The Daily Cafe

Which strategies to assign?

#1

So I am dabbling in CAFE this year. I have only a few strategies up so far. I have had most of the students choose the area they want to work on for their goal. Now I want to have them decide on a strategy to work on first. What if I don’t have a strategy posted yet? Do I teach it to the kid who needs it or do I introduce all strategies in whole group lessons first? What if a majority of the class doesn’t need strategy? Do I teach it whole group anyway and then move it into a strategy group?

Thanks for any help.
Tammy

#2

Tammy,
Yay for you for trying out CAFE! :smile:

Keeping the CAFE menu handy during your individual goal setting conferences is helpful for having students choose strategies that haven’t been taught whole group yet. There is also an “if–>then” type of sheet (From Assessment to Conferring: Sample Needs and Strategies) that I used a lot when first starting with CAFE. It is in the CAFE book on page 153 in the appendix.

Then, once your student chooses a strategy to work on, you can teach that strategy one on one OR small group if you end up having a group of students working on the same strategy! I only teach strategies whole group if it is a strategy at least 80% of my students need.

I hope this helps and good luck with all your CAFE endeavors!