Guided reading is a form of teaching reading by
groupings.
By that I mean that a teacher will make decisions
about what reading skill each individual student needs to
work on and then forms small groups of children with similar
needs. This enables the teacher to work with a small group
focused on a particular skill that is needed.
These small guided reading groups may stay together and
practice a set of focused reading skills for 3 or 4 weeks
and then be reassigned to a different group based upon what
each individual student now needs. Therefore, the small
reading groups are not static the students will move around
to different groups every month or so.
The groups are ‘guided' because that is what the teacher for
the group does. Because of the unique small size of the
group the teacher can easily interact with each member of
the group and the group as a whole. And because the groups
are made up of children all of similar needs the interaction
is always relevant to the group and to the individuals that
make up the guided reading group.
Each lesson is brief and to the point in order to keep focus
and attention at a high level. Early on, the teacher will
usually give some insight as to what the book is about and
give the students any background they might need to better
understand the forthcoming text and the story. Doing a pre
story illustration board of some of the people, places, and
things in the book is often times an excellent way for the
teacher to set up the backdrop of the book or story.
Guided reading is an excellent method of teaching
reading. The reason is because the learning takes place on
the student's own level. As with any ‘complete' classroom
learning scenario, there would be some students who are at a
level higher than the current instruction and therefore get
bored and mentally wonder off. And there would be a section
of students in the class that would not have a high enough
level of understanding and the instruction would seem too
difficult and the student might just give up.
Think of the
guided reading approach as you would when you were learning
any physical skill. Matching the complexity of the skill to
the level of the child's ability enables the child to
practice at a comfortable level and increase complexity as
their skill itself increases.
Grouping students for instruction is certainly not a new
concept. However, in years past, the ‘groups' were often
static and tended to be too large to be truly effective.
Guided reading groups are dynamic and allow for student
to make larger strides by being a part of groups based on
what they need at that particular time. And because these
groups are smaller, the teacher can tailor their instruction
specific to the needs of the group and thus the individual.
