Guided Reading – Cornerstone of Balanced Literacy

  “I read like the ink from the book is oxygen and I’m gasping for breath.”  – unknown

As I stumbled upon this quote, the dendrites started firing in my brain.  This is how I want my kindergartners to feel about reading.  When our children find success as readers, they find joy in reading.  The problem is that reading is a complex activity, made up of many pieces, not quite as natural as breathing.  Our growing readers need a variety of strategies for success and I believe the cornerstone of that balanced literacy approach is guided reading.  

Reading expert Dr. Jan Richardson writes that guided reading is an important key to literacy because it “supports students’ reading development in countless ways.”  During guided reading opportunities our children meet with us in small groups where they can take risks, try new strategies, and feel supported as growing readers.

Guided reading:

• Helps us to know our students’ reading habits and their instructional levels.
• Zeros in on the skills individual students need.
• Targets those diverse needs and provides the time to build the strategies to meet them.
• Creates a safety zone in which teachers can coach students through the reading process.
• Purposefully develops the strategies to gain meaning.

Dr. Richardson tells us, “three basic steps simplify the guided reading process while they ratchet up each lesson’s effectiveness.”  They are:

1.  Assess – These are not like the mandated assessments that have gotten a bad rap because they label or pigeonhole students’ abilities.  Authentic formative assessments drive instruction and promote growth.  We need to know our students reading habits, word knowledge, comprehension and reading levels.

2.  Decide – After reviewing assessment info we can decide how to create flexible skill groups, choose developmentally appropriate texts, and differentiate instruction.

3.  Guide – Now we are ready to teach meaningful guided reading lessons that engage our students and connect reading, writing, and word study as we build independence in our growing readers.

Are you ready to give your guided reading instruction a boost?  ERG would love to help!  Our next professional learning event will focus on The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading.   Please click here to find out more.