****Regardless of your literacy curriculum or approach, you will be empowered to bring truly responsive small group teaching to your classroom — for better outcomes in both reading and writing****

Join Jennifer Serravallo for a hands‑on, research-rich exploration of reading and writing instruction in small groups—drawing directly from her books Teaching Reading Across the Day and Teaching Writing in Small Groups. Learn how targeted, responsive instruction in both reading and writing accelerates student growth and builds transferable skills across disciplines. Research shows that when reading and writing instruction are closely integrated, students deepen skills in both areas. In classrooms where teachers engage with readers and writers in small groups, students benefit from scaffolding—and gain greater independence faster. Explore what it looks like to implement small group instruction through flexible grouping, formative assessment, and explicit strategy work.

Participants will:

• Understand how small‑group instruction supports readers and writers, especially with grade-level texts

• Learn how to form small groups using assessment data together with skill progressions

• Experience lesson structures and tips to support decoding, comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency

• Explore lesson structures and tips for scaffolding student writers with planning, organizing, elaborating, and improving conventions

• Practice planning, teaching, and adjusting responsive small groups in both reading and writing

You will take away:

• Methods for forming dynamic, flexible small groups for both reading and writing based on ongoing assessment

• Tools for crafting explicit instruction that transitions students to independence

• Ways to link reading strategy instruction and writing strategy instruction across the day

• Structures for goal-driven instruction and progress monitoring in both areas

• Creative ideas for integrating mentor texts, strategy charts, and skill progressions into small‑group teaching