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Diffit.me AI Tool of the Week 01

9/5/2023

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Diffit.me is an artificial intelligence tool that allows quick-level text and questions based on current reading grade level. Last week, while reading a daily blog post, I came across the AI tool diffit.me for teachers. I quickly signed up for the AI program and used the tool to generate an article for a third-grade level.  ​
Here are my top ten things I enjoyed about the program. 
  1.  It was easy to use
  2. I can search for topics based on standards or an article theme.
  3. I can also paste an article to change the reading level, or I was able to insert a web link to a published article.
  4. The program provided a summary of the article.
  5. There were keywords with definitions from the article. 
  6. It works well with Google Docs.  
  7. The rigor behind the extended response and open-ended questions was impressive.
  8. I can switch the article over to a native language. 
  9. The article can be copied and pasted into the learning management systems
  10. The ability to quickly deploy differentiated text to the students. 

How to Incorporate Diffit.me into Learning Studios
As an instructional coach, I plan on showcasing diffit.me to the teachers during the planning process. As the teachers are designing the lessons, I will showcase how to use the district-provided resources and how using the AI program can help to differentiate the content for all levels of learning.  
Example Lesson Outline 
SG: The teacher can use diffit.me to find leveled reading passages to help teach or reteach a standard.
IP: Leveled comprehension questions from the article can be answered from the article. (The high group might start at the independent studio and read the article before answering the questions.  
DC: Students will learn or relearn about the standard from an EdPuzzle or an online adaptive program. 
FR: The open-ended questions can be used for discussion questions during the future-ready studio.
VS: The students can use one of the key vocabulary words from the article to generate a Frayer model. 

Key: SG - Small Group, IP - Independent Practice, DC - Digital Content, FR - Future Ready Studio, VS - Vocabulary Studio 

Join us next week to explore another Simple and Quick AI tool to try in the classroom. 

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AI Tools in the Classroom

5/7/2023

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As an instructional coach, I have shared many reasons why deploying small group instruction within the classroom learning environments is essential.  Within small group instruction, the teacher can differentiate the learning targets, quickly check for understanding, conduct in-the-moment formative assessments, build academic relationships, and conduct data meetings to help increase student ownership.  The importance of small group instruction has grown even more due to the ease of using artificial intelligence within online applications.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing multiple aspects of the learning process, the creation elements, and classroom communication.  The students can quickly request a four-paragraph persuasive paper on any topic with cited sources with the use of AI.  The students can take a photo of a math problem, and the online application will not only provide the answer for the math problem but will showcase the step by steps needed to get to that answer.  Students can merge two pieces of artwork to make it look like their masterpieces.  Students can also show mind maps on how to conduct a lab with a click of a mouse.  This does not mean shutting off all technology but instead using the fish bowl learning method to ensure the students are completing their work and including relevant learning projects for the students to complete.

The Fish Bowl learning method is where the students showcase the learning process through collaboration activities, applying the skills learned in relevant projects, and explaining the steps for mastery of the standards.  That means the students will complete multiple learning studios in visual environments that all build toward an end project.  The learning studios include attending and participating in a small group instruction lesson led by the teacher and independent practice where the steps and process are displayed in handwritten or typed.  The independent practice activities will be applied to the learning targets' showcase project.  Digital Content Studios can use artificial intelligence as a tutoring system to enhance the standards taught in the small group studio. Finally, the Future Ready Studio will allow time for students to collaborate, communicate, use critical thinking skills, and connect the standards to relevant standard-based projects. To learn more about how AI can act like a personalized learning tutor, watch the Khan Academy Ted Talk from May 2023.
With the priorities on the learning studios during the fish bowl learning method, I will showcase how Artificial Intelligence tools can help support the learning targets in each studio.

Small Group Instruction 

Take a look at Parlay Genie to help Differentiate open-ended questions for each of the small groups.  After logging into the website, type in the learning target, and the application will generate three questions that can be used for a formative assessment or part of the fish bowl learning method.
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Independent Practice 

​The Independent practice studio allows the students to showcase their understanding of the learning targets.   Of course, the use of AI tools does not fit in this studio.  However, using Autodraw helps the students visually display the sequence of events, the setting, or predictions that align with the book study objectives.  The Autodraw tool allows the students to draw their images and use the magic pen to determine the possible photos related to the thought process.

