A Guide for Guided Reading- Part 4

 In this post about guided reading, my goal is to focus in on the cloud of comprehension. This can be a scary place because comprehension encompasses so much that it seems either impossible to get started, or you can get so lost in the discussions that you seem to loose your place and purpose of the reading. Never fear, this happens to all of us and that's ok! Sometimes it's best to just let the conversation flow when a student starts talking about his/her understanding of a story. During guided reading however, it's best to remain on the path of what the group goals are for the day and use time strategically to review the strategy or skill intended.


My suggestion is to focus on one or two skills for each session and discuss the various strategies students are using to practice the skill. I also do a lot of modeling in the beginning of the year as students talk about the story. I take my turn (just like them!) with a  think-out-loud to ask questions and model my thinking for how to determine my answers. I also model how to find clues in the story that show me details that help form my answer. I always model all three W.A.B questions (see my part 3 post for more details and a description of W.A.B questions) as I go through the book so I differentiate. Most students in my guided reading will be at about the same place and have similar reading needs. It's important to keep scaffolding so they are challenged, and students who are ready can fully participate in answering the higher order thinking questions. 

As I shared before, there are many layers to comprehension I could write about forever on this topic! I also love talking about teaching our readers to understand what they are reading so that's another reason why I could keep typing. The purpose here is to not stir confusion, but to offer a starting point and clarify a few aspects of comprehension that we often take for granted and perform naturally. We want our students to notice their thinking and understanding so they can continue to deepen and expand it. 

Here are some final thoughts for comprehension: Keep it simple! It doesn't have to be (nor should it be) complex. Keep the students in the driver seat during the session. See where their questions lead and how they guide the discussion. Keep practicing and planning. Taking notes and writing down ideas will help with where to start the next session, what book to read (or to review the same one if needed,) and what skills to focus on. Lastly, keep being a reader with your students! The more we expose ourselves to their literature, the better we can guide our students during guided reading. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Leadership Mini-Series: F.E.E.D the Teacher Leader in You! Part #2: Engagement

Greetings everyone and welcome to my blog this week! I'm so glad you're here for our mini-series leading up to a great event at the end of the month: the KDP, Delta Rho Teacher Leadership Development Summit on 2/24/24. It is a free virtual summit open to all educators everywhere! Please visit my social media for information, or reach out to me! Our theme this year is “Leaders are hungry... F.E.E.D the teacher leader in you!” Each week we will break down F.E.E.D and get excited to hear our amazing presenters and keynote speakers that will give us the fuel we need to confidently lead in our classrooms, schools, and beyond! Last week we talked about “F”- foundations. Discovering our own definition for teacher leadership is the foundation for growing as a teacher leader, and embracing the role. Foundational skills also include knowing yourself as a leader, and believing you are one. Self-reflection, networking and professional learning are great ways to establish your foundation t...
Read more

T.E.A.C.H er Appreciation Month, Part #1

Welcome to Teacher Appreciation Month educator friends! For most places there is a week designated to teacher appreciation, but I vote we celebrate all month! With that in mind, let's celebrate with the acronym T.E.A.C.H. Each week I'll focus on a different letter and what makes educators unique and essential to our world. Today let's start with "T" for Time . Time is one of the most valuable things that we have. We all know that it cannot be bought, exchanged, or given back once it is gone. Teachers know this better than anyone because of the amount of time they spend on work for the profession. From lesson plans, reports, reading, spreadsheets, videos.... and the list goes on, teachers can easily spend hours in their classroom or at home working on things that need to be completed. This is all to better serve their students, schools, and the community.  It's often difficult for teachers to choose between personal time for themselves and doing something that ...
Read more

Veteran Teachers' Corner: Post #3- The Journey of Curriculum Writing- Out with the Old, In with the New (and Old).

 One of the overarching ideas for rewriting the ELA curriculum was the concept of keeping what already worked and add in new details to create and enhance the new version. I paused and thought "would writing from scratch actually be easier in this case?" I determined given the timeframe (see blog post #2) that answer was definitely a no. Others who were creating curriculums from a blank template had a more difficult road to travel by for sure. But for me, as an educator and writer, weaving new and old concepts was a challenge in of itself.  I decided the best way was to start by reading each section what was there, look at new notes I made throughout the year during lessons and reflection, and add those in. There were of course essential pieces we had to include such as new standards, cross-curricular activities, and career readiness. While those were a "copy-paste" movement, it took some time to locate them. Once found, I added all of them into the first unit of t...
Read more