Over the years, I have experimented with a variety of different assessment tools and strategies for improving my students’ reading.
Some worked and some didn’t. Some were extremely time consuming, some weren’t extensive enough. Eventually, after some tweaking and input
Over the years, I have experimented with a variety of different assessment tools and strategies for improving my students’ reading.
Some worked and some didn’t. Some were extremely time consuming, some weren’t extensive enough. Eventually, after some tweaking and input from my work colleagues, I have developed a set of Guided Reading and Conferencing documents that work for me and my students. I have seen some fabulous results in the process as well – which lets face it, is the whole point behind these conferences!
What is Guided Reading?
The term ‘Guided Reading’ can mean multiple things to teachers, depending on your experiences and the education system to which you belong to. Essentially, Guided Reading is when you work closely with a small group of children who have similar reading abilities and therefore, reading goals. I try to limit my groups to no more than 6 children to keep it more intimate and special. The children adore this time with their teacher. It is an opportunity for them to show me what they can do and to learn in a more focused and targeted way.
How do I set up Guided Reading?
Create your groups
Firstly, you will need to divide your grade into groups according to their reading levels. They don’t all have to be on the same reading level, however group them as closely as you can.
I usually have around 5-6 groups all up. Give each group a name. This year, we studied an integrated topic on Sea Life so I decided to go for a Sea Life theme and named all my groups different sea animals. You could name them colours (Red Group, Green Group), numbers (Group, 1, 2 etc) or choose a theme of your own.
Set up a Guided Reading folder, binder or book.
This will be your bible for the entire year. We are all different and some things that work for some, may not work for others. For me, a 