In her previous books, "Literacy Work Stations and Practice with Purpose," Debbie Diller showed teachers how to productively occupy the "rest of the class" while meeting with small groups. Now Debbie turns her attention to the groups themselves and the teacher's role in small-group instruction. "Making the Most of Small Groups" grapples with…

Noting that a list of individual student to whole class configurations and a set of activities are inadequate, this booklet argues that the question of how to organize classrooms for learning in the language arts is complex. The booklet argues that decisions about time, space, materials and resources, and student grouping must flow from an…