Professional Documents
Culture Documents
161 Guided Reading Strategies
161 Guided Reading Strategies
RESEARCH EXCHANGE
Project #161
July 2007
This research was partially funded through a grant from the McDowell Foundation. However, the points of view
and opinions expressed in project documents are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views
of the Foundation.
The purpose of the Dr. Stirling McDowell Foundation for Research into Teaching is to fund research, inquiry and
dissemination of information focusing on instruction (both teaching and learning) in the context of the public
elementary and secondary education system. Specifically, it will:
4) encourage organizations as well as individuals to determine and act in areas of research and inquiry; and
5) encourage experimentation with innovative ideas and methodologies related to teaching and learning.
The Foundation is an independent charitable organization formed by the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation
in 1991. It is governed by a Board of Directors with the assistance of an Advisory Committee of representatives
from the educational and business communities. The selection and evaluation of projects funded by the
Foundation is carried out by a teacher-led Project Review Committee. Inquiries concerning research supported
by the McDowell Foundation may be directed to the following address:
Research Coordinator
Dr. Stirling McDowell Foundation
2317 Arlington Avenue
Saskatoon SK S7J 2H8
Telephone: 1-800-667-7762 or (306) 373-1660
© 2007 by the Dr. Stirling McDowell Foundation for Research into Teaching Inc. Permission is given to use this
work for educational purposes, except that authorization from the original source must be obtained for the use
of any material that appears in the work with credit to another source.
Acknowledgments
First of all, the researchers would like to thank the following individuals for
their support: Shelley Rowein, Director of Holy Family RCSSD #140 for totally
endorsing the project; Darrell Perras, Principal of St. Olivier School for creating an
atmosphere in which teachers have an opportunity to try new ideas and both co-
teaching and cooperative learning are encouraged; Starla Strebinsky, Principal of
Sacred Heart School in Regina for providing the researchers with the opportunity
to see Guided Reading in action within the setting of multi-grade groupings; Lisa
Kuntz, Superintendent of Education for the Holy Family RCSSD for recommending
that the researchers visit Sacred Heart School in the first place, and for teaching
the researchers how to use the computerized Vocabulary and Literacy quizzes from
Renaissance Learning to measure student outcomes; and last but not least,
Lana Bourassa, Educational Assistant at St. Olivier School, for the many
additional hours she spent keyboarding Guided Reading activities and the final
report, as well as downloading books, and compiling and organizing them for
students to read.
Second, thanks also goes to the staff at the Stewart Resource Centre, STF
Building, Saskatoon for lending not only professional training videos, but also many
books on Guided Reading so the researchers could grow professionally.
Third, thank you to the parents of students in Grades Three, Four, and Five at St.
Olivier School for their permission to publish examples of their children’s work and
take photographs of students involved in Guided Reading activities.
Fourth, thank you to all the students who inspired us with their thinking,
discussions, questions and learning.
Last, thank you to the Dr. Stirling McDowell Foundation for Research into
Teaching for providing the grant to make this kind of action research project
possible.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five i
Executive Summary
Four teachers at St. Olivier School in Radville, Saskatchewan, collaborated in order
to identify the best Guided Reading strategies available to improve student
learning out-comes in a variety of subject areas. The objective of this action
research project was to help fill in some of the gaps identified in the Spring 2005
Grade Five provincial reading assessment by developing students’ critical thinking
skills in Grades Three, Four and Five through the teaching of Guided Reading
strategies. The project was both data-driven and student-centered and was
designed to inform teaching practices and improve students’ reading
comprehension.
As part of the researcher training for this project, Guided Reading strategies were
studied in the professional literature, a training video on using Guided Reading
strategies was viewed and discussed, and teachers who successfully use Guided
Reading to enhance critical thinking skills in their classrooms were visited.
When the researchers compiled and evaluated the data, the results demonstrated
not only a marked growth in reading comprehension skills but also a greater ability
to infer in most students.
The researchers’ reflections on the project were also very favorable. The opportunity
to collaborate and learn from each other was a positive experience for the
researchers. They saw the project as a valuable learning opportunity for themselves
and their students, and they plan to apply their new knowledge by continuing to
teach Guided Reading strategies in the future.
ii RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Research Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Research Methodology
Parental Consent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Researcher Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Benchmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Strategy Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
School Visit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Assessment and Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Summary of Data
Student Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Informal Reading Inventory Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Student Survey Results from Grade Five Fantasy Unit . . . . . . . . . . .25
Computerized Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Literary Skills Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Appendices
Appendix 1: Parent Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Appendix 2: Release Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
Appendix 3: Sentence Stems for Before, During and After Reading . .36
Appendix 4: Student Work Samples: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
a) Imagery with Owls in the Family, Grade 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
b) I wonder… I think… with Mice at centre ice, Grade 4 . . . . . . .38
c) Before-, During- and After-Reading Activities
using Legends, Grade 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
d) Student Survey Results from Fantasy Unit, Grade 5 . . . . . . .40
Appendix 5: Guided Reading Evaluation Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five iii
iv RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
Introduction
THE RESEARCHERS
Four teachers from St. Olivier School collaborated on this project. Lori, the
Grade Three teacher, had seventeen years of teaching experience; Jocelyn, the
Student Services teacher and Resource Based Learning Consultant, had eight years
of teaching experience along with eight years of experience as a librarian; Lorrie,
the Grade Five teacher, had eight years of teaching experience; and Sherrill, the
Grade Four teacher, had five years of teaching experience. The total number of
years of teaching experience was 38 years. This was their first action research
project.
Full support to collaborate on this project, in order to develop students’ literacy and
thinking skills, was provided by both our Director of Education and our school
principal.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 1
Background
WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION AND CONTEXT FOR
THIS PROJECT?
