Instructional Support
What Guided Reading Should Look Like . . .
All of the steps below will depend somewhat on the size of your class, your grade level, and the amount of time you have with each group. These simply provide an initial framework.
1. Students should be divided into small groups of 4-6 students. Hopefully, the younger the students the smaller the groups.
2. A group lesson should be about 15-20 minutes in length.
3. Each child should have his/her own copy of an appropriately leveled book.
4. Pre-Reading: The teacher starts by establishing a purpose for reading. This can be prediction making, vocabulary introduction, or discussing ideas that will provide the readers with the background knowledge required for the text.
5. Reading: The teacher observes as the students read the text softly. As the teacher listens in, he/she can provide coaching to individual students, based upon observations.
6. Post Reading: After the students have read, the teacher should ask appropriate questions about the text, in order to determine whether or not students are truly comprehending. He/she may also observe gaps in how students apply strategies, and these can be addressed later in a mini-lesson format.
7. While doing a guided reading lesson with one group of students, the other students in your class should be busy with a variety of other literacy activities: writing in response journals, reading to self, Daily 5, etc. If guided reading is to be successful in your classroom, you should be prepared to invest the time needed to thoroughly teach routines, procedures, and expectations in your classroom. Only after you are sure that the students can follow the procedures, should you implement guided reading instruction with small groups.
Guided Reading in the Classroom
Guided reading is a strategy that helps students become better readers. The teacher provides support for a small group of readers as they learn to use a variety of reading strategies (context clues, letter and sound relationships, word structure). Although guided reading has been traditionally associated with primary grades it can be modified and used successfully in all grade levels. For example, older students may need to learn new strategies to understand how to read an information book in a way that is going to give them access to the information they are seeking.
The Purpose of Guided Reading
When the teacher chooses books on an appropriate reading level, students are able to read with approximately 90% accuracy. This enables students to enjoy the story, because it helps eliminate roadblocks to comprehension. Students are able to focus on story meaning and apply a variety of strategies, when they do hit a road block.
The teacher can also select books that help students learn specific reading strategies with guidance from the teacher. Since independent reading is the GOAL - guided reading provides the framework to help students apply strategies when they read on their own.
APRIL 2013