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…

The following advantages of individualized reading are discussed: (1) a wide and varied selection of good children's literature may be used; (2) instruction may be adjusted to the child's interests, rate, skill needs, and optimal mode of perceptual learning; (3) best use of learning time is possible while all children are meaningfully engaged; (4)…

Reading instruction and placing students into groups emphasizes a plethora of approaches. Each method of grouping for instructional purposes should stress providing for learners' individual purposes. Which plans are appropriate for grouping students for reading instruction? Team teaching has many advocates, but it has both advantages and…

Describes some of the ways in which students can be organized for reading and writing instruction. Suggests that educators must first identify the key components of literacy, then clarify a view of instruction and learning. Argues that recent literacy research has analyzed processes and texts but has overlooked the larger literacy contexts. (SG)

Focuses on three books that tackle what it means to effectively organize classrooms for literacy instruction. Notes that these texts emphasize the role of teachers as researchers working in collaboration with one another and with university researchers. (SG)

Defines a school-based reading policy and explores the issues involved in setting up a program, including awareness and use of school resources, recording student progress, evaluation, parental involvement, and classroom organization and teaching methods. (FL)

Through a literature search and survey of 79 schools, the authors gathered answers to these questions about middle school reading programs: What practices are recommended by reading specialists? Are programs developmental and/or remedial? How do programs function in terms of participants, staffing, specialized remedial facilities, instructional…

The Centers Approach allows the teacher to work with small groups of children during the reading activity. (JH)

Structural characteristics of classroom activities and student and teacher engagement behaviors were investigated. Observer teams collected data on the structure of activities, student engagement behaviors, and teacher behaviors in arithmetic and reading lessons in six elementary classrooms in a middle class, suburban school district. The…

This book contains the formal papers that were presented at the 1968 convention of the International Reading Association. The papers discuss aspects of the following reading areas: reading instruction and materials, the curriculum in reading, reading organization, teacher education, research evaluation and reports, and issues in reading on the…

Shows that the incorporation of mainstreaming in inservice education related to reading requires four things: a definition of mainstreaming, the need for teacher flexibility, the need for teacher cooperation, and the identification of relevant curriculum objectives. (RL)

Focuses on different kinds of school and classroom organization for teaching reading at the preschool and primary levels. (AEA)

The negative effects of long-term ability grouping has been discussed often in educational literature, and recent research has identified several areas of concern, including a need for more variety in intra-class instructional grouping. Whole language educators are apparently so dissatisfied with the traditional, rigid three-group plan that they…

Presents an approach to an individualized methods course in the teaching of reading that includes goals for both knowledge and performance, the development of modules or learning packets, and ways of testing and checking comprehension. Offers suggestions for organizing the course. (JM)

This paper discusses how to group students for reading instruction. The paper first considers the reasons for heterogeneous grouping, where there are mixed levels of reading achievement among the students in the classroom. It then discusses some weaknesses in advocating heterogeneous grouping. There are individualized plans for reading instruction…