Simply Small Groups: Differentiating Literacy Learning in Any Setting

Make the most of small group time--in-person or online

To help students progress as readers, they need personal attention from a teacher and a connection with their peers. Small groups offer both! When you work with just a few kids at a time--whether face-to-face or in a virtual setting, you provide a safe, trusting environment that encourages them to challenge themselves.

In this timely handbook, author and reading expert Debbie Diller provides concrete guidance for tailoring the small-group experience to literacy instruction. You'll learn how to assess student skills and needs, how to flexibly organize groups, and how to differentiate instruction to give every reader a pathway to success. Features include:

• Strategies and tools grouped by developmental reading stages
• At-a-glance charts for assessing current skill level and identifying next instructional steps
• Downloadable printables for planning and instructional use
• Easy adaptations for use in online learning
• Reflection prompts and guiding questions

Whatever your instructional setting, you and your students need the relationships that are best forged in small groups. With this book, you'll build those relationships and help young readers achieve success.

Debbie Diller, a national consultant and author, has been an early childhood/elementary educator for over 40 years. Debbie uses her experience as a classroom teacher, Title I reading specialist, and literacy coach to teach others about sensible, realistic ways to meet the differentiated literacy needs of all students in the classroom. She is known for her groundbreaking work on independent learning, small group instruction, and classroom design and has authored many books, videos, and an online course which are widely used in classrooms and universities throughout North America. Debbie′s latest book series, Simply Stations, was inspired by her work in classrooms (and a dream!) to answer the question, How do I provide meaningful practice for the rest of the class when I′m meeting with a small group?