The idea for this research project came about as a result of other research that was
being conducted both provincially and division-wide. At the provincial level in
Saskatchewan, results of the 2005 AFL Reading Assessment: Holy Family RCSSD
140 – Grade Five Report indicated that students’ inferencing skills were lower than
other reading skills.
A closer look at the “Detailed Item Analysis” from the “Multiple-choice Test
Results” on pages 14 and 15 revealed specific areas in which students experienced
difficulty at the inferential level. The table below was created for this report, in the
order the items were presented.
2 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
RESEARCH AT THE DIVISION LEVEL
Within the Holy Family School Division, two other action research projects were
already underway. Sheila Dosch at St. Mary’s School in Estevan was investigating
Guided Reading to Improve Reading Instruction in a Grade One Classroom while a
group of primary teachers, from across the division, were involved in Kindergarten
to Grade Three: Improved Literacy Success Through Assessment and Evaluation.
Both focused on improving students’ literacy outcomes. The goal of the Holy Family
School Division’s Kindergarten to Grade Three Reading Initiative was that 95% of
students would be reading at grade level or higher by the end of Grade Three,
starting with the Kindergarten class of 2005/2006.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 3
Research Question
How can Guided Reading strategies be used to improve students’
critical thinking skills in Grades Three, Four and Five?
4 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
Literature Review
WHAT IS GUIDED READING?
Guided Reading is a direct method of teaching employed with a small group of
students to explicitly teach a variety of reading strategies through teacher
modeling and student practice using materials at the independent level.
• What did the literature say about using Guided Reading strategies to
teach higher level thinking skills at these specific grade levels?
• What had already been done?
• What still remained to be done?
• What ideas could be implemented with students at St. Olivier School?
A review of the literature began with an online search, during Easter break of 2006.
Thanks to a National Library Week Trial, whole ranges of educational databases
from Thomson Gale were available to search. A huge body of literature was
available. Several attempts to redefine the search terms, and narrow the search led
to some valuable hits.
The first project, Improving students’ inferential and literal reading comprehension
(1999), involved third, fourth, and fifth grade students from the mid-western United
States. The project’s literature review emphasized:
The researchers, Fabrikant, Siekierski and Williams (1999), also identified some
probable causes as to why students had low literal and low inferencing skills,
including:
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 5
• poor word recognition skills,
• limited vocabulary,
• failure to activate prior knowledge,
• limited life experiences, and
• difficulty communicating thoughts.
They collected data from teacher observations and results from the Star
standardized test. A 16-week intervention program that built on previously
taught skills was created. Direct teaching of specific strategies included teaching
Reading five days a week in 60 to 90 minute blocks. Strategies included:
The Accelerated Reader program was also implemented along with the incentive
of eating dessert with the teacher, after reading goals had been met.
In their literature review the researchers quoted Dole, Duffy, Pearson and Roehler
(1990) from Technical Report No. 143, Developing expertise in reading
comprehension: what should be taught? How should it be taught? from the Center
for the Study of Reading at the University of Illinois, as saying,
Fabrikant, Siekierski and Williams found that both the students’ instructional
reading levels as well as their grade equivalent scores increased with direct
teaching. Students’ intrinsic motivation to read also improved.
The other action research project that we found of special interest was Increasing
reading comprehension through the use of Guided Reading (Anderson, O’Leary,
Schuler and Wright 2002). Anderson, O’Leary, Schuler and Wright implemented
Guided Reading with first grade to fourth grade students in four different schools
in the mid-western United States. When the teachers were surveyed, and the
students were tested with the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests (1989) and end of
selection (story) tests, the researchers found students’ reading comprehension was
weak, and there was inconsistent use of fall and spring reading tests, and end of
selection (story) testing.
6 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
Students were taught how to use graphic organizers to record the main character,
the setting, the problem, the solution, and the resolution of a story. Afterwards,
students were given end of selection (story) tests and their reading comprehension
skills were measured with the Qualitative Reading Inventory (1995) in second and
third grade. Anderson, O’Leary, Schuler, and Wright concluded that consistent use
of graphic organizers, and an effective Guided Reading program increased
students’ comprehension skills.
Several journal articles also shed some light on other ways to improve reading
comprehension using higher level thinking skills. Ketch (2005) argued that
conversation can be a vehicle to practice and learn comprehension skills. In
research conducted on proficient readers, seven common strategies that good
readers use to comprehend text were identified:
Five common formats used for classroom conversations were: 1) whole group, 2)
small group, 3) Literature Circles, 4) think/pair/share, and 5) individual
conferences between teachers and students.
After over 30 years observing students using the strategies, Ketch came to the
following conclusion: Students actively engaged in the conversation process
can, over time, become reflective critical thinkers.
Applegate, Quinn and Applegate (2002) promoted the idea of creating thoughtful
literacy by studying different kinds of open-ended questions, and thinking
levels used on eight of the most widely used informal reading inventories (IRIs).
Four types of open-ended questions were classified: literal, low-level inference, high-
level inference, and response items. Two narrative passages and comprehension
questions from pre-primer through sixth grade were analyzed. Narrative passages
were used because the researchers felt that “higher-level items are more likely to
be found in response to narrative text.”
The researchers were particularly interested in what type of message the kind of
questions asked on IRIs conveyed to students about reading. They found that most
of the questions on IRIs (91%) were recall or low-level inferences. On the most
demanding IRIs, less than a fifth of the questions required more than basic
recall or low-level thinking. The researchers argued,
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 7
The researchers called for an assessment revolution in reading, with a need for the
assessment and teaching of thoughtful responses to text in classrooms, rather than
literal ones. Approaches such as Literature Circles and response journals with
modeling were recommended to promote thoughtful literacy. They concluded that,
Primeaux (2000) studied the use of explicit reader response instruction with nine
sixth grade struggling readers in one mid-west middle school, using a social
constructivist approach. Simply stated, in this approach, learners’ strengths were
emphasized; the approach was student-centered; students learned through
interaction with others in the environment; and assessment was designed to inform
instruction.
