Guided Reading

Post date: Oct 9, 2015 1:30:37 PM

I believe the true purpose of guided reading is to build both fluency and comprehension.

However, it is also a valuable opportunity for educators to gain a wealth of knowledge about the reading habits of our students. I am lucky enough to be able to read one on one with students often. This allows me to keep very specific notes during reading and track their progress by looking at patterns of missed words and/or strategies used to comprehend or decode. When I read on a daily basis with a group of students, my notes are shorter, but they are still filled with details like the one listed below. I am always sure to build background knowledge before reading a book as some of our ESL students may not be familiar with the topics presented in the book. Finally, I set a purpose for reading before we begin. For example, if we are focusing on making inferences that week, I will tell students that I want them to be using clues in the text plus what they already know to make some inferences about the characters or events in the text. I add the reading comprehension skill to our word wall and specifically model how to use the specific strategies. I use similar strategies when focusing on specific phonics sounds as well.