Digital Content 

Have you ever used YouTube in the classroom as a second teacher?  Or have you used EdPuzzle to check for understanding of the content within the video?  But have you found a YouTube video that you really like and wish there were questions already made for the students to answer after watching the video? Well, that is what Kiwi Video does for you.  Drop any YouTube video into the application, and it will generate a quick quiz and a summary of the video for a quick check that aligns with the video.

Also, take a moment to watch the TedTalk for how Khan Academy will be using AI as a personalized learning tutor.  It is worth the time to watch and learn about the power of AI tools in the classroom.

Future Ready Studio

The Future Ready studio is where students can showcase their understanding of the content through relevant mini-projects.  If you are new to the future-ready studio terminology, think of this studio as the higher-order thinking skills.  This is where the students can create, collaborate, communicate, use critical thinking skills, and connect the content to real-world scenarios.
Whimsical is one of my favorite AI tools to help support the students through the Fish Bowl learning process.  Whimsical is an online application that will take a question and develop a step-by-step guide for answering the question.  The mind map can then be used for creating more in-depth relevant projects.
For the last few years, I have been promoting and using Canva as a creation tool for the future-ready studio.  The tools and resources are so easy to use that the creation aspect is very user-friendly.  Now, Canva has added Magic Write, which enhances the creation and thought process similar to ChatGPT.  For those students that need help to get started with a project, this AI tool generates the starting point for the students.
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Projects in Learning Studios

5/3/2023

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It is hard to believe that we are close to closing out the 2022/23 school year.  As classrooms finish up the state test and gear up for the next grade level, I have noticed that teachers tend to deploy more project learning opportunities for the students to complete.  As an instructional coach, I help to support the teachers through the deployment of the projects with the implementation of a self paced four day checklist.  

In this blog post, I am showcasing a sample four day checklist that will help to guide the students through the project while still allowing time for the teacher to use formative data to dive the small group instruction. 

Grab a copy of the completed Four Day Project Checklist by clicking on this link. 
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Small Group Instruction Studio

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Day One: Take time to go over the project objectives, expectations with the project progression board, and rubric requirements.
Day Two: Using the formative assessment of the citation process, the small group studio will review how to cite the resources used for the research project and where to place cited sources within the project. 
Day Three: Set up project data meetings to showcase the students their current rubric score and how to increase the score by making modifications to the project. 
Day Four: During the small group instruction studio, take time to talk with the students about plagiarism and how a teacher can check for plagiarism using online resources like Grammarly.  This is a great time to showcase the AI tools that check to see if the research elements were created by AI.  
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Independent Practice Studio

The students will be working at their own pace, place, and path during the project checklist.  The Independent practice studio showcases suggested days to complete the studio to help guide the students through the elements of the research project.  The suggested elements on the checklist should help the students through the research elements along with taking time to peer edit the research project. 
Day One: Take time to research the topic of the research project
Day Two: Take time to research the topic of the research project
Day Three: Peer Edit or review another student's project. 
Day Four: Finish the research and polish the project. 
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Digital Content Studio

The Digital Content Studio is designed to help support the small group elements.  The videos and resources do not need to take ten minutes to complete.  Ideally, the videos should last anywhere between three to five minutes in length. I like to provide choice for the students so they can pick the video that best fits their individual needs for the project.   The video links and resources can be housed within the Learning Management System.  
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Future Ready Studio

The students will be spending the majority of their time in the Future Ready Studio completing their research project.  The checklist will chunk the project for the students so that they can continue to stay focused on the task at hand and complete the project within the given timeframe.  
The creation choice board is a great way to showcase a variety of presentation tools for the research project. 
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Blended Learning Coaching Blocks

5/2/2023

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The Coaching Blocks for Blended Learning is a guide on how to continue to coach classroom teachers through the deployment of learning studios.   In order to generate sustainability within the classroom environment, the Coaching Blocks will showcase five strategies to try during the coaching process.  Please note that the coaching blocks are designed to follow up after a year of supporting the blended learning process.  More resources and ideas for coaching blended learning can be found in the Field Guide and dynaguide.org.

Reflective Planning 

Toward the end of the first year of deploying blended learning studios, take a move to reflect on the pacing guide to determine if there were any other days where studios could have fit into the lessons.  Reflective planning works best with a content-specific focus,  meaning spending time with the 8th-grade math team and reviewing their lesson planning calendar.  As a team, look for days where learning studios could fit within the weekly and monthly plans.

