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Possible Questions/Concerns

my lack of experience teaching reading

how to I provide quality intervention and quality whole group instruction within the time standards

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Research Supporting Instruction in
Guided Reading Lessons

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Research Supporting Instruction in
Guided Reading Lessons

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Fountas & Pinnell

1. All teaching in guided reading lessons has the ultimate goal of teaching reading comprehension.

2. In guided reading lessons, the teacher provides a sequence of high-quality, engaging texts that support individual progress on a scale of text difficulty.

3. Guided reading lessons increase the quantity of independent reading that students do.

4. Guided reading lessons provide explicit instruction in fluency.

5. Guiding reading lessons provide daily opportunities to expand vocabulary through reading, conversation, and explicit instruction.

6. Guided reading lessons include teaching that expands students’ ability to apply phonemic awareness and phonics understandings to the processing of print.

7. Guided reading lessons provide the opportunity for students to write about reading.

8. Guided reading lessons create engagement in and motivation for reading!

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Research Base for Guided Reading as an Instructional Approach

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Research Base for Guided Reading as an Instructional Approach

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http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/guidedreading/pdf/2.0_InYourClassroom/GR_Research_Paper_2010.pdf

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Using Guided Reading to Develop Student Reading Independence

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Using Guided Reading to Develop Student Reading Independence

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http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/using-guided-reading-develop-30816.html

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About this Strategy Guide

Guided reading gives teachers the opportunity to observe students as they read from texts at their instructional reading levels. This strategy guide describes ideas that support guided reading, including practical suggestions for implementing it in the classroom; introduces guided reading; and includes a reading list for further investigation.

Research Basis

Guided reading is subject to many interpretations, but Burkins & Croft (2010) identify these common elements:

Working with small groups

Matching student reading ability to text levels

Giving everyone in the group the same text

Introducing the text

Listening to individuals read

Prompting students to integrate their reading processes

Engaging students in conversations about the text

The goal is to help students develop strategies to apply independently. Work focuses on processes integral to reading proficiently, such as cross-checking print and meaning information, rather than on learning a particular book's word meanings. (For example, a student might see an illustration and say "dog" when the text says puppy, but after noticing the beginning /p/ in puppy, correct the mistake.) During guided reading, teachers monitor student reading processes and check that texts are within students' grasps, allowing students to assemble their newly acquired skills into a smooth, integrated reading system (Clay, p.17)

Strategy in Practice

Preparation for Instruction

Here is a general task list to consider before initiating guided reading instruction.

1. Assess students to determine instructional reading levels (IRLs). At IRL, students should sound like good readers and comprehend well.

2. Look for trends across classroom data. Cluster students into groups based on their IRLs, their skills, and how they solve problems when reading. Make groups flexible, based on student growth and change over time. If you must compromise reading level to assemble a group, always put students into an easier text rather than a more difficult one.

3. Select a text that gives students the opportunity to engage in a balanced reading process. If a student looks at words but doesn't think about the meaning or consider the pictures, find an IRL where the student uses all of the information the text offers. If there are more than a few problems for students to solve during reading, the text is too difficult.

4. Plan a schedule for working with small groups, and organize materials for groups working independently. Independent work should be as closely connected to authentic reading and writing as possible; try things like rereading familiar texts or manipulating magnetic letters to explore word families.

The Guided Reading Session

Individual lessons vary based on student needs and particular texts, but try this general structure.

1. Familiar rereading-Observe and make notes while students read books from earlier guided reading lessons.

2. Introduction-Ask students to examine the book to see what they notice. Support students guiding themselves through a preview of the book and thinking about the text. Students may notice the book's format or a particular element of the print.

3. Reading practice-Rotate from student to student while they read quietly or silently. Listen closely and make anecdotal notes. Intervene and prompt rarely, with broad questions like "What will you do next?"

4. Discussion-Let students talk about what they noticed while reading. Support their efforts to think deeply and connect across the whole book. For example, a student may notice that an illustration opening the text shows ingredients in a pantry, and at the end, they are all over the kitchen.

5. Teaching point-Offer a couple of instructions based on observations made during reading. Teaching points are most valuable when pointing to new things that students are demonstrating or ask for reflection on how they solved problems.

For Further Reading

Burkins, J.M., & Croft, M.M. (2010). Preventing misguided reading: New strategies for guided reading teachers. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Ford, M.P., & Opitz, M.F. (2008). Guided reading: Then and now. In M.J. Fresch (Ed.), An essential history of current reading practices (pp. 66-81). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

McLaughlin, M., & Allen, M.B. (2009). Guided comprehension in grades 3-8
(Combined 2nd Ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

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Using Guided Reading to Develop Student Reading Independence

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About this Strategy Guide Guided reading gives teachers the opportunity to observe students as they read from texts at their instructional reading levels. This strategy guide describes ideas that support guided reading, including practical suggestions for implementing it in the classroom; introduces guided reading; and includes a reading list for further investigation.

