Guided reading is a time during a literacy instructional block where teachers can provide individualized instruction paired with specific feedback on a concept or topic covered during this time. The purpose of this project is to understand and display the research that has been conducted about guided reading, find and present the best instructional strategies to use within that time, and build a guided reading curriculum to help teachers use best practices to make the most out of their instructional time.

This resource includes a daily lesson plan template, a timeline of what a session should look like, and ideas that can be used to make guided reading time more effective. The only thing that teachers will need to supply are leveled readers that are given within their district mandated curriculum and other mentor texts. This resource can be used year-round to follow the already implemented ELA curriculum.

Some of the guidelines that I used while designing this project will be the time constraint of 15-20 minutes per group, and that each reader develops differently. Another guideline that I kept in mind is the idea that all teachers have their own styles of teaching and routines within their classroom. So, I will give different options or ideas so the teachers can pick what activities they think are most important.

The model that this guided reading unit follows is a gradual release model. This is when a teacher explicitly teaches a concept, and gradually releases responsibility to the students. Eventually, the students assume all responsibility, to where the teacher can give an assessment of the skill.

The target audience is teachers at the elementary school level because that is when guided reading happens, as well as development of foundational literacy skills. The teachers that use the materials will benefit from having a resource that will be simple and easy to follow, while still making the most out of their short small group time, by using strategies that have been research-based.