Consistent Deployment

Deploying learning studios consistently helps to increase the understanding of why learning studios are essential and the studio's expectations.  The video below will showcase how to look back at the pacing guide and explore ways to include learning studios every week.

Data Driven

Data-driven learning environments are essential for the small group instruction studio.  As part of the coaching blocks, it is necessary to showcase why data-driven small group instruction can help close the learning process gaps, build academic relationships, and conduct quality formative assessments.  In this section on the building blocks, we showcase how to use the formative assessment data to differentiate small group instruction at three levels.  The video can be found on dynaguide.org under data-driven learning environments. 
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Relevant Studios

Implement relevant learning activities to increase student engagement and ownership in any classroom.  In the video below, I will showcase six strategies to ensure that learning studio activities are relevant.  The six strategies include
  • Adding in real-world project activities and applications of the learning targets.
  • Including communication and sharing opportunities within the learning studios
  • Proving choice in the learning activities
  • Applying differentiated learning studios that stretch and enhance the learning studios
  • Generating open-ended questions and mini-projects that align with the learning targets and student interest.
  • Including hands-on studio activities provide a relevant application to the learning targets. ​

The Power of One More

The Power of One More showcases how to use the Field Guide for the 12 Elements of Student Engagement and Ownership Infused in Blended Learning Studios as a resource to support the teachers by trying one more strategy.  The video below will showcase how to suggest new blended learning strategies in the classroom gradually.   We will explore the progress indicator, advanced tips, and tricks, where to find supportive videos, and the use of visual cues to guide the teachers through each of the elements.

 Explore More Coaching Strategies

Purchase the Field Guide as a step by step coaching resource for increasing student engagement and ownership within any classroom setting.  
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Join us for Free Weekly Workshops and resources on how to deploy learning studios, using AI tools to increase student engagement, coaching strategies, and the use of data to drive the small group instruction.  ​
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Relevant Online Creation Projects for Learning Studios

4/18/2023

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Quality creation website applications are a great way to increase student engagement and ownership. In this blog post, I will showcase six FREE online applications that can be used as resources for relevant student projects. The online programs will guide the students' creation process and provide collaboration elements so the student can continue to build and design as a team.
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To continue learning and exploring relevant student projects online and offline, purchase the Field Guide.  The Field Guide takes a deeper dive into how rollout creation projects as part of the learning studios.  
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Canva

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There is so much to discover, create, and utilize from Canva.  Some of my favorite elements from Canva include the FREE templates that align with the content areas and the ready-to-use blank templates.  The students can collaborate on the projects, and the final projects can be printed or shared online.   In the video below, I will showcase where to find the templates and how easy it is for students to create relevant projects. 

Book Creator

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I have showcased Book Creator over the years, but only as a participant did I realize how engaging the program can be for students. I sat through a workshop by Dr. Monica Burns at the FETC conference in New Orleans in January.  I enjoyed learning how easy Book Creator is to collaborate and design together as a team. In the video below, I will showcase where to find example student project ideas for each subject area and a quick overview of how to utilize BookCreator as a teacher.

SlidesMania

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Okay, if you don’t know about SlidesMania, then please take a moment to explore the gallery of FREE Powerpoint and Google Slide Templates. Trust me; there are so many unique templates that are free and useful for any classroom environment. In the video below, I will showcase this creation tool as a relevant creation project for students and will show how this program can make your life easier.

StoryBoardThat

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storybardthat.com is a freemium website that allows students to create comics and mind maps that align with the content.  The program is quick and easy to use, and the students can generate a comic that can be printed or shared virtually.  Over the years, I have shared StoryBoardThat with educators because it can easily be used as a relevant application project that takes only minutes to generate.

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Keys to Deploying Small Group Instruction

4/11/2023

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Designing small group instruction as part of the learning studios allows the teacher to fix any misconceptions, differentiate the instruction, collect formative data, and build academic relationships with the students.  While working with classroom teachers, they understand the power of small group instruction, but some teachers struggle to find time to meet with every group during a 45-minute class period.  With the everyday housekeeping items and making sure that all students understand the directions, the minutes of the class start to tick away.

In this blog post, I am going to share out a few of my “Keys” to deploying small group instruction during learning studio days.  The following strategies all align with the suggestions found in the Field Guide.  If you are an instructional coach, a department chair, or an administrator, the Field Guide is going to provide more guidance and support for deploying small group instruction.
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All Students

Try to meet with all students during one class period.  To ensure that all students get to attend a small group learning studio, start with meeting with a third of the class at one time.  Once the routines and procedures are in place with three small groups, then try to move to four groups.  The small groups should eventually be designed to meet with a FEW students at a time.  Six to eight students would be the maximum group size. 

