Guided Reading: How to teach a Small Reading Group
Two weeks ago I wrote a post about how to set up small reading groups. This involves taking test data, forming the students into groups of four to six at about the same ability level, and choosing books that are appropriate for each group.
But once you’ve done all that, what are you going to do when you call the kids back to the table? That is what I plan to explain in this post.
The History of Guided Reading
Guided reading is an instructional routine in which the teacher gathers a group of readers around a table (or in a semicircle on the floor) and leads them in reading a book which she has chosen as appropriate. Her choices are generally guided by an awareness of the students’ reading abilities and involve using “just right” text.
Guided reading predates the famous curriculum of Fountas and Pinnell, who created a curriculum widely sold to school districts which emphasized balanced literacy. This approach has now been somewhat discredited because of inadequate attention to phonics. Fountas and Pinnell were also gurus of guided reading, and I wonder if we’ve somewhat thrown the baby out with the bathwater when we discount the guided reading method.
Guided reading actually goes back to the early 20th century. Guided reading or small reading groups should not be confused with ability tracking whole classrooms (the low class, medium class, high class idea) as was done in New York up to the 1960’s. Reading groups are created in classes with students of varying ability, and the groups are fluid. Students may change from group to group during the course of a year. And they involve only a short period of the day, generally 20 minutes or so.
Does research support guided reading?
The question is difficult to answer. There are too many different instructional practices you can do in a guided reading group. Research on guided reading groups has produced mixed results. The results on guided oral reading with teacher feedback have been positive, as has phonics instruction.
What happens in guided reading depends heavily on teacher decision making and teacher skill. Choosing the text, who is in the group, what the teacher focuses on during the group, wait time for corrections, scaffolding levels of reading … all these things impact the results.
That said, I have been successful over the years with guided reading groups and in fact for some time (7 years) worked as a reading interventionist, doing pull out groups for other teachers at the same school where I now teach second grade. I believe in reading groups and I believe my simple method for doing them is worth sharing.
Begin with the right book
Most people are familiar with the I Can Read it All by Myself books. Dr Seuss wrote Green Eggs and Ham using only 50 simple words. Certainly we know that even as adults some books are easy and some books are hard. My belief here is that you have to find a book that is leveled correctly. The way you can tell whether it’s leveled correctly is how many words the student can read without assistance. I touched on this in the previous post but I will say again: the accuracy of text reading will tell you whether the student is reading an instructional level book. Generally an instructional level book is read with 95 to 98% accuracy. Most curricula give you tools to level the groups to your readers.
What I actually do during a guided reading group
We use EL cycle guided reading books at my school. These are numbered from cycles of 15 to 73 for second grade. This means every student’s phonics knowledge is assessed and the books they read are matched to their current phonics ability. When they reach Book 73, the student knows all the phonics the program teaches. These books come with a word list in the back along with phrases and sentences. In the front is a list of relevant phonics skills for review. After that, you find the book proper, with a leveled text and appropriate words and pictures.
I actually do phonics drills and sight-word drills whole class. If I did not do that, I would start my reading group with these two routines. But since I do these exercises whole group, I skip them and go straight to the word list for the book. We read the word list together chorally, and then the students take turns reading the words.
When the student gets stuck on a word, I help them by providing only just enough scaffolding.. Because the text is leveled, moderate scaffolding for a few of the words should be enough.
Read the book chorally and individually
We start at the beginning of the book and, if the students are just beginning and unfamiliar with the book, we will read the text chorally, that is, teacher and students are reading at the same time. I require that the students put their finger on the word while we are reading and track the text.
After that, I have them each read a small portion of text aloud by themselves. I listen carefully for any miscues and when they come up, I scaffold the reading so the students solve the words correctly.
Prompting is the guiding of guided reading
I use a number of prompts to scaffold the reading of students who miscue a word.
- I tap the word to indicate that they didn’t get it right.
- I ask them “What sound?” or “First sound?”
- If they have the sounds out of order, or they stop after the first sound, I cue them, “first sound, second sound, third sound,” and then “blend.”
- If a word is more than one syllable I use my finger to block the word into syllables so they only have to read one at a time.
- If they’re unable to solve a word because they have gotten confused about a group of two or three letters that make a single sound, I point out the letters and tell them the sound the letters make.
The important thing is to give them just enough information to continue decoding the word, but not doing any of the work for the child that they could do for themselves.
Ask Questions While Students Read
In order to support reading comprehension, at the end of a page or even in the middle I ask the student a comprehension question. Why are characters doing that? What might happen next? Where is the setting? What are they doing? All of these are valid comprehension questions. Students should answer in full sentences. I used to discount the emphasis on full sentences but it has been shown clearly in recent years that the practice of using full sentences builds writing ability and comprehension.
Where are the five pillars of reading discussed in the 2000 National Reading Panel taught?
| Area | |
| Phonemic awareness | Reading the list of words (whole class phonics) |
| Phonics | Reading the list of words (whole class phonics) |
| Fluency | Reading the text (whole class phonics, sight word practice) |
| Vocabulary | Comprehension questions |
| Comprehension | Comprehension questions |
The most important thing that the teacher does is listen
The strength of this reading program is the interaction between the teacher and the individual student. On the fly, the teacher diagnoses and scaffolds students’ reading problems. Miscues come from many different factors. In particular, they come from 1) lack of phonics knowledge, 2) reading the letters in the wrong order, 3) confusion about long and short vowels and multi-letter phonograms, 4) syllabication and how to read large words. If any of these problems is persistent, additional work and explanation can be given. Often, I give extra instruction on such topics during the reading group using a small whiteboard.
The teacher listens to the students’ reading and determines whether they are having trouble with the book at this level. If the struggle is too intense, the student may become demoralized. Give them an easier book. And if they’re reading everything correctly, that is, if they’re not having any trouble, they may need to be moved to a higher reading group.
Guided Reading is a Structure not a Script
A guided reading group gives the teacher the opportunity to work very closely with students in a way that is not really possible in a whole group. It is more efficient than reading with one student while the entire class does seat work, and it allows the teacher to cover a number of objectives.
But it is very possible to do an ineffective guided reading group. Common errors would include:
- books that are too high or too low
- students who are not close enough in reading ability to read the same book
- giving the words to the kids when they get stuck instead of using a scaffolded cueing system, or
- spending too much time playing games like phonics concentration or some such.
The opportunities for good and bad teaching in guided reading groups are endless just like in any classroom situation.
Nevertheless, for years I’ve used this method successfully to help students, particularly those who are struggling to reach grade-level text. I commend it to you as my best differentiated instruction strategy.
What you do with it in your classroom is up to you.