8 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
The researcher discovered that “[t]he sixth-grade struggling readers involved in
open-ended reader response instruction actually found it easier and more
interesting than their previous reading instruction, which sought one predetermined
right answer” (p. 540).
Block (1993) wrote about the effects of a program designed to improve thinking
strategies, reading comprehension achievement, self-esteem, and critical
thinking abilities. Based on the work of Baron and Sternberg; Beyer; Collins; de
Bono; Marzano, Jones and Brandt; and Paul, eight categories were identified. They
were:
1) basic cognitive operations,
2) fundamental thinking processes,
3) decision-making strategies,
4) problem-solving strategies,
5) metacognitive strategies,
6) creative thinking strategies,
7) strategies for working effectively with groups, and
8) strategies for studying and working.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 9
After a teacher explanation and modeling of a thinking and reading comprehension
strategy, students selected children’s literature from eight genres (fiction, nonfiction,
poetry, autobiographies, biographies, folk literature, periodicals, and science
fiction) in order to read and apply the strategy. Students were given one-page
thinking guides to put on their desks as they read. The guides had a chart and a
diagram of a thinking strategy. Students discussed how to use the thinking guide
while reading and in their own lives. Finally, students set their own reading
objectives and self-assessed their use of the strategy, and how they could apply it
outside school.
The 178 students involved in the study did better than the 174 controls on reading
comprehension standardized tests, on transferring thinking strategies outside of
school, as well as on self-esteem, and on critical and creative thinking measures.
• providing explicit instruction about how, when, and why the strategy can
be used,
• modeling by using a think-aloud, allowing for practice, and having
students articulate their use of the strategy,
• asking probing questions, before reading,
• using story maps for fiction, and
• using lists of main ideas so students can fill in supporting details for non-
fiction.
One source discussed the use of specific anchor lessons and teacher modeling
to teach young children to infer, based on the work of Keene and Zimmerman
(1997) in Mosaic of thought: Teaching comprehension in a reader’s workshop,
published by Heinemann. The source was Reading with meaning: Teaching
comprehension in the primary grades by Miller (2002). Through direct instruction,
students were taught how to:
10 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
• a poem, on one side – what the words mean, on the other side – I’m
inferring. . ., below, as well as
• questions we have – answers to these questions.
Many student writing and drawing samples were used effectively to demonstrate
how primary students could be taught to infer.
However, a lot of common themes were evident in this literature review. Many of
the approaches involved the use of before reading, during reading, and after reading
activities. Instruction was explicit. The teacher modeled the strategy. Students were
taught when and how to use the strategy, and were also given opportunities to
practice and reflect on their use of the strategy. Instruction was also student-
centered. Reading materials were at the students’ reading levels and based on
students’ interests. Critical thinking skills were used to engage students in
reading, writing, listening, and discussions about their ideas.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 11
Research Methodology
PARENTAL CONSENT
The researchers wrote a letter to inform parents of students in Grades Three, Four
and Five about their intent to conduct an action research project on Guided
Reading (see Appendix 1). The letter also reassured parents that the results for
individual students would be kept confidential. The information was shared
with parents at an Open House, early in September 2006. Parents were also asked
to sign a permission form to release student work and to allow photographs of their
child(ren) to be taken (see Appendix 2). The letter and permission form were sent
home to any parents who were unable to attend the Open House. Parental
support was unanimous. Interestingly enough, one high school teacher commented
that if the researchers were able to teach students to infer, she would like us to
share that information since she was trying to teach the same skills to middle years
students. Her comment raised the question:
If students are taught how to infer now, will they be able to later on,
when the material is more difficult?
RESEARCHER TRAINING
As researchers, how did we begin the process of learning about Guided Reading
strategies? The researcher-training portion of the project had five main components:
12 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
• word sorts, and
• anticipation guides on Tape 2.
Uses of the strategies were demonstrated using a variety of fiction and non-fiction
texts. Linda Hoyt effectively emphasized that reading is thinking and showed how
the strategies could be utilized to improve reading comprehension by stimulating
deeper, more critical thinking.
During the viewing, the researchers stopped the tapes, made notes, discussed each
of the strategies, and began to consider which ones they would implement in their
classrooms. Several questions were raised:
BENCHMARKS
Students were given the Star test in August 2006 to help determine their reading
levels and grade equivalents. Testing occurred again before each of the reporting
periods in November, February/March, and May to follow up these initial
benchmarks.
STRATEGY INSTRUCTION
Explicit teaching of the strategies was the next focus of the research project. After
the researcher training, each researcher chose to focus on selected strategies that
would best meet the needs of her students and fit with the work in the units being
taught in the classroom. The individual approach each researcher took was
discussed and compared during reflection meetings. Highlights were as follows.
The Keyword strategy was used to teach students to identify key words or
phrases. It was especially useful when students were reading Science-related
information sheets or doing Math story problems. Students were asked to
highlight key words or phrases after reading the information over once or twice.
Another strategy the researcher focused on was teaching students to visualize the
written word in their minds. A poster was displayed in each classroom to remind
students to read and then to stop and make a picture. The novel, Owls in the
Family, was read chapter by chapter to the students. After listening and reading
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 13
the chapter, students illustrated a scene from it (see Appendix 4a: Imagery with
Owls in the Family). The novel was brought to life. Students enjoyed illustrating an
event from the chapter, and the book became very real to them. Every student was
able to complete this task; artistic ability did not matter. As visualizing continued
throughout the year, students became very adept at making pictures in their
minds. It was a valuable reading comprehension strategy to make the written word
become real.
After seeing the leveled books available through subscriptions from the web site,
Reading a-z, used for Guided Reading, the Grade Three researcher used the
stories, lesson plans, worksheets including story maps, and the Reader Quick
Check with the Grade Three class as a whole, instead of using them with small
groups. An Educational Assistant helped prepare the materials. The students found
the books and the variety of accompanying activities interesting and fun to do.
