Patty,
An hour isn't much time, but I think you might be able to tweak things a bit
and be able to get it all in. Working with small groups could actually help
because you'll spend less time with the more able students. It might not seem
so as you begin, but as you tighten up your classroom management and your
students become more independent, you may wonder how you ever did it any other
way.
You are required to use the basal, but are you required to follow the
teacher's guide? Are you required to do whole group instruction? Could the
whole group instruction be a mini lesson? What would keep you from setting the
more capable students loose on the assignment, and then have them work on a
piece of literature using lit circle format? Perhaps they would complete the
required work in a day or two, and only check in with you once a week, unless
they hit a place that they don't understand. Then they would be challenged, yet
still be using your basal and doing the required work.
That would free you up to work more closely with the other groups. When you
work with the lowest and middle groups, make sure they are sitting in close
proximity so they can overhear what you tell the other group. You could also
have the other groups working with a piece of literature in lit circle format
when they have completed the required work. Have them used a book that is
easier to read.
Could your lowest group reread the text while listening to a recording?
Perhaps they could do the reading work, then do the history work and act as
mentors to the other students? Maybe you could have the more capable students
working as partners with the middle group. (They could "mumble read" together.)
Just a few possibilities.
Joy/NC/4
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How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go
hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org
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