Anyone who has worked with us knows how fiercely we advocate for small group instruction. That’s not just because small groups are our personal preference. It’s because science says that’s how kids learn best. While these benefits exist in all subject areas, studies like this one have shown that the difference is especially significant in how kids receive instruction in English Language Arts. When reading or writing lessons are delivered in small groups as opposed to a large group, students experience higher academic achievement on the whole. And while we acknowledge the obstacles of small group instruction, the vast majority of students learn best when with a small, academically heterogeneous mix of peers.
Relationship-Building
According to a Harvard meta-analysis of small group learning, when student learning was compared to individualized or whole group learning, students experienced better and deeper peer and teacher relationships and greater social-emotional well-being. When students learn with fewer peers at a time, the learning environment is more intimate and students in the group develop a sense of camaraderie with each other and with the teacher. The students and teacher in the group also have a chance to get to know each other better in this small group setting, with fewer students in the mix.
Increased Student Participation
Small groups also help the reluctant learner come out of their shell by giving them a more comfortable platform to speak in front of a smaller audience. A smaller audience provides lower stakes for students. The more practice students have speaking in front of their peers, sharing with their peers, and responding to their peers, the more honed these skills will become. Small groups give students literally twice as many opportunities to do this as whole group learning.
More Accurate Assessment
Small groups make it easier for teachers to assess accurately and to get to know students more deeply. It is much harder for students to fall through the cracks when there are fewer students for the teacher to keep track of. Taking formative data on a whole classroom of students is much harder (and less accurate) than taking data on a small group of kids.
Easier Co-Planning
Despite the misconception that small group learning takes longer for teachers to plan because of all the moving parts, once teachers feel comfortable teaching in small groups, planning can and should actually take much less time. For a Parallel teaching lesson, for example, the teaching team only needs to agree on what the lesson objective is and how long they’ll spend on it. Each teacher can then go off and plan their lesson on their own time and in their own way.
The Benefits Outweigh the Drawbacks
One of the most common obstacles teachers encounter with teaching in small groups is students’ high distractibility. The fear that students will gain nothing from the lesson due to an inability to focus prevents them from teaching this way often, and sometimes at all. Through our many classroom visits, conversations with teachers, and our own teaching experience, we know that students gain a deeper understanding of content when they are in an environment with fewer peers, even when there are distractions. In other words, the problem of students getting distracted by other activities happening in the room is outweighed by the benefits of learning in a smaller setting. And as we always remind the teachers we work with, there is always a learning curve with every new skill. No one ever masters this teaching structure right away, nor does it feel comfortable for everyone right away. But the more teachers are willing to dive in, the sooner they’ll gain the confidence and mastery to teach in small groups all the time.