” what we would be teaching. We all taught the same thing and mostly the same
way.

It quickly became clear that teaching in a whole-group setting wasn’t meeting the needs
of all my students. Some students breezed through what I taught because they already
knew it. Others had no idea what just happened. And most of the time I felt like students
did not understand their role in learning. We were all just going through motions.

It wasn’t long before small-group instruction organically formed in my classroom. After

teaching a whole-group lesson and formatively assessing, I divided the class. For
example, at the end of a lesson. I asked students to write a ticket out or gave them five
questions to answer on a sticky note. Based on their answers, I quickly formed three
groups for our next lesson; one for Enrichment, one for Guidance, and one for Reteach.

Image by Valentina Gonzalez

Over the next couple of days, during independent reading, I gathered students in these
small groups to conduct a mini-lesson on the topic. It was not perfect, but I could tell
that my students were beginning to grow rather than flounder or become bored.

Here’s what I learned along the way.

1. Teach the routine.

This is make or break. If students understand what small-group time is going to look
and sound like, they will be more successful with it. Before you begin implementing
small groups, hold a lesson with students telling them what small groups are and why
you are doing them. If possible, model for the class what a small group will look like
AND what the rest of the class will be doing. By teaching the routine, you set students up
for success. On the other hand, if you don’t teach the routine, don’t be disappointed if
 while you are working with your small group the remainder of the class is off task.
Clarity is key!

A few things to teach students about the routine are:

 the time frame for instruction
 what you expect from the time
 the acceptable noise level
 how students can move about
 when it’s acceptable to interrupt the small group
 how to interrupt the small group
2. Teach students what to do independently.

It’s possible that one of the biggest reasons why some teachers abandon small groups is
because they become frustrated when they feel they’ve lost control of the classroom. To
avoid this, clarity in goals and expectations for the end result is a must. Be as explicit as
possible with instructions before sending students off to work on their own.

Tips for teaching students what to do independently:

 write out the goals on chart paper or under a document camera and keep them
visible during the lesson
 show examples and nonexamples of end products if applicable
 give options/choice

Keep in mind that while you work with small groups, the rest of the class can be working
on various learning tasks. In primary grades, some teachers implement “centers” or
“rotations” while gathering small groups. These can be described as short and
interesting learning activities that students move through tied to previously learned
skills. Older students can be reading or writing independently, working on research,
problem solving, experimenting, or more!
3. Keep groups fluid.

These are your small groups. As Penny Kittle says, “Follow the child.” Don’t get too firm
about them. Do what students need and keep flexibility alive. Today, “Jasmin” may be in
the enrichment group but next week, she may need reteaching when we move to another
topic. Small groups are fluid. They move and change with the time, topic, and needs of
the learners.

There are so many reasons to hold small groups. Your small groups might include:
 strategy lessons in reading/writing/math
 shared reading/writing
 phonics review
 guided reading
 reteaching/preteaching/enrichment (any subject)
 conferring reading/writing/math
 language development

Small groups are commonly seen in reading, but small-group instruction is useful cross-
curricularly. The nature of a small group lends itself to a smaller student-teacher ratio
allowing for students to share responses more frequently than in large-group settings.
Teachers can use this time to gauge understanding, provide timely feedback, take
anecdotal notes, and build stronger relationships with students. English-learners benefit
greatly from small group instruction with their teachers and peers.

‘Practice, Practice, Practice’

Olivia Montero Petraglia began her teaching career as an upper-primary
bilingual teacher in San Diego. Over the last 23 years, she has served in
leadership, as an instructional coach, language-acquisition specialist,
consultant, and teacher in international schools in Colombia, Thailand,
Indonesia, and Laos:

To be fully present and have quality instructional time with small groups of students is
golden. While we all know what the research says about the positive impact of small-
group instruction, it can be challenging to set up and manage.
 Something I wished I would have understood earlier in my teaching career is that
setting small-group work is a process that requires an investment in time and a
collaborative classroom-community effort. A carefully co-crafted approach can
transform small-group work into much more than just ideal conditions for
differentiated instruction. It is also a great way to build community and help students
develop skills such as self management, time management, and independence.
Dedicating two to three weeks at the start of the school year to learn about your students
while practicing different aspects of small-group work routines will gain you lots of
mileage throughout the remaining school year.

Grouping students

When I start the year, I usually plan heterogeneous groups to work through fun, low-
stakes activities. This allows me to notice several learning behaviors at a time. By
keeping these initial sessions short (8 -12 minutes), valuable data can be collected
quickly and minimize the pressure to form “perfect” groups straight away. What you
notice from each day’s session will help you regroup students and identify learning
objectives for upcoming sessions. As the weeks go by, you will have opportunities to
triangulate a range of data to inform different groupings and learning objectives linked
to the curriculum; however, you will have had the opportunity to establish dispositions
and a sense of community that will help support small-group work for the duration of
the school year.

Invite students into the process

Be explicit when sharing the “why” for small-group work. A simple, yet critical initial
exercise is to facilitate a circle-time discussion about small-group work. As students
share their ideas, record responses on chart paper so that you can refer back
to their plan as needed throughout the year.
 What good things can happen as a result of small-group learning
opportunities?
 What things might get in the way of quality group work and what can help us
to have the best small-group learning opportunities?

