You’ve modelled the task, worked through examples together, and adjusted the activities to meet different learning needs. You sit down to support a small group while the rest of the class works independently… or is meant to.
Then the questions begin.
“What book do I need?”
“What do I do when I’m finished?”
“Can you help me?”
“How do I staaaaart?” (imagine I’m saying this in my best drawn-out voice).
Teaching a class with a wide range of learning needs involves more than differentiating the task. For small-group instruction to work, the students working away from the teacher need to understand both their learning and the routines that help them manage it.
That independence needs to be taught - all the way through primary school.
A book to revisit before the new school year
With the summer holidays fast approaching, The First Six Weeks of School, from Responsive Classroom, is worth adding to your professional reading list.
I was introduced to this book in 2016 by my first principal. What a mentor she was! She provided me with a copy before the end of the school year and suggested I read it before starting with my first, full-time (Year 6) class the coming January.
Every year since then, when I’ve been back in the classroom, I have followed this book to set up my routines and expectations.
Its approach centres on four broad goals. In my own words, these are:
Building a warm, safe classroom community.
Teaching daily routines and behavioural expectations.
Helping students become familiar with classroom spaces and learn to use and care for materials.
Establishing expectations for how students will learn together.
These goals position the beginning of the year as a deliberate investment in the classroom community and the way it functions.
The goal I want to focus on here is teaching routines and expectations - particularly those that make independent work possible.
What does “work independently” actually mean?
We often ask students to work independently, but that instruction contains several expectations we may not have made explicit.
Do students know how to begin? Where to find the materials they need? How to use a model or scaffold? What to do if they become stuck? How to seek help while the teacher is supporting someone else?
Learning intentions and success criteria clarify what students are learning and what successful work involves. Alongside these, students need to know how to participate in the lesson.
For example, “work quietly while I teach this group” leaves plenty open to interpretation. A more useful starting point is to identify the specific actions students need to learn and practise.
Teach the routine, then practise it
AERO recommends explicitly introducing and modelling routines, providing supported practice, and gradually reducing assistance. Continued reinforcement helps maintain them over time. Predictable routines can also reduce the attention students need to give to classroom procedures, leaving more capacity for learning.
At the beginning of the year, or whenever you feel your class needs to revisit a routine or expectation, it might look like this:
A cut and paste activity:
Collect your materials (scissors, glue, book, activity).
Cut out the activity.
Glue it in.
Return scissors and glue to designated space.
I would demonstrate these steps, talk through my decisions and give students an opportunity to rehearse/role play them while I am available to provide feedback. I would also demonstrate non-examples or what you don’t want to see (whilst ensuring it’s always the teacher modelling the undesired behaviours rather than the students).
You really have to think to yourself, is this explicit/simplified enough? For example, when teaching Year 2, and modelling step 3 above, I would show students what an appropriate amount of glue is on a piece of paper, how to glue it in straight and not hanging off the page or out of the book when it’s closed, how to press the piece of paper down carefully so it doesn’t have bumps or scrunches underneath it, how to wind the glue stick back down before placing the lid on, and how to not lick the glue stick however tempting it may be (this one always makes myself and the students giggle). I have also found that when you can weave in a little humour, it remains in the students’ minds (e.g. the teacher modelling a non-example of throwing their glue stick under the table when they think no one is watching).
Before expecting students to sustain this while I teach a group, I would practise it for a short period and check what still needs support.
The same applies to getting help. Students need an accessible way to signal that they need assistance and know what they can appropriately continue with while waiting, such as asking a peer or support staff. They also need to know when something requires immediate adult attention.
Six weeks is a foundation, not a deadline
The book offers a useful reminder to allow time for this work. I would treat its six-week focus as a planning framework, rather than a deadline by which every student should be an independent learner.
Routines also need attention beyond the beginning of the year. Following an absence, a disrupted timetable or a change in students’ needs, familiar procedures may need refreshing.
We can explain the expectation again, model it, practise together and provide feedback. Some students will need additional scaffolds or more frequent rehearsal.
As you think about next year, consider one question:
What will my students need to know how to do while I am teaching someone else - and how will I teach them to do it?
That is a practical place to begin building the independence that makes responsive small-group teaching and differentiation more manageable.