Time Amounts

Not all students need the same amount of time with the teacher during the small group instruction studio.  By calling the students back to the small group, the teacher can start to differentiate the amount of time each group will stay at the small group studio.  Think about it: the high flyers will only need a few minutes to review the lesson and the concepts, while the struggling students might need more time.  Therefore, designing homogeneous grouping for small groups can help to ensure that all students attend a small group lesson within one class period.
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Prerequisites

Another great way to ensure that all students attend the small group learning studio within a 45-minute class period is to think about setting up a prerequisite for the students to complete first. Think of the prerequisite as a way to prime the thinking process, providing more time for in-depth conversations and even allowing time for breaking down the big concepts during the small group instruction time. For example, think about having the students complete a reading or a brainstorming activity before joining a small group.  By starting an activity that aligns with the small group lesson, the students will be ready to talk, share, and complete the lesson more efficiently.

Check-ins

As the students gather for the small group lesson, the teacher can take a moment to check in on the progress the students are making in the other learning studios.  The quick check-in will allow time to answer questions from the other studios and check for completion.  This simple to-the-point check-in process will help a teacher gain more time for small groups because the students will have a designated time to ask questions and showcase completed work.

Relationships

The best part of small group instruction is the ability of the teacher to build academic relationships with the students.  The relationship-building aspect is one of the biggest reasons why meeting with every student in a small group during learning studio days is essential. By building relationships, the students will stay on task during the other learning studios, allowing more time to meet with all of the students during the small group learning studio. Once the teacher and the students build up the routine and procedures for small group instruction, the students start to ask more questions, take time to process the information, and begin to enjoy learning in a small group setting rather than a whole group lecture.
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Checklist and Choice Boards for the Win!

3/17/2023

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Increase student engagement by providing student choice and voice in the blended learning classroom setting. The Field Guide showcases examples of how to gradually move both the students and the classroom teacher to deploying higher order choice activities.  Below explore how to gradually incorporate creation, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and connecting activities into the learning studios.

Getting Started With Student Ownership (Choice)

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The White Belt Strategies for Student Ownership introduce the teacher and the students to creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and hands-on connection activities. The white belt strategies are designed to showcase how to work with partners with various learning opportunities. The engaging learning activities are tied to the daily learning objectives and should take about eight to ten minutes to complete.
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Increase Ownership with Extended Projects

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Moving to a two-day checklist with the students will provide ample time to complete larger projects in the Future Ready studio, which will help promote higher levels of student engagement and ownership.  A multiple-day activity could include time to brainstorm with the partner, time to design the project, and the ability for the students to record a short video or voice recording explaining the project.  Again, the idea of the two-day activity is to increase student ownership within twenty minutes.  We are still training the students during this phase of the deployment process.
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Overview Video on Choice Boards and Checklist

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Differentiated Small Group Instruction Made Easy

3/14/2023

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When I am asked to put the twelve elements of student engagement and ownership in order starting with the most important, I always start with small group instruction. Small group instruction is the backbone for developing data-driven learning environments, building student relationships, customizing the learning paths for individual students, and providing learning opportunities in multiple learning styles. If a classroom teacher can successfully deploy small group instruction regularly, the rest of the eleven elements will be easier and more efficient to deploy within the classroom setting. 

Start Small

The best way to get started with small group instruction is to try to deploy small groups for review days.  The day before the test, break the class into three groups.  Group A will meet with the teacher to reteach the big concepts that might be missed on the test.  Group B will be working in Independent Practice learning studio completing a review sheet.  Group C will start in Digital Content learning studio explore videos or online resources that will help to increase the understanding of the unit concepts.  The teacher will set a timer for ten minutes.  At the end of the timer, the students will rotate to the next learning studio.  Coaching Note: If you have a large class, you might want to set up a total of six groups.  See the diagram to the right to run the learn studios. 
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Collect the Data

