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GUIDED READING
Monitoring and Assessment
First Steps Reading Developmental Continuum
Analysis of Reading Strategies
Classroom Organisation
Engagement: Empowering Teachers with Successful Strategies
Guided Reading is a strategy that supports students to discover the meaning of a text for themselves. The amount of guidance given by you, the teacher, varies according to the ability and confidence of the students.
In Guided Reading students with similar reading abilities or students who need to acquire similar skills to be successful readers are grouped together. Groups can also consist of students with common interests or experiences. The groups are flexible and are kept small to encourage interaction among the students and to allow you to observe individual reading behaviour.
You may find familiarisation with Guided Reading useful as an introduction to Cooperative Reading. In Guided Reading the teacher leads the questioning of texts. In Cooperative Reading students are empowered to ask their own questions of the texts using the Four Roles of the Reader to scaffold their questioning.
Engagement: Engaging Students in Purposeful Social Practices
StrategyGuided Reading |
TextA range of texts – including both narrative and information texts |
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Four Roles/Resources of the Reader
Based on the Four Roles/Resources of the Reader developed by Freebody and Luke (1990), Guided Reading involves students in the following repertoire of purposeful social practices:
Code breakerDecoding the codes and conventions of written, spoken and visual texts, eg:
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Text userUnderstanding the purposes of different written, spoken and visual texts for different cultural and social functions, eg:
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Text participantComprehending written, spoken and visual texts, eg:
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Text analystUnderstanding how texts position readers, viewers and listeners, eg:
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Four Resources Guideposts
Guided Reading Guideposts provide a useful assessment tool.
Implementing the Strategy
Guided Reading using a range of texts and genre
Before Reading
Information gathering
The first step in Guided Reading is gathering information about the students that will enable you to group the students effectively and to identify the learning needs of the students. This information can be gathered from the First Steps Reading Developmental Continuum, an Analysis of Reading Strategies on a known text, or from classroom observations of student reading behaviour.
Grouping students
Guided Reading groups should be small, 2-8 students. From the information collected the teacher makes decisions about the composition of the group. This can be based on the student’s reading ability, skills to be developed or common interests. The groups are temporary and should be reviewed regularly.
Selection of text
Select the text with a particular teaching focus in mind. The text may be chosen for its text features, language features or understandings it may develop. The text should support students by having sufficient familiar features that they feel successful while being challenged to develop new skills. The aim in Guided Reading is that all students be able to read the text successfully with teacher support. There should be enough copies of the text for each student to have their own copy.
Teaching focus
The teaching focus is determined by the needs of the particular group of students. The focus may be one or more aspects from one or more Roles/Resources of the Reader, eg Code breaker – develops knowledge of various literary devices such as similes and metaphors; Text analyst – constructs an alternative position to the one taken in the text.
The Guided Reading Lesson
Introduce the text
Allow the students to have a quick look at the text. Discuss the title and any predictions the students can make about the genre and possible content of the text. Encourage the students to discuss what they already know about this topic or genre. Identify any words or features you feel may cause problems for the students and assist them to problem solve.
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Examples of Questions
For further examples of questions see Learning Role Cards. |
Reading the text
The reading of the text is done silently, allowing the students to check their predictions. While the students are reading silently, move around the group assisting where necessary. Encourage the students to use known strategies to problem solve on the text.
Revisiting the text
When all the students have had an opportunity to read the text the group can now explore the language, discuss the features, mood, style, etc, and reread to make sense of the text or to find evidence to support their opinion. Direct the students’ attention to specific features of the text to build their knowledge or to allow them to apply strategies they already have. During this time the teacher is facilitating a discussion with open-ended questions.
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Examples of Questions
For further examples of questions see Learning Role Cards. |
Responding to the text
Don’t expect that students will respond to every text they read. You may like to invite students to respond to the text orally or through an activity. The response may be individual, paired or a group response. Record observations of student reading behaviours on the Checklist. The Checklist observations may include the current teaching focus and/or specific reading behaviours identified for review.
After Reading
After the Guided Reading Lesson students should have the opportunity to revisit the text over the next couple of weeks.
Reflect on the lesson and think about the effectiveness of the teaching and how well the group worked together. Make notes on strategies you observed the students using and things you think they need to know next.
Classroom Protocols for Guided Reading
- A Guided Reading lesson usually takes about 20 minutes although
you may need to allow for some extra reading time for longer text.
- Explicit teaching is needed to
allow the students to be aware of their focus for the lesson. They need
to be given time to pull together what they already know about the topic
and/or genre.
- The social environment is vital to the implementation of a Guided
Reading lesson. Students need to be comfortable with taking turns,
accepting the opinion of others especially where it differs from your
own, and supporting each other in sharing views and opinions. Students
develop skills that enable them to build on and to question each other’s
ideas.
- The organisation of the room is important as the other students in
the class need to be able to work apart from the Guided Reading
group so that they don’t interrupt the conversation. The Guided
Reading group needs to be seated where they can see every member
of the group, either on chairs in a circle or seated around a table.
- During the ‘Reading the Text’ stage you have the opportunity to hear
the students read. This can be done unobtrusively by having a signal
for the students to read aloud such as when you sit beside a student,
that student reads aloud until you move on to the next student.
- One of the advantages of Guided Reading is that it allows you to observe and note student reading behaviour. It also allows you to provide immediate feedback to students.
Guided Reading Checklist
Click here to download the checklist below in Microsft Word format (31K).
Guided Reading
Student Reading Behaviour Checklist
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Teaching Focus
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| Student Names | Observation 1 | Observation 2 | Observation 3 | Comments |
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Other Comments
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References
Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. (2001). Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3-6. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell G.S. (1996). Guiding Reading Good First Teaching for All Children. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Hornsby, D. (2000). A Closer Look at Guided Reading. Armadale: Eleanor Curtain.
Guided Reading for Fluent Readers. [Video]. (1995). Wellington,
NZ: Learning Media.
Available from:
Learning Media Ltd
Box 3293
Wellington
New Zealand