Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching - National University

above, that it appears that students are all on task, engaged in the game of not getting caught on
the wrong word.
With respect to a curriculum that addresses the widely divergent abilities, interests, and demands
of a standardized curriculum, technology may offer some opportunities if teachers and school
districts are willing to make such resources available. As teachers work to meet students’ needs,
the potential and possibilities of the Internet and allied technologies may be useful. Texts at
varying levels and that appeal to many interests are possible.
Though the data reported here represent self-reported perceptions, the trend is clear:
Teachers recognize the value of small groups and partner work as well as the value of working
on literacy tasks in class. Teachers may need additional tools if they are to provide meaningful
reading tasks that do not rely on whole-class oral reading. Observational data would also assist in
clarifying the nature of small-group work relative to student abilities.
Implications
Partner reading, reading in small groups, and independent reading ranked in the upper three for
both primary and upper grades. This held true when the data were analyzed by urban and
suburban demographic groups rather than by grade level, as well. This trend is promising;
however, it invites new questions to be asked about the instructional practices in use and those
that are most effective in literacy instruction.
Though small groups and partners are often beneficial instructional strategies or routines,
what students do when working with others is worth further examination. To what extent do
students scaffold interactions for their peers Do students working in heterogeneous groups
compensate by doing the hard work of reading for those less proficient, or do they scaffold
interactions such that the less proficient peer becomes increasingly competent with reading
tasks The present study makes no attempt to determine the extent of partner, grouping, and
independent reading. As teachers face pressure to improve test scores, their use of small groups,
partners or dyads, and independent reading time may change as well. How teachers negotiate the
spaces between the demand for improved achievement on high-stakes measures and their desire
to foster critical and proficient readers mediated by the reading formats they choose may help
teachers, teacher educators, and publishers of basal reading materials make more informed
decisions, too (e.g., Paugh, Carey, King-Jackson, & Russell, 2007).
These choices are similarly reflected in the choices teachers make about read-aloud
formats to provide scaffolded reading experiences with students sharing the task by reading
along with the teacher at times. The use of alternate texts to provide students with reading
material that is comprehensible, yet challenging, is another positive indicator that teachers in the
participant group were making thoughtful choices about the format of reading tasks in their
classrooms. One concern was the little amount of time students spent reading from Internet
sources as a reading activity in their elementary classrooms. In new times, the capacity of young
readers to critically comprehend hypertexts may demand more attention if students are to
successfully negotiate these cybertexts (New London Group, 1996).
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