The Missouri Reader Vol. 36, Issue 1 | Page 60

Assessing and grouping. As mentioned
previously in the conferencing section, it is
helpful for a teacher to keep anecdotal notes on
each child. This can be done through individual
conferencing or through observations during
independent writing time. The teacher can then
review the notes to see what students need to
work on the most. Students will be grouped
together based on their writing needs (see
Appendix B). Groups will be flexible and will
constantly change depending on the child‘s
progress. Each group should have no more than
four students for it to be beneficial. Grouping by
ability and not skill should be avoided. If there is
an overwhelming need for a specific skill, then a
whole group mini-lesson would probably be
more appropriate.
Implementation. Small-skill based group
instruction can easily be embedded into the
Writer‘s Workshop approach. The only
difference is that instead of always conferring
with students one-on-one, the teacher will confer
with groups of students with similar needs. The
small-skill based group instruction will occur
after the mini-lesson while students are writing
independently. The teacher will pull a group of
students together and will give more direct and
explicit instruction on a particular mechanic or
craft that the group needs more practice with.
While one group may need support with
mechanics such as capitalization and punctuation,
another group may need more support with the
craft of writing a persuasive piece. Small-skill
based group instruction enables the teacher to
differentiate instruction so that it meets the needs
of all students.
In Conclusion
Small group skill-based instruction can easily
fit within the Writer‘s Workshop approach.
Writer‘s Workshop has several components that
can be slightly altered in order to fit small group
instruction in. The individual conferencing time
would probably be the best time to meet with
groups. There needs to be a balance between
meeting with small groups and individual
students.

Meeting the needs of every student is the goal
for teaching any subject. Ideally it would be best
to work with each student one-on-one, but
unfortunately that is not always possible. Using
small-skill based groups is more efficient in that it
allows teachers more time to work with groups
of students at the same level. Also, students are
given the opportunity to learn from their peers.
References
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