Guided Reading Instruction

Guided Reading Instruction
Guided Reading Instruction

Guided reading instruction: Overview
Guided reading instruction is only one part of the literacy program. The entire program includes language/word study, writing workshops, and guided reading. Guided reading instruction involves using leveled reading materials to support the reader at each level and working with students with a common need. A good assessment will give a teacher or parent this data. Developing independent readers by helping them to internalize their strategies and having them re-read the same text several times to gain fluency is also important. Other methods to follow include: modeling what good readers do; predicting, clarifying, questioning and summarizing; writing to make meaning of the text; word study to understand how words work; and changing group membership by re-assessing the strategies and comprehension of the students. Guided reading gives students the opportunity to read at their just right level, which means that the books provide them with a moderate challenge.

Guided reading instruction: Assessment
Guided reading instruction gives students the opportunity to read at their just right level, which means that the books provide them with a moderate challenge. It does not mean that the student is asked to read without establishing a purpose to read and without making a connection to the reader’s experience. Likewise, students should not be asked to write vocabulary definitions without making connections back to the text. Readers should be grouped with students who are similar in ability, needs and strengths. Instruction should be finely tuned to the needs of particular students. Without teaching at the point of need, many students will not progress. By providing small group instruction that allows children to discover how to think about a text, they will be able to use their strategies in other classroom reading throughout the curriculum. Within a guided reading lesson plan is the opportunity to talk about story elements such as character, setting, plot, metaphors, point of view, and vocabulary, etc. The purpose of guided reading is to teach individuals to read increasingly difficult texts with understanding and fluency.

Guided reading instruction: Action
Guided reading instruction should be fun and engaging for readers. The idea of guided reading instruction is to allow the reader to become enveloped in the story’s elements and in character development. Concentration should be focused on vocabulary, sequencing, predicting, fluency, decoding strategies, making connections with characters and events, summarizing, analyzing, critiquing, re-telling and word meanings. In determining which students should be placed in which groups, the teacher should use some type of assessment. The students should sporadically be re-tested to determine if they should stay in the same group or change groups. If you are looking for ways to help your child become a stronger reader, give us a call at a local LearningRx center or go to www.learningrx.com.

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