Students completed these activities easily and independently. The Reader Quick
Check was an excellent instrument for assessing reading comprehension including
higher level thinking skills such as inferencing and synthesizing. These printable
books and teaching materials were a very successful addition to a folktale unit.
14 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
THE TEACHING APPROACH IN GRADE FOUR
Direct Guided Reading instruction was the focus for a novel study on Stone fox by
John Reynolds Gardiner (1980). Students participated in a variety of activities
designed to promote higher level thinking skills from Literature and critical
thinking, Book 1 by John Carratello. Students read up to Chapters 5 and 6, and
then did an activity about being a responsible person. In the novel, they learned
that the main character had many responsibilities so then the students had to
connect the book to their own lives. Students had to think of how and in what
ways they were responsible. They also had to write if they thought they could care
for their Grandpa like the character Little Willy had to and answer why or why not.
Then they had to think of five ways that they could earn $500, like Little Willy. The
ideas had to be real ways and not “make-believe.” The students also had to write
a prediction of whom they thought would win the big race, and what they
thought would happen. Then they read the book to find out. Afterwards, they
watched the video, Stone Fox. Students recorded the similarities and differences
between the book and the video.
After reading, the Grade Four students filled in a Literature Log. This page
included the following stems: the best part was…, the worst part was…, the main
problem was…, problem was solved when…, my favorite character was…, my least
favorite character was…, I laughed when…, and I cried when….
Following the novel study, the Grade Four students’ comprehension levels were
assessed on the computer in a variety of ways. Students did an Accelerated Reader
quiz with ten questions on the novel to help measure their basic comprehension
skills. Then they did a Vocabulary quiz, and something new – a Literacy Skills quiz.
The Vocabulary test had five multiple-choice type questions on the meaning of a
variety of words from the novel. On the Literacy skills quiz, students were asked
to answer 12 questions. There were four categories on the Stone Fox Literacy Skills
quiz, each with three questions:
1) initial understanding,
2) literacy analysis,
3) inferential comprehension, and
4) constructing meaning.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 15
Inferential comprehension included comparing and contrasting, drawing
conclusions, extending meaning, making inferences, making predictions, and
recognizing cause and effect. This was the first time a class at St. Olivier School
had done a Literacy Skills quiz. Questions went beyond basic recall to challenge
students to think more deeply. The Class Summary Report provided useful
information that will be discussed in the Data Summary section of this report.
INSERT PHOTO #3
16 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
HOW WOULD STUDENTS REACT TO BEING GROUPED ACCORDING TO ABILITY?
The researcher explained what kinds of books and the specific kinds of activities
students would be doing. For example, the Warriors were students who liked longer
chapter books with challenging vocabulary and who created more detailed kinds
of writing. The White Buffalos read shorter books including a few collections of
creation stories with some new words; they enjoyed shorter writing tasks. The
Wigwams were those students who liked reading a short story, learning a few new
words, and who were capable of writing good answers with fewer details. The
students readily accepted these explanations, and they were keen to get started.
Because the Guided Reading groups were small, the materials for this unit
consisted of picture books borrowed from the Public Library system. Students were
given books to read at their independent level, ranging from Grade 3.3 to 5.9. The
paintings on the covers were very appealing. Checklists were created for each legend
so students could self-monitor the tasks they had completed. Tasks were
developed for before, during and after reading. These tasks provided opportunities
for lots of discussion, vocabulary building, writing answers to higher-level
questions, and creating products such as songs, drawings, and puppet plays.
• make predictions by giving evidence from the text and picture clues,
• relate legends to their own experience,
• apply what they had learned about a character to their own lives,
• raise questions as they read,
• identify the author’s message,
• determine meaning by reading and writing words in context,
• draw conclusions at the end of the legends,
• evaluate favorite legends and paintings, and
• answer lots of why do you think… questions.
This line of questioning kept students interested and challenged. Discussions were
lively and students had to think more critically. The researcher took turns
working with each group, and observations were recorded.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 17
Each group read three legends, and took Accelerated Reader tests on the books,
when available, at the end of the activities. The unit concluded with a lunch
featuring First Nations food. Some students retold a few of the legends they had
read by performing puppet shows on the last day of school for students in
Grades One through Three. Students in the audience were asked to infer what the
author’s message was at the end of each legend. Each legend was well received by
the audience.
The Grade Five researcher continued to develop students’ critical and creative
thinking and inferencing skills in a variety of areas across the curriculum
beginning with a cross-curricular Heroes unit. Students did four lessons from the
book, Heroes: 21 true stories of courage and honor – with exercises for developing
reading comprehension and critical thinking skills (1999) by Henry Billings and
Melissa Billings from Jamestown Publishers.
According to Heroes, “When you combine your own experience and information
from a text to draw a conclusion that is not directly stated in that text, you are
making an inference” (p.58).
18 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
• identifying the main idea of each story,
• recalling details,
• working with new vocabulary,
• summarizing and paraphrasing,
• responding to critical thinking exercises,
• raising questions, and
• making personal responses to learn about heroes.
In English Language Arts, a Guided Reading approach was employed using short
stories, poetry, and essays on Canadian and world heroes.
In Guidance, students made personal reflections on the Stations of the Cross and
drew posters to represent each station.
SCHOOL VISIT
In January 2007, three of the researchers, armed with questions, visited Sacred
Heart, an inner-city school in Regina, to observe a highly successful Guided
Reading program in action. The program was intensive and involved all of the
students in Kindergarten to Grade Eight. The program was facilitated by 18
dedicated teachers and three educational assistants and occurred four days a week.
Benchmarking was conducted three times a year. Students were grouped
according to their reading levels and expected to improve one reading level per term.