Make differentiated small group instruction with the deployment of a "Teacher Data Tracker". The teacher data tracker is a printed-out classroom roster that the teacher utilizes during small-group instruction.
Explore the following steps to generating a Teacher Data Tracker. 
  1. Print out an up-to-date classroom roster. Note: Find the student roster called "Student Scores - Printable."
  2. Place the roster on a clipboard 
  3. Keep the clipboard at the small group location
  4. When the students attend the small group studio, keep track of how the students answer the questions during the lesson. 
  5. I use a 4, 3, 2. 1 system to track how well the students did during the small group lesson. 
  6. Continue to use this same system with formative assessments and small group lessons. 
The data from the data tracker will eventually be used to help drive data-driven small-group instruction. However, for now, collect the data!  
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Use The Data

Step 1: Start to deploy small group instruction 
Step 2: Collect the Data 
Step 3: USE THE DATA
Now that the classroom teacher has deployed small group instruction and collected the data with the teacher data tracker, it is time to use the data to drive the small group instruction while the students are working in learning studios.  To accomplish this start by pulling back the high flyers first.  They will meet with the teacher to learn or enhance the learning target for the day while the struggling students start in the digital content studio where they are relearning the concepts from a teacher created video.  Coaching Note:  This teacher generated video should be short and to the point, no longer than five minutes in length. The second group that the teacher will bring back would be the struggling students while the on level and high flyers move through the learning studios at their own pace with the daily checklist.   
By using the data to drive which group of students come back to the small group, the teacher can differentiate the amount of time spent in the small group and can start to differentiated the small group instruction.
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Sign Up for the Summer Workshop on Data-Driven Small Group Instruction Made Easy 

We are offering virtual and onsite workshops on how to deploy data-driven small group instruction.  The workshop showcases how to get started with deploying learning studios, how to start to collect the data from formative assessments, online programs, and small group responses, and how to use the data to differentiate the small group instruction.  This hands-on workshop provides a step by step guide as well as take-aways that can be implemented into any PreK-12 classroom.  Sign Up Today to Save Your Spot. 
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Purchase the Field Guide

Grab a copy of the Field Guide written by Marcia Kish!  You can purchase the Field Guide in our Store, on Amazon, or we through a Purchase Order.  (Email Marcia Kish for a proposal and information for the Purchase Order)


Learn more about the Field Guide and the 12 Elements of Student Engagement and Ownership 
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Low Prep Student Creation Activities

3/6/2023

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One of the most commonly asked questions that I receive from classroom teachers is, "What suggestions do you have for low-prep Future Ready activities?" My answer is to add creation and collaboration projects for the students to complete over the multiple-day checklist. Below is a suggested creation rollout that can be housed inside the student checklist.  

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Overview Sample One: Sample one mini-project is a two-day choice activity in that the students will spend ten minutes each day working on the mini-project. By the end of the two days, the students will have made a poster on Canva.com or a physical mini-poster (11X17) 
Overview Sample Two: Sample two showcases a choice board, brainstorming time, and three days to work on the mini-project with a partner. By breaking the mini-project into chunks, the students will gradually build, design, and work on the activity over four days, with fifty minutes dedicated to the creation project.  ​

Sample One

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Sample Two

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The low prep activities start by providing students time to create and collaborate with choice creation activities. Please take a moment to explore some of our favorite creation websites, offline creation activities, and even phone applications that the students can pick from for the next partner mini-project.​ Click here to grab your copy of the choice activities. 
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Getting Started with Small Group Instruction

3/6/2023

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Coaching Notes from Marcia Kish: "Start Small". If you would like try to deploy small group instruction within your classroom setting, think about start out with only three learning studios.  
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Setting up small group instruction can seem overwhelming if the traditional form of teaching is whole group delivery of the content. To bridge over to small group instruction, try to break apart the lesson into three different learning studios. The three learning studios include a Small Group Studio with the teacher, Independent Practice Studio, and Digital Content Studio. A third of the class will attend each studio for about twelve minutes. The timer will go off, and the students will rotate to the next studio. Another twelve minutes will go by, and the students will move to the last learning studio for the day. By breaking the lesson into three learning studios, the students and teacher will become accustomed to delivering the content through small group instruction. 

Watch And Learn More about Getting Started with Small Group Instruction 

FREE March Workshops- Sign Up Today

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We are booking Spring, Summer, and Fall Workshops and Coaching Sessions 

We are offering the following Workshop and Coaching Sessions for 2023.  Click here to learn more! 
  • Introduction to the 12 Elements of Student Engagement and Ownership 
  • Coaching Workshops
  • High School Small Group Instruction Made Easy 
  • Mixing in Technology for Middle School
  • A Twist to Centers for Elementary Teachers
  • STEAM Activities 
  • And More 
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