by Trenna Sue Hiler

Created on: November 19, 2008   Last Updated: December 14, 2008

Guided reading is a very balanced approach to teaching reading. The basic premise is that you break the children out in small groups to work on one particular area of reading. This gives the teacher specific and individual attention in small group that are working the in same areas of reading.

It may be that three students need some extra work on context clues. The teacher can focus on just these three students and give them effective feedback and instruction. For example, let's use the word magenta. Each student is given a card with a few sentences using the word. Then each sentence writes some kind of definition. The sentences may look something like this.

1. That rose is magenta.
2. He went to buy magenta paint.
3. I have never seen a rabbit with magenta feet.

Obviously the children could not tell you what color magenta is, but we could figure out it is a color from context clues.

Some of the other strategies may be fluency. The child may lose interest in the material if reading each word doesn't flow into a sentence and complete thought. Story pyramids let you know if the student follows a concept from beginning to end. Decoding words helps students with phonics and sound out words. Sight words help student recognize the most common words immediately. The list goes on and on.

Guided reading groups should be changing all the time. There are many aspects to reading and each child has different needs. You can work on many different aspects and that allows for groups to change. This is important so the children can learn from each other. Some who understands one concept of reading very well may need work in another area.

This is not an easy way for a teacher to teach, and yet it is very successful. The teacher constantly has to pay attention and form groups that make sense. It requires a lot of testing, observing and attention to detail. It's worth it.

"What? Oh, you want to know what the other students are doing while the teacher is busy with these four?" Some of the tools you can use are:

Literacy Centers.

Journal writing, penmanship, word hunts, listening centers are just a few that come to mind. Each learning center is introduced and explained as an entire group. Every student should know that at some time they will be able to participate in group time and center time. Eventually the students will get the routine and look forward to activities you have in store for them during this time.

Parent Volunteers

Parents can be very helpful during this time. They can help the students get organized and oversee any little issues that may arise.

It's important that the teacher is about to focus on the group he/she is with. Sometimes it can simply be a time when the students get to hear someone read and draw a picture. Simple is good.

Reading Partners

Reading partners are a good way to keep children learning and working together. Generally during reading partners you want the reading to be one grade level easier than the weaker student. That way both students will have success and can be working on different skills. One may be working on fluency and the other phonics. You pick partners for a reason and you change them often.

The concept of guided reading is not a new one. It has become more refined and now you are able to access many lesson plans and ideas that were not readily available in the beginning. It is a method that can be adjusted to any grade level and helpful to every student.

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