A Guide for Guided Reading- Part 2

 Welcome back to my mini-series on Guided Reading! I am excited to share some insight here on how to implement effective guided reading lessons, techniques for success, and share my personal experiences. 

In my previous post (part 1) I shared a re-cap of a PD workshop my KDP chapter held on guided reading, with a focus on running records. One of the most popular questions is "now that I have the running record, what's next?" In my first post I focused on getting organized. Once you feel organized, have selected the text, and know the students in your groups, you're ready for your first lesson! 

You might say to yourself, I have my small group in front of me, the book, my notepad, but how do I get started? One of the strongest suggestions I can give is to simply think like a reader. What questions would. you ask yourself even before you begin the book? Very often we look at the front and back covers, any notes or prefaces, and think about what the book will be about. Simply stated; start with predictions and a "book walk" before reading! 

The first step is thinking about predictions. Whether fiction or non-fiction, making predictions is always a "go-to" skill that I show my students in guided reading. Taking a "walk" through the book is my preferred strategy to begin guessing what the book will be about. For below level readers, they might need individual support (scaffolding) to think about their prediction. You might model or have them listen/observe another student make a prediction. Here is a list to help you get started!

- Start with predictions: Ask students to write on a post-it note what they think the book will be about. 

- Share your prediction too! 

- Have students read the text themselves and listen for fluency. This is also a great time to note words the students are not sure the meanings of to discuss with the whole group. You may also want to prepare a word list ahead of time and review the words with students. Previewing vocabulary helps students build background knowledge before the read!

- Have students retell what the book was about. You can create a BME (beginning, middle, end) chart for fiction, and write down a topic and details for nonfiction. 

- Discuss author's purpose with readers to determine what part of author's purpose P.I.E the book is. Is it to persuade, inform or entertain? Also model for students how to include the main idea. For example: the author wrote this book to entertain readers and share a story about a character who overcomes obstacles to succeed. 

- There are many other things to focus on for small groups, so think about what strategy or skill you want to focus on with your group- it's about readers not the text! 

Keep your students in mind with the language. Encourage them to use their prior knowledge of characters, text-and-graphic features, and book series to help them. 

Predicting is supposed to be fun, and a chance to have students share out their thoughts. It's the first step toward a guided reading lesson that rocks!

Final thoughts: keep using predicting as a starting point for the story. Keep having them ask questions about different parts of the story to make connections. Keep thinking about what you want to focus on in the book/chapter. you're reading with the students; see what feels natural! Lastly, as always, keep reading and learning about guided reading. It will pay off in the end- the more you know, the. more you can perfect your craft!