Small Group Activity
The purpose of my small group reading activity was to check students’ comprehension and help them find the theme of a poem they were reading. During our small group activity, I worked with a lower reading group on the independent practice part of my whole group lesson. I read a poem titled The House by the Side of the Road by Sam Walter Foss to my students. Then, I had them read the poem to themselves. I wanted the students to do a close read of the poem, so I had them underline a line in the poem that showed the speaker’s wants. I then had the students’ circle a part of the poem that showed the speaker’s feelings. Then I had the students answer three comprehension questions, including a short answer about the theme of the poem. The format of the activity I used was set up in the same way as possible EOG questions. The students were very excited to work with me, because it was new and different, but then they were a little disappointed that they actually had to do work with me. Once the students got started and I let them openly discuss the poem, most of them started to enjoy the activity. Two of the students in my small group seemed distracted and bored the whole time, but for the most part, the students were receptive to me and the activity and all of them completed the questions at the end.