Maximized Minilessons

Hi all; this post will be going into detail about minilessons (I'm going to spell "minilesson" as one word even though the word processor's fighting me on it). Specifically, I'm aiming to define the elements of an effective minilesson and expand on how I implement minilessons in my Special Education classroom. My hope is to help you implement some of these strategies in your own classroom, as well as open up a dialogue for what you've found works in your own experiences.

First, let's define our term. "Minilesson" is another one of those ed words that I feel like wasn't really around when I was going through school. The practice was there, sure, but there was no "mini" in "minilesson;" everything we did was just a part of the lesson.

Semantics aside, a "minilesson" to me really focuses on 2 areas: brevity and group size. The first point, brevity, is something I think most educators would agree on: a minilesson shouldn't suck up all of your class time, otherwise there's nothing "mini" about it. While there is some debate on how long a "minilesson" should be, the rule of thumb I usually follow is between 10-20 minutes, generally averaging out more towards 15. Occasionally, there'll be a "micro" lesson which is less than 10 minutes, but these tend to only pop up when I'm checking in with individual students about their progress on an assignment or project.

My second minilesson qualifier is where I think I might hear some contradictory opinions: for me, in my setting, a minilesson must also require some sort of group size restriction. Again, for me, for the purposes of this post, a minilesson can't happen if you're instructing the whole class all at once. I know some people use the term minilesson to refer to a short, whole class experience, but my class is structured in such a way that I very rarely (almost never) lead through direct instruction for the majority of a class, so all of my D.I. lessons would therefore be quantified as "mini."

That rather roundabout explanation aside, that's the definition of a minilesson that I'll be working with for the rest of this post: a brief lesson that only incorporates a few students (usually between 3-5) at a time.

So, how do we maximize minilessons? How do I personally use minilessons in my classroom?

I'll start by answering that second question first: I am a huge believer in minilessons, and I use them in my class whenever approaching a new concept that I believe my students will need to experience via guided release or when we are exploring a text as a group.

Why do I love minilessons so much? Because they offer my students a space to make mistakes without judgment and explore new topics with support, all the while remaining engaged with the material. While this doesn't apply to everyone (nothing ever does), I've had it happen more than once that a student in my class isn't necessarily always comfortable sharing their thoughts or ideas in front of what they perceive to be a large audience. And I totally get it. We've all been there: in a staff meeting, at a lecture hall, even in an audience at a performance venue, places where the benefits of participation have to weighed carefully against attracting scrutiny to ourselves. Big crowds can make even the most extroverted folks suddenly feel shy, and, as an introvert myself, I remember walking the line in school between having something to say and not wanting the room's attention.

Minilessons control that "all eyes on me" feeling that can sometimes make the quiet kids clam up and the performers ham it up. I'm not saying that whole class discussions aren't important, just like I'm not saying learning to articulate yourself in front of a group of people isn't a valuable and necessary skill. What I am saying is that these traits aren't developed overnight, and that they require a foundation of trust and confidence to be built. Both of which can be fostered in the low-pressure environment of a minilesson.

Minilessons also increase student accountability, and give you (the teacher) a much fuller understanding regarding the mastery of content. Look at it this way: if you ask a class of 15 students an Algebra question and you get 1 correct answer, how many kids are you absolutely sure have mastered the content? 1. Sure, there're are probably others who understand the concept and could've answered it...but how can you know for sure? There could just as easily be a handful of kids who are completely lost but don't want to speak up now that the question's over and done with.

If you approach the same question in a minilesson format, you're given the opportunity to informally assess formative assessment data and key in on exactly where a student may be struggling. Since the group is small, there's no flying under the radar and waiting for the question to be over. Everybody is expected to try, and minilessons provide a great, natural environment for peer support when grappling with challenging material.

Minilessons are also how I, in a Language Arts Resource Room, approach group reading. Many of my students have some degree of difficulty when it comes to reading, whether it's articulation, comprehension, recall, fluency, you name it. I see a lot of students who are not necessarily confident in their reading abilities and positively dread being asked to read aloud to the class. Again, I understand. I've heard the anecdotes about former students so anxious about counting ahead to paragraph they were going to be asked to read that they totally missed all of the other content going on.

