Tips for Starting Guided Reading
After four to six weeks of school, guided reading really gets going! The purpose of guided reading is to provide closely monitored structured practice of the reading strategies your students need to be successful readers. Guided reading gives teachers opportunities to observe and coach students as they apply strategies and knowledge of author's craft.
Here are a few tips for making your reading groups effective:
1. Clearly identify the learning target ( i.e. reading strategy and authors craft that you want students to practice). Be sure to use beginning-of-year assessments and observations of the students during reading to determine the learning targets for practice.
2. Identify students who need this practice. Remember, not every student in your class needs to practice every strategy or skill. Groups membership should be based on need rather than solely reading level. Some students may already be effectively applying the reading strategy and therefore really don't need to guided practice. Some students may be ready to move to a "book club" practice setting rather than guided reading.
3. Select a text in which the reading strategy will need to be applied. Be respectful of your students’ independent and instructional reading levels as you choose the text. The key to success is making sure students will have success in using the reading strategy or skill. Remember, the goal of the group is to guided practice of a reading strategy or skill. The desired result of guided reading is that students develop fluency with the learning target in order to read and comprehend other texts across genres.
4. Let the students do the thinking. Before reading, set your students up for success by helping them activate prior knowledge pose questions to serve as the purpose for reading. During reading, each student should read and process a portion of the text independently. Monitor students as they read and provide prompting if needed. After reading, have the group return to the pre-reading purpose and questions. As students discuss what they have read, monitor to see if they are using reading strategies and knowledge of author's craft to comprehend the text. You know your guided reading groups are successful when students apply reading strategies and are moving towards autonomy.
Starting off on the right foot in October is key! Remember to go slow with routines and instruction at first, so your students have the time and coaching they need to become strategic readers.
Get a FREE small group planning sheet and example HERE!!!
Happy teaching,
Randi Anderson