Reading materials consisted of benchmarking tools, books, and activity sheets
downloaded from the Reading a-z website. The enthusiasm of all the participants
was clearly evident.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 19
Sacred Heart Community School, Regina, Saskatchewan taken by
Lorraine Brecht.
Reprinted with permission.
After observing Guided Reading at Sacred Heart, the researchers met with two of
the teachers to get answers to any remaining questions. Seeing first-hand how a
Guided Reading program using multi-grade groupings was conducted was an
invaluable experience. Practical ideas about how to implement it were gathered and
continued enthusiasm for the project was generated.
We also assessed students’ daily work, i.e., their writing, which included story maps
and other graphic organizers, responses to written questions, response journals,
and interviews, their speaking skills in discussions, oral reading, and retellings, and
their representational skills in artwork. A Guided Reading Evaluation checklist was
also created (see Appendix 5).
20 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
Summary of Data
STUDENT INTERVIEWS
WHAT WAS THE STUDENT SAMPLE LIKE? WHAT WERE THE
STUDENTS’ INTERESTS? HOW DID THEY SEE THEMSELVES AS
READERS? HOW DID THE GRADE THEY WERE IN AFFECT THEIR
PERCEPTIONS?
In September 2006, the students in Grades Three, Four and Five were given the
Student Interview, Kindergarten – Fourth Grade from The Critical reading inventory
(2004) to gather some background information, including students’ perceptions of
themselves as readers. Students wrote their responses on an interview sheet. An
analysis of their responses followed, and the results are summarized below.
There was an even balance of boys and girls in the sample, with a total of 22 boys
(one boy moved before the March 2007 reading assessment) and 21 girls.
Reading was the students’ third favorite home activity, rated below watching TV
and playing on the computer. Students explained that they like reading at home
because “the book is interesting, reading teaches you stuff, I’m good at reading, I
like reading because it’s exciting, and I relax.”
The number of students who were read to at home dropped as the students got
older. The majority of Grade Three students were read to at bedtime, while the
majority of Grade Four and Five students were not. While it was parents who read
to most of the Grade Three students, a grandparent read to several of the
students, and a brother or sister read to a few.
Whether students liked to read or not depended on the grade they were in. The
majority of students in Grade Three and Four liked to read, while only about half
the students in Grade Five liked to read.
There was a wide range of favorite books and authors that depended on the grade
students were in. The most popular books in Grade Three were the Magic Tree
House series and Junie B. Jones; in Grade Four students preferred fantasy,
animal stories, and books by Lemony Snicket; and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter
books were the favorites in Grade Five.
According to the majority of the students, no matter what grade they were in, the
hardest part of reading was reading words that were hard or long. Other
difficulties listed were taking an Accelerated Reader test, finding the perfect
book, understanding a book, the fine print in a book, pages that are too long, and
the middle of a book. Several students indicated that nothing about reading was
hard for them.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 21
When students were asked what they do when they come to a word they do not
know, they gave a variety of responses. The majority of students indicated they
sound the word out. This response was followed by those who ask someone for
help, usually an adult and sometimes a friend, those who re-read the same
sentence, those who tried their best; those who split the word into groups or broke
it up, those who looked at the word, those who thought, and those who kept
reading or skipped the word. The Grade Five students tended to list more
strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words than the younger students.
When students were asked where they got the books they read at home, most of
them recorded the school library as their source of books. Other popular responses
were classroom book orders, gifts, stores, a bookshelf at home, siblings, and last
on the list, the public library, which was mentioned by only a few students.
When students were asked what they liked most about school, reading was
among the top five things listed, regardless of the grade the students were in.
The majority of students in all three grades thought that reading would be
important when they were older. However, several students in Grade Three and Five
thought that it would not be important. A few students responded to this
question with “maybe,” “sometimes” or “a little.”
Initially, the researchers decided to use a new assessment, The Critical Reading
Inventory (2004), with students as a benchmark in September. Substitute
teachers, a Grade Twelve student doing work experience, and an Educational
Assistant administered Word lists and passages. However, after reviewing the
results, the researchers found that the passages were much more difficult than the
ones used before and they questioned some of the choices in the passages that the
students were given. Deciding that this approach did not assess the students fairly,
the researchers chose to use inventories that were familiar to them instead.
22 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
In November, with the support of release time, the researchers administered
informal reading inventories of their own choosing. Narrative and/or informative
passages from the Basic Reading Inventory (2001) and the Diagnostic Reading
program (1989) were used. Each passage had a few inferencing questions.
Students were reassessed in March and May. Inferring results were graphed to
compare the students’ results in November and May. (See graphs for each grade
below.)
Note: The sources of the passages were as follows: The Noise – Form B, Johns
(2001), Cricket Song – Form D, Johns (2001), A Visit to Earth – 3B-2,
Alberta Education (1989), Just One More – 4A-N, Alberta Education
(1989) and Jen’s Rotten Day – 4D-N, Alberta Education (1989).
Grade Three students read three narrative passages in November and two
narrative passages in May. The percentage of students who were inferring in
November improved significantly when the passage was read orally. A total of 88%
of the students succeeded in making inferences compared to 38% and 25%
when the passage was read silently. The percentage increased to a total of 94% of
students making inferences successfully in May on the passage read orally.
However, the percentage of students inferring in May rose significantly to 81% on
the passage read silently.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 23
Note: The sources of the passages were as follows: Just One More – 4A-N,
Alberta Education (1989), Grizzly Bears – 4D-I, Alberta Education (1989)
and Jen’s Rotten Day – 4D-N, Alberta Education (1989).
Note: The sources of the passages were as follows: Through the Storm – 5A-N,
Alberta Education (1989), Breakaway – 5B-N, Alberta Education (1989),
Roller Skating – 5C-I, Alberta Education (1989) and Two Famous Brothers
– Form LE I, Johns (2001).
