Report by:

Taja, Noemi I.
Tudlong, Janelle

Guided Reading Approach

 Guided Reading
- Is an approach or instructional practice where teachers support a small group of
students to read a text independently.
- The practice of guided reading is based on the belief that the optimal learning for
a reader occurs when they are assisted by an educator, or expert ‘other’, to read
and understand a text with clear but limited guidance.
- Vygotsky was particularly interested in the ways children were challenged and
extended in their learning by adults. He argued that the most successful learning
occurs when children are guided by adults towards learning things that they could
not attempt on their own.
- Guided reading helps students develop greater control over the reading process
through the development of reading strategies which assist decoding and construct
meaning. The teacher guides or ‘scaffolds’ their students as they read, talk and
think their way through a text (Department of Education, 1997).
- Guided reading is a practice which promotes opportunities for the development of
a self-extending system (Fountas and Pinnell, 1996).
- A main difference between shared vs. guided reading is that during shared
reading, interactions are maximized. During guided reading, thinking is
maximized.
- During guided reading students actively participate in the group reading process –
by listening or reading – and making their own conclusions about the text.

 Which students would benefit from guided teaching?

Students who:
- are interested and engaged during shared reading interactions.
- know most of the letters (name or sound) most of the time.
- understand that print has meaning.
- have a means of communication and use it to initiate exchanges and interact with
others.

 How can students benefit from the guided teaching?

Guided reading can:
- help students understand that reading involves thinking and meaning making
- help students develop the skills and understandings necessary to be strategic in
reading a wide variety of texts
- provide experience in a wide variety of text types
- increase student ability to self-select and apply purposes for comprehending
 - develop comprehension of text and maximizing thinking
- build confidence as readers

 Key elements of guided reading

Guided reading sessions are made up of three parts:
1. Before reading discussion
activate prior knowledge of the topic
encourage student predictions
set the scene by briefly summarizing the plot
demonstrate the kind of questions readers ask about a text
identify the pivotal pages in the text that contain the meaning and
‘walk’ through the students through them
introduce any new vocabulary or literary language relevant to the text
locate something missing in the text and match to letters and sounds
clarify meaning
bring to attention relevant text layout, punctuation, chapter headings,
illustrations, index or glossary
2. Independent reading
‘listen in’ to individual students
observe the reader’s behaviors for evidence of strategy use
assist a student to monitor meaning using phonic, semantic, contextual
and grammatical knowledge
confirm a student’s problem-solving attempts and successes
give timely and specific feedback to help students achieve the lesson
focus
3. After reading discussion
talk about the text with the students
invite personal responses such as asking students to make connections
to themselves, other texts or world knowledge
return to the text to clarify or identify a decoding teaching opportunity
such as the revision of phoneme-grapheme correspondence blending or
segmenting
check a student understands what they have read by asking them to
sequence, retell or summarize the text
develop an understanding of an author’s intent and awareness of
conflicting interpretations of text
ask questions about the text or encourage students to ask questions of
each other
develop insights into characters, settings and themes
focus on aspects of text organization such as characteristics of a non-
fiction text
revisit the learning focus and encourage students to reflect on whether
they achieved the success criteria.
 Components of Guided Reading
1. The teacher assesses the instructional level of the students and forms a small,
flexible group. The students in the group are able to learn more about reading
with the same level of text, though each reader will be different.
2. The teacher chooses a text at the students' instructional level. The text
provides opportunities for new learning while not being too challenging. Each
student gets their own copy of the book to read.
3. The teacher introduces the text, calling attention to meaning, language
structure, and print information. The teacher discusses text structure, themes,
literary devices, vocabulary, and elements within the text that may be
challenging or new to the students.
4. The teacher interacts briefly with the students as they read out loud. If they
need support, the teacher helps them develop a successful processing system.
5. The students read the whole text (or assigned portion) independently and then
talk about the meaning.
6. After reading the text, the students discuss themes, ideas, and what they
noticed about how the text was written. For example, the characteristics of
genre, structure, features, and author's craft.
7. The teacher selects one or two teaching points that will be helpful to the
readers.
8. Students focus on word work for a few minutes (e.g. letter patterns, high-
frequency words or taking words apart), which helps become flexible in their
use of phonics skills.