One teacher reflected that allowing students (Grade 5) to connect and reflect orally leads to deeper conversation and sharing of learning than written responses. This is helpful in truly measuring what a student understands. 

Another teacher said (of working with K-1s): “Working in a small group helped them to focus, concentrate and see their individual improvement in their reading skills. The personal gratification to see how much their reading improved was amazingly rewarding. They were very proud and can see how much they learned.”

A third teacher working in small groups in Grades 1-5 observed that students work hard, are eager to learn and do their best. 

A fourth teacher working with students noted in the beginning that students were unsure of what to draw when reflecting. The teacher spent a few weeks focusing on the skill of visualizing and said that by the end of the year, all students were able to read the text and then draw a picture with confidence.

Another teacher reported that students participated in weekly, small-group sessions to work on reading comprehension and worked on many reading strategies (including predicting, making connections, inferring, visualizing, retelling) and made significant progress in their abilities to use the skills.

A final teacher noted that the work they are doing as resource support is important because many students need multiple exposures to how to use reading skills and the small group attention and practice helps students better retain new ideas and skills. Learning takes patience and time and the work of supporting classroom teachers to best meet the needs of students who need a bit more time is essential.