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Research Articles

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http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2016/02/10/empowering-students-with-data.html

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These days you can't open the newspaper or surf the Internet without seeing a headline about test scores. The problem with these headlines is that all assessments are lumped into the same category. Now data has become synonymous with high-stakes tests. Since when did data become the villain in the classroom?

Teachers have been using formative and summative data to inform their teaching for a long time. Interpreting data helps teachers understand how students learn, and how best to meet their needs. Historically, data has only been reviewed by adults. But what would happen if children were taught how to understand this information? Mind Shift, an educational website exploring the future of education, reported when students themselves identify, analyze, and use data from their learning, they become active agents in their own growth. They set personal goals informed by data they understand, and they own those goals.

Robert Marzano explores empowering students with data in his book The Art and Science of Teaching. His research shows a 32 percentile point gain in achievement when students track their own progress. Carol Dweck's research on growth mindset reminds educators to teach students how to overcome challenges in order to persevere. Put all this research together and you have the perfect recipe for a dynamic learning environment.

It is one thing to understand the research on student ownership of data; it is something else to figure out what that looks like in your classroom. Here are four easy steps to help you build students' understanding of their data and make powerful changes to your classroom.

1. Start Small, Stay Focused

Pick one subject area if you teach multiple subjects, or start with a single unit if you specialize in a particular content area. Regardless of the students' ages or the class curriculum, you may want to focus on one aspect of the curriculum such as vocabulary, reading fluency, or math facts.

Continue to narrow your focus by picking one objective, standard, or "I Can" statement to channel your energy. Determine how you'll communicate this to students. Post it on the board, make a poster, use a QR code, list the standard on a handout, or include it in a presentation.

2. Pick a Data Collection Technique

Once you know what you want students to focus on, it is time to figure out what type of data you want to share with your students, and how long the data collection will take place. Pre- and post-test grades provide an easy way to see what students know at the beginning of a unit compared to their mastery of content at the end.

Rubrics help students review explanations of the various skills assessed in the unit. It's not about the number of points associated with a student scoring "developing" or "proficient" in a category. Instead, the focus should be on the students' understanding of why they fell where they did. Many researchers prefer rubrics over weekly quiz grades because they are more consistent. It can be challenging to make sure the difficulty of a quiz is the same week after week.

Observational data can also be utilized. If you're focusing on speaking standards, have students record themselves reading using a mobile device. What about video recordings? Record students during literature circles, science labs, or other activities. We ask our National Board-certified teachers to record themselves; why not use this form of data collection with students?

Depending on your access to technology, you may be able to gamify your curriculum by using various apps. Have your students collect data from their level of mastery, or the badges they have earned. Many educational games and apps have quizzes built into them, providing easy access to data for your students.

3. Progress-Monitoring Options

You know what you want your students to be focused on, you have the data, so how do you teach students to interpret it? One of the easiest methods, loved by kinesthetic and visual learners, is the creation of graphs and charts. Students can graph their scores on pre- and post-assessments, their improvement over time on a rubric, or their progress on a mobile device assessment.

Checklists are also useful tools. At the end of a unit, ask students to reflect on their assessment or rubric score by having them complete a checklist recognizing what standards they mastered and which ones they're still working towards. A long-term idea could include students tracking when a specific standard was taught and revisited throughout the year to remind students of key concepts of the class.

There are a variety of reflective activities that require students to interpret data they've collected, or had shared with them. First, students can reflect on the specific learning objective, standard, skill, or "I Can" statement. Make reflection a habit in your classroom by having students answer specific questions every time they finish a unit, turn in a formal paper, or complete a summative project.

Larry Ferlazzo uses an improvement rubric with his high school students to have them reflect on what they've learned throughout the entire year. Other teachers have used video recording software, as opposed to writing, to have students explain their learning while showing pieces of a portfolio.

4. Make It Happen

Don't forget to think through the logistics of your plan, and how you want students to keep their data organized and safe. You know how items can get "lost." Have students create a separate section in their class binders, or on their mobile devices in an app like Notability. As you grow more comfortable with students monitoring their data, you may want to develop a folder, or even have students create their own data tracking binder.

You know you have everything in place for students taking ownership of their learning when they can answer the following questions: How do I know I'm learning? How do I know how I'm progressing?