24 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
Grade Five students read one informational passage orally in November; and one
narrative passage orally, and two informational passages silently in May. Results
varied from a total of 57% of students inferring in November to a total of 86, 50 and
86% in May, depending on the passage.
COMPUTERIZED TESTING
Students did well on their Accelerated Reader tests after learning Guided Reading
strategies. The tests included novel study books and Native legends. Results
from the Literacy Quiz for the novel, Stone Fox, provided detailed information about
Grade Four students’ inferring skills, including where the students were successful
and where improvement was needed. These results are shown in the table below.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 25
Researcher Reflections
What did the researchers learn from collaborating on this project?
• The project proved to me we are good Reading teachers willing to learn new
strategies to improve and build on what we are already doing everyday in our
classrooms.
• Perhaps our greatest resource for teaching Reading already exists in our
school… the knowledge that we all have in teaching Reading.
• I do believe that critical and creative thinking can be taught – just to the
mind that is developed and ready for it.
• Some children were excellent readers; but were not comfortable or confident
in creative or critical thinking. They appeared to be better at learning factual
information rather than using personal judgment or taking guesses at
things.
• It is important that each teacher collect his/her own data with each child
when screening the children.
• Having release time to assess students and to meet with the other
researchers was very beneficial.
• It is time consuming to organize Guided Reading initially – creating units,
gathering materials and determining student groupings.
• One highlight of this project was to visit Sacred Heart School in Regina.
• The opportunity to discuss resources, benchmarks, screens, M.I.R. (Major
Integrated Resources) and assessments was in itself invaluable.
• To see the before, during and after posters hanging in the classrooms
and being used was an affirmation of the many years I spent on the
Saskatchewan Learning K-5 ELA renewal team.
• Because of the visit, all my fears of how to implement this strategy were
alleviated and I have the confidence to immerse my class into it.
• I’m finding resources more readily now.
• The use of technology to measure comprehension skills, and specifically the
ability to inference was a valuable tool that not only kept the students
motivated, and provided immediate feedback; but created diagnostic
printouts that could be used to inform teaching practices as well.
• The kinds of questions I ask now are more open-ended, and encourage
students to dig deeper, and think more critically.
• The process of learning about the theory of Guided Reading strategies
with the other researchers and implementing a Guided Reading program was
an exciting one.
26 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
• Teaching a small class of 11 students originally and then only 10 students,
after one moved, was definitely an advantage to pilot a researcher-made
Guided Reading program.
• Teaching students to infer by giving evidence from the text and/or picture
clues when they are young provides a good foundation for the kinds of higher
level thinking they will be expected to do when they are older.
• Teaching Guided Reading strategies really helped students to develop their
vocabulary skills and to read words in context.
• The opinions students presented during their discussions were interesting
and helped them to understand other students’ points of view.
• The more students predicted what would happen next, the more students
learned to take risks.
• Guided Reading helps the teacher to get to know students on a more
personal level, especially when students were given lots of opportunities to
relate stories to their own experience, and it provided insights into students’
successes, interests, fears, etc.
• Some students were better able to relate stories to movies they had seen,
rather than to other stories.
• The structure provided by Guided Reading makes teacher expectations very
clear.
• The skill of reading short paragraphs silently in a group needed to be
taught to some students who are used to answering a question after
reading aloud as a class.
• Grouping students by their independent reading levels meant everyone in
the class was included and could experience success in Reading.
• This experience has proven to be beneficial not only to myself as an
educator, but also to my students who have experienced growth in their
critical and creative thinking skills due to the exposure of different strategies
and CCT questions across the curriculum.
• Next year, I plan to try and implement small Guided Reading groups in other
themed units.
• I would like to use the Literacy Quizzes next year for novel studies in my
classroom.
• We can learn from each other, pool our ideas together, discuss what works
and doesn’t work, identify what needs to be changed, and teach kids to read
so that they come to love reading and will become hooked on reading.
• This research project has been an excellent learning opportunity, and
very worthwhile.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 27
Conclusions
The use of Guided Reading strategies to teach students to infer and think
critically was just one of a multitude of approaches available. The researchers found
that cross-curricular (Language Arts, Math, Social, Science, and Guidance)
critical thinking questions, assignments, and tasks when combined with Guided
Reading strategies, could indeed increase students’ critical thinking and inferring
skills. In order to be successful, Guided Reading strategies needed to be taught
explicitly and modeled by the teacher, and the students needed to be given lots of
opportunities to practice them.
The way Guided Reading strategies were taught was very individual, depending on
several factors:
• the researcher (level of experience, comfort level, and focus of the teaching
units),
• the students (their reading levels, interests, ability to work independently,
and skills in cooperative group work),
• classroom organization (what tasks the other students were doing, e.g.,
keyboarding, Creative Writing or participating in another Guided Reading
group),
• the availability of materials (access to multiple copies and books at students’
independent reading levels, and availability of computer accessible materials),
• time (a period of at least 30 minutes, more than one day in a row or in a
block of several weeks, and enough time to download, print and assemble
books), and
• scheduling (overlapping of the timetable or flexible timetabling, particularly
where teachers wanted to team or co-teach).
It definitely took a lot of time to learn the theory behind Guided Reading and the
wide variety of strategies available to implement it, as well as prepare the units and
gather, create, and organize the necessary reading materials. The improvement in
student outcomes made the effort worthwhile.
The researchers concluded that this action research project was just a beginning
and they were very much in an awareness/exploration phase. They inferred
that their work with Guided Reading strategies would continue in 2007/2008, as
they shared what they had learned with other teachers and continued to apply the
strategies in their teaching practice. They expected to continue building on this
knowledge and applying it in the years ahead.
28 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
Limitations
The research was not without limitations related to the administration of the
informal reading inventories, the timing of the school visit, as well as when and how
Guided Reading strategies were taught. These limitations are described in more
detail below.
