Guided Reading

1
Guided Reading

• Will I ever understand it?
• Lets start with what guided reading is NOT.

2
Guided Reading is Not

• Letting students choose books
• Reading books that have already been read
• Spending long amounts of time on introductions
• Teaching long lists of words
• Teaching pronunciation
• One student at a time reading in a group while
  everybody else listens

3
Guided Reading is Not

• Choral reading
• A time for guessing
• Correcting every mistake yourself
• A writing lesson
• Keeping students in the same group and same level
  too long

4
Guided Reading Is

• Daily supported reading
• New text daily, unless high level or too lengthy
• Giving the new book at time of lesson, not prior
  to guided reading
• Homogeneous groups of children
• Giving the child just the right amount of help
• Using just the right book on just the right level
• Moving the child up or down at the right time

5
Guided Reading Is

• Making sure a child is creating self-extending
  systems
• Making sure a child has a toolbox of
  comprehension strategies
• Making sure a child does comprehend on multiple
  levels
• Making sure a child can transfer his strategies
  to any reading text and content
• Sending the guided reading book home for practice
  each night
• Adding to the browsing box for independent
  reading the next day

6
Components of each lesson

• Introduction
• Teaching Point
• Independent Reading
• Comprehension Questions

7
Guided Reading Introduction
Think of it like learning to swim. If you get in
the wrong level, youll drown!
Emergent readers have to have the most support.
They cant swim at all. They dont know much
about it!
Early readers still need a floatie.
Intermediate/fluent readers need very little
supportjust a little motivation and a lifeguard
for emergencies
8
Teaching reading vocabulary is like operating a
dump truck!

• Frontloadall words students cannot problem solve
  with prior knowledge and context clues
• Backloadall words you want to check for
  understanding

9
What Else is Going On?

• Independent reading from browsing boxes
• Literacy centers (ABC Work/Word Work)
• All of these may be going on in well-managed
  classrooms.

10
Fluency

• Dont forget to address fluency if your students
  are reading in a staccato fashion. We read
  like we speak.
• Singing the text is one strategy to help with
  fluency.
• Some guided reading books lend themselves well to
  teaching fluency.

11
TIP of the Iceberg!

• Now youre just
• on the tip of the
• iceberg.
• Theres so much
• more beneath the surface!