A Working Reader's Workshop
Managing Guided Reading Effectively
What is Guided Reading?
Source: Clipart.com
Ten Tips for Teachers
Tip #1: Know Your Library
Be sure to have plenty of leveled readers at your disposal that you are familiar with in order to assist you when planning. Knowing the contents makes selecting an appropriate text for your lesson goals less of a task. Research shows there are many factors to selecting texts, and it begins at the root of the class library.
“It is crucial that teachers choose comprehensible exposition that does not needlessly confuse young readers. Three characteristics have been shown consistently to enhance children’s comprehension of exposition: familiarity, structural coherence, and interest value. Teachers should choose information text that links unfamiliar content to the familiar, is well organized, and has an engaging style.”
Tip #2: Offer a Variety of Tools
Young learners love to get their hands on things. Providing them with a googlie eye pointer to read with or mini slinky to stretch out words can assist little ones in remembering key reading strategies they are learning about. Hands on learning makes for more engaging fun in the classroom, which in turn provides deeper understanding for students.
“Young children learn through their five senses; therefore, providing hands-on experiences that allow children to touch, see, smell, taste, and hear is important. When designing learning environments, teachers should focus on what the children will be doing, and on what objects and materials they can provide for the children to handle and observe.”
Tip #3: Be Intentional
Procrastination is not in a teacher’s job description. An educator must plan, prepare, and expect the unexpected. There was never a truer time, than in a classroom, to adhere to the statement, “begin with the end in mind”. The learning goals we have for our students must be customized to their needs, and the means to achieve those goals must be planned out with specific detail.
“Intentional teaching means teachers act with specific outcomes or goals in mind for children’s development and learning. Teachers must know when to use a given strategy to accommodate the different ways that individual children learn and the specific content they are learning”
Tip #4: Manage Your Time Wisely
With so much to do in such small increments of time, there is not a moment to waste. As teachers, we struggle with a time crunch every day. With so many efforts put forth to planning out each learning day, we must hold ourselves accountable to remaining on track and accomplishing what we set out to complete for the day. It takes a certain amount of discipline to keep ones focus and manage your time.
“Although the amount of available time imposes limitations on accomplishment, the key issue is time usage. Effective classroom management conserves instruction time by planning activities and tasks to fit the learning materials; setting and conveying procedural and academic expectations; and appropriately sequencing, pacing, monitoring, and providing feedback for student work.”
Tip #5: Consistent Classroom Management
“A well-organized and efficiently managed classroom is the essential foundation upon which to build a solid instructional program and a climate of mutual respect and caring between students and teachers. In fact, an analysis of research done in the last 50 years clearly shows that the teacher’s classroom management abilities have more of an effect on student learning than any other category analyzed.”
Tip #6: Provide Engaging Stations
“The benefits of learning stations are many. Learning stations can be used for myriad purposes—to teach concepts, integrate subject matter, build interest, and allow for inquiry—the possibilities are limited only by the imagination of the teacher and the supplies available.”
Tip #7: Constantly Assess Student Needs
“Everything students do—such as conversing in groups, completing seatwork, answering and asking questions, working on projects, handing in homework assignments, even sitting silently and looking confused—is a potential source of information about how much they understand. The teacher who consciously uses assessment to support learning takes in this information, analyzes it, and makes instructional decisions that address the understandings and misunderstandings that these assessments reveal.”
Tip #8: Keep a Data Tracking Binder
“We find that observation measures of teaching effectiveness are substantively related to student achievement growth and that some observed teaching practices predict achievement more than other practices.”
Tip #9: Host Student Conferences Daily
“We find that observation measures of teaching effectiveness are substantively related to student achievement growth and that some observed teaching practices predict achievement more than other practices.”
Tip #10: Set Goals With Individual Readers
“Students’ beliefs in their efficacy for self-regulated learning affected their perceived self-efficacy for academic achievement, which in turn influenced the academic goals they set for themselves and their final academic achievement.”
Webliography
Scholastic.com
Readingrockets.org
This is one of the most useful websites to educators, and even to parents. It has potential to be the go to resource for parents to be given additional guidance and help with their child’s literacy journey. For teachers, there are helpful strategies, lesson ideas and more to learn about. Weekly newsletters, suggested literacy applications, are just a couple of the resources this site offers which will come in handy during guided reading instruction in your classroom.
Teachingchannel.org
Bibliography
Guided Reading: Good First Teaching For All Children
Fountas, I. C., & Pinnell G. S. (1996). Guided Reading: Good First Teaching For All Children. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
The Next Step in Guided Reading: Focused Assessments and Targeted Lessons for Helping Every Student Become a Better Reader
Richardson, J. (2009). The Next Step in Guided Reading: Focused Assessments and Targeted Lessons for Helping Every Student Become a Better Reader. New York, NY: Scholastic.
The Ultimate Guided Reading How-To Book: Building Literacy Through Small-Group Instruction
Saunders-Smith, G. (2015). The Ultimate Guided Reading How-To Book: Building Literacy Through Small-Group Instruction. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing.
Background Knowledge
My name is Tamera Barba, and I am a first grade teacher at Coker Elementary School at North East ISD in San Antonio. This will be my fourth year teaching, and all of my years have been in this grade level. I am currently attaining a Master’s of Education in Curriculum and Instruction in Literacy Studies with a triple literacy emphasis. This program includes English as a Second Language, Reading Specialist, and Master Reading Teacher certifications.
When I first started teaching, which was in first grade, I had no experience with guided reading. My desire to help every student become a “joyful reader” (one who enjoys reading and is good at it) led me down the path of researching the topic on my own time to figure this out. I found myself reading professional development books, watching youtube videos, anything to help further my knowledge. My hope is that this handout supplies educators, not only with the “how to” of ways to organize and build a solid system in your classroom, but with a solid plan for keeping ones students progressing in literacy success.
References
Assessment, C., by Minute, M., by Day, D., Leahy, S., Lyon, C., Thompson, M., & Wiliam, D. (2005). continually adapt instruction to meet student needs.Assessment, 63(3).
Bailey, J. M., & Guskey, T. R. (2000). Implementing student-led conferences. Corwin Press
Chambliss, M. J., & McKillop, A. M. (2000). Creating a print-and technology-rich classroom library to entice children to read. Engaging young readers: Promoting achievement and motivation, 94-118.
Epstein, A. S. (2007). The intentional teacher. Washington, DC.
Evertson, C. M., & Harris, A. H. (1992). What We Know about Managing Classrooms. Educational leadership, 49(7), 74-78.
Jarrett, O. (2010). “Inventive” Learning Stations. Science and Children, 47(5), 56-59.
Kaltman, G. S. (2010). Hands-on learning. Childhood Education, 87(2), S7-S7.
Kane, T. J., Taylor, E. S., Tyler, J. H., & Wooten, A. L. (2011). Identifying effective classroom practices using student achievement data. Journal of human Resources, 46(3), 587-613.
McLeod, J., Fisher, J., & Hoover, G. (2003). The key elements of classroom management: Managing time and space, student behavior, and instructional strategies. ASCD.
Zimmerman, B. J., Bandura, A., & Martinez-Pons, M. (1992). Self-motivation for academic attainment: The role of self-efficacy beliefs and personal goal setting. American educational research journal, 29(3), 663-676.