1) The administration of The Critical Reading Inventory could have been better
handled. Overall, the researchers were dissatisfied with how the passages
were administered. For instance, difficult questions were not repeated or
rephrased, and foreign names were not told to the students. The passages
were much longer than the passages administered in the past, and the
retelling portion of the inventory took more time. Students were not asked
to expand on their retellings through further questions, such as “then
what happened?” or “what else?”
2) The informal reading inventories were not used consistently. The researchers
administered passages from two different inventories (the Diagnostic Reading
Program and the Basic Reading Inventory) and some used two types of
passages (narrative and informational), but not consistently. The graphs
helped the researchers to see how many passages had been administered,
from what reading inventories, and the kinds of passages used.
3) The visit to Sacred Heart School would have been better organized for the
fall as planned rather than in January. This timing would have given the
researchers more practical information about teaching Guided Reading
strategies sooner.
4) The Guided Reading Author Study in Grade 4 should have been completed
before the Star test and the last informal reading inventories were
administered at the end of May.
5) Two of the researchers used a whole class approach to teaching Guided
Reading strategies, while the other two used a small group approach.
Multi-grade groupings were not attempted, given the number of siblings that
read at similar levels. Flexible groupings were also not used.
6) Parent questionnaires were not part of the research, as originally planned.
Parent reflections would have been a useful way to involve parents more in
their children’s reading and thinking.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 29
Recommendations
This action research project led the researchers to formulate the following
recommendations:
30 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
References
Assessment Tools Alberta Education. (1989). Diagnostic reading program. Edmonton, AB: Alberta
Education, Student Evaluation Branch.
Johns, J. L. (2001). Basic reading inventory: Pre-primer through grade twelve and
early literacy assessments (Eighth Edition). Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt.
Books Block, C. C., & Pressley, M. (Editors). (2002). Comprehension instruction: research-
based best practices. New York, NY: The Guildford Press.
Fogarty, R. (1994). The mindful school: How to teach for metacognitive reflection.
Palatine, IL: IRI/ Skylight.
Fountas, I. C. & Pinnell, G. S. (1996). Guided reading: good first teaching for all
children. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Haack, P. (1999). Guided reading to help your students become better readers
(Grades 3-6). Bellevue, WA: Bureau of Education & Research.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 31
McLaughlin, M. & Allen, M. B. (2002). Guided comprehension: A teaching model for
grades 3-8. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Patterson, L., Santa, C. M., Short, K. G., & Smith, K. (1993). Teachers are researchers:
reflection and action. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Widmer, K., & Buxton, S. (2004). Workshops that work! 30 days of mini-lessons that
help launch and establish all-important routines for an effective reading and
writing workshop. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Zimmerman, S., & Hutchins, C. (2003). “Weaving sense into words: key 4:
drawing inferences,” Keys to comprehension: how to help your kids read it
and get it! New York, NY: Three Rivers.
Curriculum Guide Saskatchewan Education. (January 2002). English language arts: a curriculum guide
for the elementary level (K-5). Regina, SK: Saskatchewan Education.
Journal Articles Applegate, M. D., Quinn K. B., & Applegate, A. J. (2002). Levels of thinking
required by comprehension questions in informal inventories: Informal
reading inventories may not be the tool of assessing higher level thinking
skills. The reading teacher, 56 (2), 174-181.
Bird, M.D. (1989). Helping students think and read more critically. Journal of
Reading, 32 (8), 743-745.
32 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
Ketch, A. (2005). Conversation the comprehension connection. Reading teacher, 59
(1), 8-13.
Pitts, E. T. (1991). But teacher! You can teach Johnny to read. Reading
Improvement, 28 (4), 283-286.
Pressley, M., Johnson, C. J., Symons, S., McGoldrick, J. A., & Kurita, J. A.
(1989). Strategies that improve children’s memory and comprehension of
text. The School elementary journal, 90 (1), 3-32.
Downie, M.A. & Downie, J. (1984). Allison’s ghost. Scarborough, ON: Nelson
Canada.
Hunter, M. (1975). A stranger came ashore. New York, NY: Harper Trophy.
Mowat, F. (1961). Owls in the family. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart.
Research Reports 2005 AFL reading assessment: Holy Family RCSSD 140-Grade Five Report.
Anderson, T., O’Leary, D., Schuler, K. & Wright, L. (2002). Increasing reading
comprehension through the use of guided reading. Master of Arts Action
Research Project. Chicago, IL: Saint Xavier University & Sky Light.
Teaching Materials Billings, H. & Billings, M. (1999). Heroes: 21 true stories of courage and honor – with
exercises for developing reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.
Lincolnwood, IL: Jamestown Publishers. Jamestown Publishers.
Carratello, J. (1984). Literature and critical thinking: book 1. Huntington Beach, CA:
Teacher Created Materials.
Hoogeboom, S. & Goodnow, J. (1987). The problem solver 3: activities for learning
problem-solving strategies: Mountain View, CA: Creative Publications.
Solski, R. (2000). Lest we forget, grades 4-6: Napanee, ON: S & S Learning Materials
Video Hoyt, L. & Forman, K. (2002). Instructional strategies for guided reading that
enhance students’ reading comprehension grades 3-6: video training
program. Bellevue, WA: Bureau of Education & Research.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 33
Appendix 1: Parent Letter
September 12, 2006
Dear Parents/Guardians:
This letter is to let you know about an exciting project we are involved in during
the 2006/2007 school year. Four teachers at St. Olivier School are teaming up to
do an action research project. The project is called, “Guided Reading Strategies
to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five.”
The project is sponsored by the Dr. Stirling McDowell Foundation for Research into
Teaching. A grant of several thousand dollars has been received to fund the project.
