Precision Teaching: Guided Reading Pt1

Students practise previously taught reading strategies as they read in small guided reading groups led by the teacher. After establishing the learning goal and task, students read on their own. During this time, the teacher meets with individual students to conduct a quick assessment for learning. The students talk with the teacher about their strengths, needs, progress and possible next steps. • Students are fully engaged in this assessment for learning process. The Star and a Wish form helps them remember their learning goal. How might you use this strategy to help your students become more independent? "Since both reading and writing focus on meaning, development in one reinforces progress in the other: students learn to read and write better when the two processes are linked." (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2003, p. 1.3) After students have had an opportunity to read the text on their own, the teacher draws the group together to debrief the strategies students used to make meaning as well as to check for understanding. Students listen and learn from each other as they develop an understanding of unfamiliar vocabulary, use picture clues and clarify their own thinking. • What strategies did you notice the teacher using to make this session inclusive of all students? • How did the structure of this session support teacher and student learning? • How do you know if your strategies are improving student learning? • What do you think you might find most challenging about implementing guided reading? • How will you address this challenge and build on the benefits of this approach?