Pages: 224 Price: $22.00 ISBN: 978-I-57110-431-1
Making the Most of Small Groups: Differentiation for All is an extremely well-organized "how-to" manual for any teacher of reading whose students display a wide range of learning needs and abilities. And anyone who teaches knows, of course, that this is a fitting description for just about any group of students that has ever crossed the threshold of a classroom; therefore, this book is a must-have for the vast majority of teachers interested in developing and honing their skills at delivering differentiated instruction.
The book contains two parts: eight chapters that contain the actual content followed by seven appendices that are perfectly aligned with chapters two through eight. For example, Chapter Two and Appendix A are entitled Organizing and pertain to the organization of reading instruction, Chapter Three and Appendix B are entitled Grouping and pertain to the painstaking thought and planning that must precede the actual implementation of student groups in reading instruction, and so forth.
According to author Debbie Diller, the purpose of small group instruction is to meet the individual needs of each student and to accelerate learning. While the main focus of this book is small group instruction, it also explicitly addresses whole group and one-on-one instruction by providing innumerable strategies and tools for organizing teacher work in ways that promote the addressing of individual student needs via a variety of groupings and best practices.
Author Diller reports that she dreamed the table of contents one night and awoke to jot down the eight chapter titles that form the framework for her tome: Time, Organizing, Grouping, Comprehension, Fluency, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and Vocabulary. In each chapter she includes explicit direction on how to implement every step of planning and executing reading lessons while ensuring that instruction promotes deep thinking among students. "Focus is key in small group teaching" (p. 11) she declares, yet she urges teachers to remain flexible so as to ensure that they make every grouping count.
In addition to a multitude of explicit instructions (including lesson and work plans) on how to maximize the power of small group instruction in reading, there is a meta-cognitive element infused throughout Diller's book. It is evident that the author has a deep and thorough understanding of, and expertise in, the teaching of reading and that she is able to communicate all levels of this know-how to the reader. Making the Most of Small Groups: Differentiation for All gets to the heart of the matter and provides all the tools needed to teachers seeking to hone their pedagogical skills in the teaching of reading.
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