The purpose is to identify the best Guided Reading strategies to improve student
learning in a variety of subject areas. Guided Reading involves direct instruction
on specific reading strategies. The project will focus on higher level thinking
skills including making inferences or reading “between the lines.”
Teachers will study Reading methods and strategies by reading articles and
books, watching training videos, and by visiting other classrooms where teachers
use Guided Reading to enhance critical thinking skills.
Students’ reading levels will be measured; strategies taught; and student and
teacher surveys used to measure growth in students’ critical thinking skills.
Data will be compiled, evaluated and the results shared. The results will be
published by the McDowell Foundation.
All students in Grade Three, Four and Five will be participating. A parental
permission form is attached that explains how the collected data will be used.
We look forward to working closely with you this year to improve student learning.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Olson
Mrs. Larsen
Mrs. Bolton
Mrs. Verhelst
34 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
Appendix 2: Release Form
Release Form
for
Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking
Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
I hereby authorize St. Olivier School to use the following with my permission:
I understand that names of all students and parents participating in the project
will be kept confidential.
Name _____________________________________________________________
Address ___________________________________________________________
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 35
Appendix 3: Sentence Stems for Before,
During and After Reading
BEFORE READING DURING READING AFTER READING
• I wonder if… • The message is… • My first reaction was…
• I already know that… • The big idea is… • What I learned was…
• This reminds me of… • The author believes… • I learned…
• This relates to… • The author’s view of the world • This text was about…
is…
• Because of the title I think… • The overall message was…
• An important key word in this
• The title of this text makes me passage is… • The main idea is…
think of…
• The idea of this sentence is… • The most important message
• I want to answer these is…
questions… • The purpose of this text is to…
• So the point is…
• I think that I will learn… • The idea that I’m getting is…
• I thought…
• I want to know… • I experienced this once when…
• I felt…
• I want to know if… • If…, then…
• This could be more effective if…
• Because of the text, I think… • I need to listen again to the part
where… • I do not like… because…
• Because of the pictures, I
think… • I need to skim this part to • I would add or delete…
learn… • This is important and relevant
• I think the author will say…
• I got lost because… because…
36 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
Appendix 4: Student Work Samples
A) IMAGERY WITH OWLS IN THE FAMILY, GRADE 3
ST. OLIVER SCHOOL
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 37
Appendix 4: Student Work Samples
D) STUDENT SURVEY RESULTS FROM FANTASY UNIT, GRADE 5
1. Did you like the Fantasy Literature Circle unit?
Yes (11) A little bit (1) Kind of (1)
a) Why?
• I like being in groups and the book and the activities.
• I got to read a good book with friends and we got to share opinions.
• I got to work in a group and I got to tell what I predicted and how I think
the story is going to end.
• It was fun working in groups and answering some of the questions.
• We got to work in groups and the book was an adventure.
• It took me to a different place.
• It was about a ghost and I think ghosts are cool.
• It was fun because we were in groups and I liked doing the projects.
• I like fantasy stuff.
b) Why not?
• The part I didn’t like was the part where we had to answer the questions
and do the summary.
2. Did you like using the Before, During and After cards for our reading
assignments?
Yes (4) Okay (20) Kind of (1) Not really (4) No (1)
a) Why?
• I got to hear what everybody else predicts and I got to tell what I
predicted.
• They gave a good picture of what might happen in the book.
• You got to share your answer with the class.
• I improved on answering questions.
• It helps you think and listen a little better.
b) Why not?
• I wasn’t really good at it and maybe I could of tried harder.
• Sometimes I didn’t know what to say.
• Some of the questions I didn’t get.
• They kinda confused me.
• I can’t answer some of them.
• I wanted to keep on reading and not stop.
• It didn’t help.
40 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
3. Did writing or drawing in your A. R. duotang help you to understand and to
remember what you read better?
Yes (6) A little bit (1) Not really (4).
a) Why?
• It’s a really handy thing.
• I like to remember things by pictures.
• It made me remember because I wrote it down.
• But we didn’t get enough time to fill them out.
• Because some of the stuff I didn’t get.
• Before you take a test you can look at it and see what you read.
• It’s kind of like studying for your A. R. test.
• Some of the stuff I didn’t get.
• It did help me understand and remember the book.
• It was mostly just fun to keep track of the stories.
b) Why not?
• I just know the answers (I do not know why).
• There are hard words and I read slower than everyone else.
• Usually I can remember what I read the last time so I didn’t really need
it.
• It just stopped us from reading.
• I already picture it in my head and make predictions in my head.
• All it did was remind me of what happened in the chapters.
b) Why not?
• Sometimes it hurts my eyes.
• I don’t have 50 points (on A. R.).
• I haven’t reached my 25 points yet.
RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 41
Appendix 5:
Guided Reading Evaluation Checklist
Student’s Name: ________________________________ Grade: ____
EX VG G
COMPREHENSION SKILLS
makes predictions
matches story vocabulary with definitions
compares characters
makes inferences about a character
relates stories to his/her own experience
identifies the author’s message
identifies story problem and solution
sequences story events
WRITING SKILLS
uses graphic organizers (Venn diagram, & charts)
writes sentences with correct mechanics
creates a well-written paragraph
interprets vocabulary by writing words in context
uses jot notes to brainstorm ideas
creates chapter titles
writes questions after reading
uses correct spelling
works neatly so writing is legible
corrects work, after being edited
SPEAKING SKILLS
speaks clearly
expresses his/her ideas
retells stories
LISTENING SKILLS
follows directions
listens carefully to others’ opinions
WORK HABITS
cooperates with other group members
participates voluntarily in discussions
works well independently
completes work on time
Comments:
Date:
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RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five 43
44 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
2317 Arlington Avenue
Saskatoon SK Canada S7J 2H8
Phone: 306-373-1660
Toll Free: 1-800-667-7762
Fax: 306-374-1122
E-mail: mcdowell@stf.sk.ca
www.mcdowellfoundation.ca