When I had my own classroom last year, our principal implemented guided reading groups as our primary way of teaching reading in our school. When I was told this I was very excited. In my undergraduate program at Washington State University we were tsught that guided reading is the most effective way to build student comprehension and reading skills compared to whole group instruction using a basal reader. Some new teachers find guided reading to be overwhelming and cumbersome. However, once you complete a lesson plan, called a zone lesson plan, it is quite easy. A zone lesson plan is used for each guided reading group. When you develop this plan it is not a new one for at least two weeks. The zone lesson plan is user friendly and can be developed for any grade or group.
There are five stages to move through with guided reading. From the text and class discussions they are pre-reading, reading, responding, exploring, and applying. I moved through each of these stages with all of my groups. My students seemed to thrive through the use of guided reading. The year before our school just used the basal reader and the whole grade was taught the same story and had to take the same comprehension test every Friday. This did not work well in my classroom because most of not all of my students were English Language Learners (ELL) and their primary language was Spanish. I am so glad our school district is slowly moving towards guided reading which allows teachers to develop more differentiated instruction since our students are each individuals.
As future teachers, will you implement guided reading in your classroom? Pretend a parent comes up to you during parent/teacher conferences and states they think guided reading is pointless because they learned from reading a textbook. What would you tell them to support your views and use of guided reading in your classroom?
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4 comments:
I think guided reading is fantastic! I've worked a great deal with ELL kids in groups and one-on-one, and it helps build confidence as well as vocabulary skills...really a wonderful tool.
The important thing to remember is that every class is diversified and it's important to utilize various teaching methods in order to reach the greatest percentage possible.
Feedback from Anila.
I am an advocate of guided reading approach. It really is one of the major components of a balanced literacy program, which allows teachers to help students develop effective literacy strategies for processing text at increasingly challenging levels of difficulty. In my opinion, the overall purpose of this approach is for students to read for meaning at all times.
If a parent would come and tell me that he/she does not like this instructional method, I would respond to him/her by saying that guided reading is the perfect apporach to promote his child's fluency, and comprehension, because it provides way more chances of communicating with the child on an individual/or small group basis. This daily individual or small group interaction during guided reading, will give you as a teacher ample opportunties to observe, listen to, and monitor their child's reading behaviors to determine whether he/she is using the appropriate strategies to identify words, acquire meaning, and engage in problem solving. It is through guided reading that his/her child are shown how to read and can be supported as they read.
I would also tell the parent that guided reading provides you as a teacher with the best opportunity to serve as a guide and facilitate his/her child's reading, by teaching the child many literacy strategies, engaging him/her in authentic reading expereiences, all of which will help the child learn to use independent strategies successfully.
I would probably talk to the parent about the many benefits of guided reading program, shared by many researchers. Maybe I can suggest the parent to do some research on his/her own and find out the true imporance of this instructional literacy approach.
anila,
I totally agree with you response. I would tell the parent the same kinds of things. I would also have some research articles on hand to give to the parent in case they do not have access to a computer or the internet. My only difference in responding to the parent would be that guided reading is one of the best approaches to fluency and comprhension building. I would just watch labeling guided reading practices as the perfect approach because even though it works will most students, there can and will be a small few where guided reading may not work.
I have to agree with what all of your comments have said. With guided reading I think it is important to remember that it is a very effective tool to implement inside the classroom however it can sometimes have obstacles along the way.
I strongly believe that I will use the guided reading approach inside my future classroom. I think it is an effective way to increase a student's fluency and comprehension skills. It also allows for the teacher to have more of a one on one with students. Having that extra one on one time enables the teacher to try and implement different strategies for certain students that may need more help with certain concepts than other students.
If a parent were to approach me I have to agree with the comment made about having some research to back up what I am trying to say to them. I think saying it to the parent is one thing but being able to show them articles and statistics about these certain effective strategies is even better.
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