Visual guides

Create anchor charts or digital slides to display bullet point steps for each session. If a
student is not sure of what to do after you have provided instructions or a mini-lesson,
instead of telling them, point to the visual. Over time, you will condition students to
reference the visual instead of asking you. For younger students, you can use numbered
images as reminders. This one simple step can be such a game changer.
 Prepare checklists

Create a spreadsheet for yourself of weekly or daily “look fors” to make it easy to record
quick notes and keep you focused on key data. This also helps keep track of how
frequently you meet with students.

Practice, practice, practice:

Think Vygotsky’s “i + 1.” Introduce different aspects of small-group work one step at a
time. For example, to start, provide the whole class with an independent activity that
will keep them engaged for the duration of the time needed for you to meet with one or
two small groups. As students begin to understand expectations and routines, gradually
add more complexity to the dynamics of small-group work sessions.
 Discuss and post a “What to do when I‘m done” list ahead of time that
includes low prep activities such as independent reading, journal writing, or
practice for skills previously learned. No need for students to ever be off task
even when they finish work.
 Debrief at the end of every small-group practice session. Prompt students to
offer feedback for feed forward for improvement during the next session.
Celebrate successes and name what students are getting right, and you are
more likely to see it again and again.
 Use music as a scaffold for transitioning. Starting a two- or three-minute song
can cue students to move around, gather needed materials, get to their
learning spaces, check in with others, and aim to be ready by the end of a
song. Resist giving instructions; let the music do the work. Keep practicing
until everyone knows what to do. Kids love this, and with carefully selected
music, it can also be a mood changer.

I used to think that I couldn’t start small-group work until I had time to get to know my
students better. Now I understand that there is no better way to get to know students
than engaging with them. Small-group interactions make it possible to take careful note
of students’ learning behaviors, strengths, and academic gaps.
‘Flexible & Differentiated Learning’
Jenny Vo earned her B.A. in English from Rice University and her M.Ed. in
educational leadership from Lamar University. She has worked with English-
learners during all of her 26 years in education and is currently the Houston
area EL coordinator for International Leadership of Texas. Jenny proudly
serves as the president of TexTESOL IV and works to advocate for all
English-learners. She loves learning from her #PLN on Twitter so feel free to
follow her @JennyVo15.

What is small-group instruction? Small-group instruction is when you teach the

students in small groups ranging from 2-6 students. It usually follows whole-group
instruction. There are many benefits of small-group instruction. It is effective because
the teaching is focused on the needs of the students, with the goal of growing their
academic skills.

Small-group instruction provides opportunities for flexible and differentiated learning.

With the smaller number of students, students have more chances to participate.
Teachers are able to monitor the students better, thus providing better and more
individualized feedback and support. Small-group instruction can be used in all content
classes and is beneficial for students of all levels.
How do you best set up and organize small groups? There are a variety of ways
you can set up and organize small groups. How you do it depends on your objective and
goal for the lesson or activity. Some ways you can group students include: by ability,
strategy, expert/interest groups, cooperative tasks, and student choice The three setups
I use the most are by ability, by strategy/skill, and by interest.
Grouping by ability: You can group your students by ability, such as by reading level
or language-proficiency level. Having students of the same ability in the same group will
allow the teacher to provide lessons and activities that are more focused and targeted to
the needs of the students at that level. There is less pressure because the students know
that they are on the same playing ground as the other group members. For English-
learners at that same level, they will feel less intimidated to take chances to speak.
Grouping by strategy/skill: Strategy groups are great when you want to provide
instruction on a specific skill or strategy. Let’s say you gave an assessment. Looking at
the data from the assessment, you see that certain students need more instruction and
practice with a certain skill or strategy. Instead of reteaching the whole class, you can
group together students based on the skill they need to work on. You can have reading
groups working on inferencing, main idea, or summary. You can have math groups
working on multistep problems, graphing, or data analysis. Your science groups can be
working on food chains/webs, force and motion, or adaptation. Strategy groups very
much rely on data. Groups should be short term and should be very fluid.
Expert/interest groups: Grouping students by subject knowledge or interest is a great
way to work with small groups for projects. These types of small groups are perfect for
science and social studies classes. Because students are grouped based on areas of
interests, they consist of students of varying ability levels. With these groups, it is best
that there is a cooperative grouping structure where roles are assigned so that
responsibilities are equally divided. In that way, one or two students are not doing all
the work or taking over the project and not letting the others be involved. English-
learners can benefit from being in this type of group because they can share their
knowledge since they may know more about the topic than the other members. It also
gives them opportunities to improve their language by hearing more advanced students
speak.
What are the other students doing while I’m in small-group instruction?  I hear
this question a lot when there is discussion about implementing small groups. My
answer is: They should be working on activities that you have planned where they can
work by themselves, with a partner, or in a small group that will allow you to focus on
the group you are working with. For the language arts block, they can be reading and
responding to their reading independently or working on their writing. For math, you
can set up different workstations with activities focusing on different skills for review.
Workstations can also be used for science and social studies class. Giving students a
menu of activities to choose from is also a very effective way to keep the rest of the class
engaged while you do small groups.

