Guided Reading - Introduction

Introduction

Guided reading is a method of teaching reading, common in England and Wales through the influence of the National Literacy Strategy (later superseded by the Primary National Strategy). It remains recommended practice in some authorities, this is despite discontinued hosting and support of the Primary National Strategy from the United Kingdom's Department for Education .

In the United States, Guided Reading is a key component to the Reading Workshop model of literacy instruction. Guided Reading sessions involve a teacher and a small group, ideally of two to four children although groups of five or six are not uncommon. The session would have a set of objectives to be taught during a session lasting approximately 20 minutes. Whilst guided reading takes place with one group of children, the remaining children are engaged in quality independent or group literacy tasks, with the aim of allowing the teacher to focus the small group without interruption. Guided Reading is usually a daily activity in English and Welsh primary school classrooms and involves every child in a class over the course of a week. In the United States, Guided Reading can take place at both the primary and intermediate levels. Each Guided Reading group meets with the teacher several times throughout a given week. The children are typically grouped by academic ability, reading levels, or strategic/skill-based needs.

Although there are positive aspects to this type of reading instruction, there are also two main challenges that exist at every grade level. According to Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, "some students will work on very basic reading skills such as word analysis and comprehending simple texts" while other students may be working on more advanced reading skills and strategies with increasingly challenging texts. In addition, "all students need instructional support so they can expand their competence across a greater variety of increasingly challenging texts." (Fountas and Pinnell). Thus, it takes a lot of strong planning and organization from the part of the teacher in order to successfully implement Guided Reading so that it meets the needs of all learners.

Text selection is a critical component of the Reading Workshop; it must be purposeful and have the needs of the learners in mind. According to Fountas and Pinnell, as a teacher reads "a text in preparation for teaching, you decide what demands the text will make on the processing systems of the readers." Texts should not be chosen to simply teach a specific strategy. Rather, the texts should be of such high quality that students can apply a wide range of reading comprehension strategies throughout the reading. "One text offers many opportunities to learn; you must decide how to mediate the text to guide your students' learning experiences" (Fountas and Pinnell).

Steps for a Lesson

Before Reading: A Teacher will access background knowledge, build schema, set a purpose for reading, and preview the text with students. Typically a group will engage in a variety of pre-reading activities such as predicting, learning new vocabulary, and discussing various text features. If applicable, the group may also engage in completing a "picture walk." This activity involves scanning through the text to look at pictures and predicting how the story will go. The students will engage in a conversation about the story, raise questions, build expectations, and notice information in the text (Fountas and Pinnell).

During Reading: The students will read independently within the group. As students read, the teacher will monitor student decoding and comprehension. The teacher may ask students if something makes sense, encourage students to try something again, or prompt them to use a strategy. The teacher makes observational notes about the strategy use of individual readers and may also take a short running record of the child's reading. The students may read the whole text or a part of the text silently or softly for beginning readers (Fountas and Pinnell).

After Reading: Following the reading, the teacher will again check students' comprehension by talking about the story with the children. The teacher returns to the text for teaching opportunities such as finding evidence or discussing problem solving. The teacher also uses this time to assess the sudents' understanding of what they have read. The group will also discuss reading strategies they used during the reading. To extend the reading, students may participate in activities such as drama, writing, art, or more reading (Fountas and Pinnell).