Placing Your Students
in Guided Reading Groups, Part III Arlyne
LeSchack
My previous two articles on this subject described six groups of
reading behaviors labeled as follows: Preconventional, Emergent,
Developing, Beginning, Expanding and Bridging.
See my articles:
How
to Identify Students for Placement in your Guided Reading Groups
(Part I) and How
to Identify Students for Placement in your Guided Reading Groups
(Part II) . These behaviors covered roughly kindergarten
and first grade, although in many instances they could apply to
students from pre-kindergarten through second grade. This article
will describe four more sets of reading behaviors and carry us through
the rest of the elementary grades.
To review, guided reading is one activity within an
approach to teaching reading called "Balanced Literacy." The other
components of the approach are shared reading, independent reading,
shared writing, guided writing and independent writing. These activities
are conducted during a 90-120 minute literacy block called "Reading
Workshop/Writing Workshop."
In order to do guided reading effectively your students
need to be placed in guided reading groups with similar needs. Assessment
needs to be ongoing and the groups need to be flexible. In the early
grades you might use ECLAS for your initial assignments, in the
upper elementary grades you could use standardized test results
and the Grow report analysis. (See my previous articles for an explanation.)
In all grades, you should take running records while your students
read regularly so you know their reading strengths and weaknesses.
Here is the next set of behaviors labeled Fluent:
-
Uses word structure cues, letter knowledge and
context cues appropriately;
-
Uses resources (e.g. dictionary, thesaurus) to
increase vocabulary independently;
-
Self-corrects for meaning;
-
Adjusts strategies for type of text;
-
Uses organization of non-fiction/factual text
(e.g. titles, indexes, and table of contents) to locate information;
-
Gathers information from graphs, charts, tables
and maps with guidance;
-
Reads challenging children's literature;
-
Reads aloud with expression and confidence;
-
Reads silently at a rate appropriate for the complexity
of the text;
-
Generates thoughtful oral and written responses
in small group literature discussion with guidance;
-
Begins to use new vocabulary in oral and written
responses in literature;
-
Summarizes with reference to setting, plot, characters
and author's purpose (literary elements);
-
Gains deeper meaning by "reading between the lines"
with guidance;
-
Selects, reads and finishes a wide variety of
genres;
-
Chooses reading material at an appropriate level;
-
Reads silently for extended periods (30-40 minutes);
-
Evaluates own reading and sets goals with guidance.
Hopefully, by now you have an extensive classroom
library. You should have at least a portion of your books leveled
to match the needs of your students. Students should know how to
select a book at their own level. In addition, you should have part
of your library divided up by genre, for example, fiction, biography,
science, holidays, plays, mysteries, and author studies. In this
case students select books based on their interest. You may want
students to have a baggie each, filled with books in his or her
own desk or accessible to the student. In the students' baggies
would be a combination of books- most at their own independent reading
level, but some selected by interest. Students can use these books
to read independently as one activity to do while you are working
with a guided reading group. For guided reading, you select a book
that is just above the students' independent level and present a
strategy to help the student read the book within your mini-lesson.
For example, for the group with the fluent characteristics listed
above you might focus on getting the author's meaning "between the
lines."
Here's the next group labeled Proficient:
-
Uses structure and meaning cues;
-
Gathers information from graphs, charts, tables
and maps independently;
-
Gains deeper meaning by "reading between the lines"
independently;
-
Reads complex children's literature;
-
Reads with expression and confidence;
-
Reads silently at a rate appropriate for the complexity
of the text;
-
Integrates non-fiction/factual information with
guidance to develop a deeper understanding of a topic;
-
Uses reasons and examples to support ideas and
conclusions;
-
Discusses literature with reference to theme,
author's purpose and style (literary elements);
-
Uses increasingly complex vocabulary in oral and
written responses to literature;
Generates in-depth written responses to literature;
-
Reads silently for extended periods (30-40 minutes);
-
Sets own goals and identifies strategies to improve
reading.
Another way to use this information is to check which
behaviors are missing in a particular student or group of students.
You may find that they have almost all of these characteristics,
but that they can't read silently for extended periods of time.
This reading stamina is something they will surely need so you can
set out to work on that by using a timer for silent reading and
slowly extending the time.
Here is the next set of characteristics labeled Connecting:
-
Begins to gather, analyze and use information
from graphs, charts, tables and maps;
-
Begins to evaluate, interpret and analyze reading
content critically;
-
Reads complex children's literature and young
adult literature;
-
Reads aloud with expression and confidence;
-
Reads silently at a rate appropriate for the complexity
of the text;
-
Integrates non-fiction/factual information independently
to develop a deeper understanding of a topic;
-
Generates in-depth responses and sustains small
group literature discussions;
-
Generates in-depth written responses to literature;
-
Begins to develop criteria for evaluating literature;
-
Reads silently for extended periods (40 minutes
or longer);
-
Sets own goals and identifies strategies to improve
reading;
-
Seeks recommendations and opinions about literature
from others.
For the group with the characteristics listed above,
you could use your guided reading lesson time for any of the skills
listed that the students are just beginning to do on their own.
By now we are in the third or fourth grade, but many fifth graders
may still need help in these areas.
Here is the final group labeled Independent:
-
Perseveres through complex reading tasks;
-
Chooses and comprehends a wide variety of sophisticated
materials with ease;
-
Reads for pleasure with ease;
-
Reads silently at a rate appropriate for the complexity
of the text;
-
Reads for information and to solve problems with
ease;
-
Chooses to evaluate, interpret and analyze content
critically;
-
Adds depth to responses to literature by making
connections to other reading and experiences;
-
Participates in complex literature discussions;
-
Develops and articulates criteria for evaluating
literature;
-
Reads young adult and adult literature;
-
Reads silently for extended periods (40-60 minutes
or longer);
-
Seeks recommendations and opinions about literature
from others;
-
Pursues a widening community of readers independently.
These are the readers who are ready to read for information
and pleasure.
This is the end of my three part series on guided reading. Next
month I will focus on strategies you can use to manage your classroom
so that you can carry out guided reading and all the other good
lessons you have planned.
Please e-mail
me if you
have any questions.
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