STARI FAQs
What do you do if there is a big gap in your group, such as having students that are at the lowest of the range but most of the group is performing on the higher end?
Make partnership decisions thoughtfully. Will you pair lower reading students together for fluency work so that they have twice as many chances to access the fluency passage? Or will it be better to have lower reading students paired with a reader performing at a slightly higher level? Think about the supportive aspects of each of these pairings when making partner decisions.
Be prepared to offer more scaffolding for students at lower levels of proficiency. They may need a complex question broken down into multiple questions. But don’t deprive these students of the opportunity to answer complex, inferential questions! Make extensive use of Talk Moves, giving students a chance to Stop and Jot their ideas down before sharing with their partner or the whole group, and Turn and Talk with their partner before sharing with the whole group.
If particular students have trouble or are reluctant to speak in the whole group, use Talk Moves for Goal 2: asking students to rephrase or repeat what another student says. In this way, students can contribute to discussion without having to come up with a new thought or comment. Rephrase and repeat also gives students an opportunity to build on the thinking of peers who may be reading and comprehending at a higher level.