Guided Reading

1. Guided Reading The role of the teacher is to guidethe students as they read, talk & think their way through a small piece of text at their instructional level Leanne Trewartha Supporting Improved Literacy Achievement Literacy Coach DECD 2011

2. What?? No recipe!! GR how? How you teach Guided Reading will VARY depending on the group’s knowledge and skills, reading level and even dynamics! GR

3. Gradual Release of Responsibility… Modelled Guided Independent Gradual release of responsibility • Teachers explicitly teach & model • For students • Direct instruction • Modelling with think alouds • Teachers scaffold & support • (With students) • Teacher supervises and assists students • Small groups • Specific skills • Other students work independently • Independent Student Application • (By students) • Students practice the strategy on their own

4. Guided Reading “You do, I support” 15-20 mins per group, depending on year level and student needs Teacher SUPPORTS a small targeted group of students to read and learn about a text Students READ, try, explore, problem-solve, experiment, predict, self-correct and practice Guided

5. Start with assessment 1. Do a running record & ask comprehension Qs 2. Work out instructional reading level (Total words – errors made – total words = ….. %) Assess . .

6. 3. Analyse the errors: Assess M S V We circle the strategy that the student uses

7. Teaching Meaning Making COMPREHENSION! Searching for meaning Gaining understanding Real world knowledge Past life experiences Prior knowledge and understanding Interest specific topics Layers of meaning Making links with what is already known Known words eg key words, sight words, vocabulary

8. Sentence structure Punctuation Grammar – nouns, verbs, adjectives Tense agreement Knowledge of pronouns Plural/singular Agreement of noun/verb Text layout Language patterns and rules Teaching Structural Understanding

9. Looking at words Beginnings/endings Blends, sound patterns, structure of words Decoding/word attack skills Sound/letter relationship Relationship between letters and words Parts of words Syllabification Using sounds to articulate words Teaching Visual Information Concepts about print Knowledge of sight words Hearing sounds in words Breaking words into “chunks” Stretching words and pushing back together Phonemic awareness Using knowledge of sound/words to generate other words Word building Words that sound alike Visual and phonological information

10. Groups: Place children with similar instructional levels into groups - usually up to 6 students - across 3-4 levels is ok Focus: Identify errors that students made: M, S or V & plan your teaching focus Eg - If most students in a group are making visual errors when reading, this would become your initial focus during Guided Reading with this group. Text: Select a textat each group’s instructional level - one copy for each child if possible Think about - maintaining the text type & teaching focus from modelled reading Plan Group Students & Select Texts

11. Lesson structure Teacher works with GR group while other students are doing: Whole class literacy activity, students then read guided reader & Fast Finishers work OR Group activities – children work in groups on literacy activities Plan

12. Plan Literacy for the rest of the class?

13. Make sure students read for a clear and stated purpose. Tell the students the teaching focus Discuss: cover, title and author topic discuss what students know about the topic text type& purpose Do a ‘book look’ – focus on structure & new vocabulary Make predictions Make text connections (text to self, text to text, text to real world) Teach Before reading (Orientation to the text)

14. Students read (individually, in turn, in pairs or as a group). Encourage students to read so it sounds like talking. Reading a small part of text is ok! Students stop, think & discuss after reading a section of text (word level, sentence level, paragraph level: information and illustrations, events, characters) Teacher facilitates, monitors & supports reading. Prompts if necessary, guides discussion on lesson focus. Models reading strategies (predicting, making connections, asking and answering different questions, visualize,summarising) & fix up strategies (re-read, ask questions, look up words) Teach During reading

15. During reading – an option… Have students use graphic organizers as they read to stay focused, predict, infer, recall information, take notes Stickies or Post-its – questions, confirming/adjusting predictions, making connections ‘this reminds me of when…’ Teach Venn Diagram Compare and contrast Hare Tortoise

16. Eg of observation notes Teach All need to revise structure- next wk. Gd decoding skills – monitor Josh

17. Is the student: reading fluently and with phrasing? using genre structures? reading visual information & combining them with the text? predicting and confirming? Teach Reading observations…

18. Summarise what was read Revisit text type, special features, Affirm/adjust predictions Revisit teaching focus Encourage students to reread the text individually or in pairs. Optional: follow up activity to reinforce the teaching focus Teach After reading Never feel guilty if you don’t have a ‘reading activity’ or blackline master as a follow up activity!