English Language Arts

Guided Reading

Guided reading is a small-group instructional context in which a teacher supports each reader's development of systems of strategic actions for processing new texts at increasingly challenging levels of difficulty. During guided reading, students in a small-group setting individually read a selected text at their instructional reading level. The teacher provides teaching across the lesson to support students in building the in-the-head networks of strategic actions for processing increasingly challenging texts. Through guided reading, students learn how to engage in every facet of the reading process and apply that literacy power to all instructional contexts.

Why is guided reading important?

As an instructional context, guided reading:

• Supports readers in expanding their processing competencies

• Provides a context for responsive teaching – teaching that is grounded in the teacher's detailed knowledge of and respect for each student, supporting the readers' active construction of a processing system

• Allows students to engage with a rich variety of texts

• Helps students learn to think like proficient readers

• Enables students to read more challenging texts with support.