Comprehension Focus Groups: Using Leveled Texts

Heather Zimmerman contributed today's post. All of Heather's posts about implementing comprehension focus groups with middle school readers who are struggling can be found here.

As I have been talking with others about my experiences this year with implementing Comprehension Focus Groups at the middle school level, one question that comes up is about leveling texts.  This was one challenge that I encountered early on in the school year.  I wanted to share with you how I tackled this challenge.  On a side note, the way I approached this is not “by the books” necessarily, but it is practical and what needed to be done to make CFGs work for me.

In my CFG, I have anywhere from five to nine students.  (The way we work our intervention time is there cannot be more than 10 students in an intervention.)  At the beginning of the year I had students ranging from a level R to a level V.  I started asking myself how the CFG would run and look if I split them all by level into different CFGs.  I also wondered how my 50 minutes of time would look.  When I met with one CFG, what would the other students do that was effective?  I was told a CFG is supposed to last at a minimum 30 minutes to keep 80% fidelity, I could not meet with two group in one 50-minute period.  So would I only meet with a group two to three times a week?  What would be the most beneficial for students?  And what could I make work?  (All while keeping in mind the three phases, and wanting to keep them all meaningful.)

As I searched for texts, as many of us who search for middle and high school texts know, many of the middle school appropriate texts are not leveled.  I decided to meet my students in the middle...I chose a range of levels for the three independent texts my students would work with.  By doing this though, I make sure to scaffold for those students who needed it and challenge students who are ready to dig to a different level in a text.  

As I reflect on my work with CFGs and have a frame for a few groups, next year, I will continue to add different levels of texts to my library.  I wanted to have a range, but knew that as I started the year, I might not have all that I need in place.  But even though not all the texts are perfectly leveled, teacher expertise is just as important.  I think my students have had just as powerful experience in CFGs as I help meet their needs as individual learners looking at the same text.