If you have not implemented small-group instruction in your classroom, I encourage

you to try it. You will come to see the benefits to the students with your own eyes. With
anything new, do it in small steps. Try one way of grouping. Try it once a week and
slowly add more time. It is a great instructional approach to add to your teaching
toolbox!
Student Leadership
Jennifer Mitchell teaches ELs in Dublin, Ohio. Connect with her on
Twitter: @readwritetech or on her blog:

The myriad benefits of partner and group work are clear (particularly for ELs), but a
system of purposeful, long-term groups with student leaders can transform classroom
culture. Leading groups of 3-5 classmates for a quarter, semester, or year, my “squad
leaders” (a structure and term I borrowed from my years in marching band) start group
discussions and keep them going, remind their squad members about materials and on-
task work as necessary, and, perhaps most importantly, build our community by
demonstrating genuine caring for their squad members. As role models for their
classmates, these leaders challenge themselves not just to grow academically but also to
step out of their comfort zones and hone their leadership skills.

I encourage them to use purposeful small talk and tap into identity-related assignments,
just as I do as a teacher, to forge strong connections. They also serve as points of contact
between me and their classmates, providing clarification or help to their squad members
when possible, notifying me of any concerns, and even pointing out when their squad
members excel.
Choosing leaders:

The success of this structure hinges on the effectiveness and buy-in of the squad leaders.
It’s tempting to choose students who are academically (or linguistically) strong and/or
socially popular, and while these can be great characteristics in a leader, they are not as
important as the student’s desire to improve the classroom culture and grow personally.
In fact, it’s students who care deeply for others and/or have the personal drive to
challenge themselves who are most likely to become effective squad leaders.
Through careful observation during the first month of school, I can usually pick out a
few students in each class who will be my leaders. It’s so essential to have the right
students that if I can’t identify at least a couple strong leaders in a given class, I do not
move forward with implementation. I’ve tried and failed to push students who weren’t
ready, and the whole structure loses credibility too quickly. It’s better to stick with
typical groups (possibly implementing squads later) than to end up with a class that will
never buy into the vision because they’ve seen it fail with leaders who didn’t follow
through. (For this reason, it’s essential to put careful work into supporting and
developing your leaders throughout the year!)

Once I have my leaders in mind, I share my vision for squads with the whole class and
invite anyone who is interested to complete an online application form. I want everyone
to feel they had the opportunity, and it’s interesting to see who applies. After the
application has been posted for a couple days, I talk individually with any leaders I’d
identified who haven’t applied yet. It’s incredible to see the light in a student’s eyes upon
hearing that I want them to be a leader. In fact, some of my best leaders were students
who initially doubted their own leadership ability and needed encouragement to take on
the role, but their determination and love for others drove them to have a real impact.
Implementation:

Once I select the leaders, I invite them to a special meeting to introduce the role in more
detail, and each leader reflects and sets goals based on their application responses. Next,
it’s important to discuss the vision of the squad structure with the whole class before
seating them with their new squads. I share how powerful this structure was for me and
my friends in marching band in terms of personal growth, group excellence, and social-
emotional support. Then we split into squads for community-building activities, and
from then on, the squads are together for nearly everything. They collaborate, share and
reflect on their work together, engage in discussions, and participate in deeper
connection-building activities with the squad leaders serving as the glue that binds each
group ever more closely. Frequent leader meetings, conferring, and mini-tasks challenge
leaders to reflect and problem-solve. Within a classroom culture built around reflection
and goal-setting, a focus on learning, and SEL, the squads grow into supportive
communities that provide a stronger sense of purpose and belonging in our classroom.
Cooperative learning with interactive approaches advances the motivation in a sample of Vietnamese
higher education students. This study has proven that the frequent collaborative interaction among
students in the treatment group reinforced students’ mutual collaboration for better learning motives.
This study consistently supports for findings of the previous studies in different cultures that cooperative
learning could be a more beneficial teaching method. Findings of this study equip Vietnamese teachers
with more empirical support for implementing effective interactive techniques in teaching in order to
enhance students’ learning motivation and better learning outcome. Thus, cooperative learning is
strongly proposed as a more effective pedagogical instruction technique in the demanding educational
innovation in Vietnam, especially with the high demand for a better motivating learning environment for
students. Cooperative learning in which students can actively acquire and implement the learnt
knowledge is recommended to take place of the traditional teaching with passive lecture-based.
Although findings for this study support the positive impact of cooperative learning on students’
motivation, the sample of this study is limited in only 72 students. Therefore, later researches are
recommended to examine the possible influence of cooperative learning on learning attitudes and
motivation with bigger groups of participants. By that way, findings will be more reliable to widely
generate the effects of cooperative learning. Together with very few research studies investigating the
effectiveness of cooperative learning for higher education students in Vietnam, the findings of this study
cannot be generated that cooperative learning is the best teaching method for all educational levels in
Vietnam. Thus, more research on cooperative learning at different educational levels in Vietnam should
be conducted