But reading aloud is an effective way to become a stronger reader. Not to digress too much, but reading aloud helps build fluency, catch comprehension errors, and understand phrasing among other positives. So I work hard early on to establish a culture in my classroom where everyone is expected to read aloud fairly regularly...but in the comfort of their own, small, trustworthy, out of the way minilesson group. I can only speak from my experiences, but the students I've had don't seem to dread my reading minilessons; rather, the games I use to randomize who reads and for how long (I'll have to get into Rapid fire reading in the future) are the parts of my class that former students fondly reminisce about when they stop by for a visit.

So, as per usual, this introduction has gone on for way longer than intended. The remainder of this post will be divided into a list of different settings and scenarios that I find lend themselves nicely to the minilesson format. Let me know which one's your favorite, which ones you've tried, and if there's anything you think I should add to this list in the comments below!

1. The Hands-On "Try It"

This strategy works best when you've got something new to cover in class. Many of my students prefer to learn through hands-on, tactile experiences; instead of walking through a new technique step-by-step 5 times before turning them loose to try, this tactic works well for that student who only needs to see it once and it ready to give it a go. Essentially, this form of minilesson begins with a task. Whether it's properly labeling a dialogue tree or solving a two-step equation, the teacher in this minilesson scenario provides support, redirection, and facilitates group conversation while students tackle the material in a semi-independent way. This style of minilesson also works amazingly well as the first step in a gradual release module (another topic I hope to soon cover).

2. The Checkpoint Invitation

This strategy is great for catching up with those kids who may, for one reason or another (shyness, weak executive functioning skills, lack of confidence, etc.), not come right out and ask for help while struggling. Built into every unit in my classroom are short, low-stakes checkpoints that target mastery of critical skills. Based on whatever I'm covering, everything from editing to character development can be assessed in a few short questions. The data I collect from these checkpoints then inform who will be invited to attend a minilesson on said target skill. Depending on the topic and number of students expected to attend, I may also open this up to other students who passed the checkpoint but still feel they need to brush up on their skills, or I may even divide the minilesson in a multi-session requirement if I'm noticing struggles across the board.

3. The Student Choice

This one is exactly as it sounds. Students have the option of attending a minilesson for an area they may feel weak in. This style is great for combating confidence issues, since a 10-minute check up to make sure you're on the right track can do wonders for a student who tends to second-guess (like your's truly growing up). It's also important to note that, in my room, students are expected to schedule their time while working on a larger project or activity. The "choice" element in these minilessons not only comes in choosing whether or not to attend, but often which session they want to attend if they so choose. For example, a small group reading minilesson may be mandatory for all students, but students will be given the option of attending the minilesson on either Wednesday or Friday. I often additionally incentivize students by putting a cap on capacity for these minilessons (which can be overridden in the case of absences, etc.), which encourages the executive functioning skills of staying organized and planning ahead.

4. The Team Task

This one is a lot of fun. I love giving my students a general task (like comparing a character in our core novel to a planet, or devising a class president campaign strategy for one of the background characters in a text), some restrictions and rules to play by, and just seeing what they come up with. The best aspects about these types of minilessons are that they enable you to do some fun and creative things (all the while closely supervising students in a manageable group) and the students actually end up building hype for your lesson. If you have one group who does a cool and engaging activity on Monday, you can bet the sign up for Tuesday will be full next time you look at the board.

5. The Workshop

This one works great in an ELA setting. In my class, students are often working on an extended piece of writing that can take several days to fully plan, develop, proofread, and edit. Along the way, the term "peer editing" gets bandied about, but that can sometimes be hard to monitor to assure that the feedback given is relevant and positive. Enter the Workshop minilesson, where all bring a sample of their writing and critique the strengths and weaknesses of their work through a particular lens. Say you're focusing on the development of dialogue in narrative writing; a Workshop minilesson can give students a specific attribute to focus on, a small think tank to share and bounce ideas off of, and a facilitator (you) who can assure the group that they're all on the right track.

So, how do you use minilessons in your classroom? Got any questions, or anything need to be clarified or expanded on? Leave a comment below, or send me an email at the link above!

Also, apologies: I realized only after composing this post that it's not the topic I'd originally stated at the end of last month. Ah well, live and learn; I hope you enjoyed the read.