In this chapter, Tovani focuses on Small group learning. She is very good at analyzing her own successes and failures in all areas because she reviews it openly in this book. She talks about organizing small groups in class and how it used to be harder. She talks about the ease of small group setup now that the rules have been established and all the students have come to a consensus. Overall this chapter was a very enlightening small group organizer that I can refer to when I try to set them up. I especially liked the areas on student input, when she describes how she asks the students what they want to see in the small groups. Input like this is a good motivator to show the students that they have power and can contribute their ideas and wants. When a student feels valued, they will do a lot for you, including not goofing off in a small group. A scary thought for me has always been highschool classroom grouping, and trying to keep kids on task. I know it was a problem for me; I reflect to a time when we used to go into the hall and read a chapter a day in a book. After 13 chapters, or rather after 13 days, the teacher caught my friends and I trading pokemon cards in the hall as we had been doing the past 13 days during reading time. This was a gross waste of time and could have been handled if we were monitored, or had been told what questions we should ask ourselves when reading. I used reflection, relativity, and decided how I was going to utilize this information while I read this chapter and feel like I can retain it better now.
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