A New Homogeneous Gender Group

Tomorrow I begin a new group of female students. This group needs to work on the reading/writing connection, so we will begin with the book by Ann Renaldi, The Fifth of March. Renaldi's focus is a girl the age of my students (13-14) who is in love with a British soldier, circa 1770s. The soldier becomes involved in the "Boston Massacre", which happens on March 5. The goal is to engage the students in the story first, then the history, and finally, to be able to write in/about the time period. The "hook" is the plot, the content is the precursor to the American Revolutionary War. I have not worked in a small group setting with these girls before, grouping them was based on their writing/ reading comprehension and needs. The personalities of the girls is a major component- they tend to be very "social" and not highly motivated. I have added two students (of the 5) who are more focused, to keep it from being homogeneous/ ability grouping- the homogeneity factor in this grouping is gender related, not ability, for the most part. I am interested to see, if away from their social group of peers, if these girls will seek a relationship with me, the teacher, as my other groups have- my conjecture is that they will, all groups to date have, this will be a completely new experience- for the most part, they have been more peer, that teacher motivated.