Make 2016 the year you teach students not to be afraid of the little four-letter word: data. Remember, it's as easy as starting small, simply by selecting one data collection technique and teaching students to reflect on the information available to them.

How do you help students embrace data in your classroom?

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These days you can't open the newspaper or surf the Internet without seeing a headline about test scores. The problem with these headlines is that all assessments are lumped into the same category. Now data has become synonymous with high-stakes tests. Since when did data become the villain in the classroom?

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3 Ways Student Data Can Inform Your Teaching

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3 Ways Student Data Can Inform Your Teaching

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http://www.edutopia.org/blog/using-student-data-inform-teaching-rebecca-alber

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1. From the Classroom

Formative Assessments: Low-stakes assessments are really the most important and useful student data. Exit slips, brief quizzes, and thumbs up/thumbs down are a few of my favorite ways to gather information on where students are and where we need to go next.

Observations: The beauty of having a constructivist, student-directed classroom? The kids are comfortable with you walking around and sitting with them in their groups-your "guide on the side" role. In other words, they don't freeze up when you step away from the podium or your regular spot by the whiteboard. This freedom allows you to be a fly on the wall, gathering data on individual students: How well are they making sense of the content? Interacting with others? Are they struggling with a learning activity? Such data from observations then leads us to adjust pacing for the whole class or scaffold for those students who are still struggling.

Projects, Essays, and Exams: Summative assessments, such as literary analysis essays or end-of-unit science exams, allow us to measure the growth of individual and whole-group learning. If a large number of students don't do well on a high-stakes assessment, we need to reflect back on the teaching and make necessary adjustments in the future.

2. From Cumulative Files

It's difficult to find the time to read students' files, but if you haven't before, trust me, it's well worth it. Much information is found in these files. From trekking to the counseling office after school, sitting down with a cup of coffee, and reading through the files of students I had questions about (beyond the data in hand), I've discovered critical information. Here are some notable examples:

A girl who often missed class was homeless, living in the family car

Several students who had been identified as gifted were inaccurately placed in my general education English class

A boy struggling to fit in had been recently diagnosed with schizophrenia

More than a dozen students who never wore eyeglasses in class (or contacts-I checked) had prescriptions

From a child's cumulative files, you can sometimes see a dramatic grade change at a specific point during their school journey. Perhaps prior to eighth grade, the child had been an A student and then started earning Ds and Fs. You can express concern about this, sharing the data with them. The students may then share a reason with you: Their parents divorced, or they moved to a new city/community. One student told me that she just gave up on school when her dad went to prison.

You then have an opportunity to be empathetic, acknowledge their hardship, and set some goals together for them to improve academically. I've also used this data to refer students for further counseling services or advocate for additional support for them.

3. From Standardized Test Scores

Taking a look at previous standardized test scores for your current students is beneficial in several ways. A disclaimer: Just as one grade does not determine all that a student is or isn't, neither does one test score. Use standardized testing results along with other data (e.g., in-class assignments and observations) when making instructional decisions. That said, here are some suggestions for using standardized test data:

Share Testing Results With Students Individually: After doing this, set some obtainable, realistic goals for each of them to work toward before the next test. (By the way, I don't agree with making this data public for other students to see, as was done at one Orange County, California, high school.)

Use the Data to Decide Student Grouping and Differentiation: Standardized test data reveals how your students performed: advanced, proficient, basic, and below basic. This could help inform how you choose student groups, create seating charts, and differentiate for individuals. For example, if I have a student who has historically scored below basic and exhibits other signs of a struggling student, I like to place her in the front of the class so that I can easily access her when she needs extra support. If you have a large number of students who scored advanced in your third period class, and a large number of students who scored basic in period two, this may give insight into why period three is moving more quickly and more deeply through content. You can adjust the learning and support accordingly.

Get Curious About Contradictions and Take Action: How about that ace student who didn't do so well on the standardized test? Possibly a nervous test-taker? Or it could simply be low motivation, since many students never hear about their standardized test results from previous years? Prior to a test, a brief pep talk or quick review of strategies for lowering test anxiety could be all they need. Also, there is much information to be gained from having individual conversations with students who have these contradictions between their standardized test scores and their classroom grades and performance.

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3 Ways Student Data Can Inform Your Teaching | Edutopia

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Formative Assessments: Low-stakes assessments are really the most important and useful student data. Exit slips, brief quizzes, and thumbs up/thumbs down are a few of my favorite ways to gather information on where students are and where we need to go next. Observations: The beauty of having a constructivist, student-directed classroom?

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Literature Review

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Focus Areas

how to include students in data collection and analysis

how to provide motivation for skill development

effective tools/programs to use for Guided Reading

how to determine reading groups

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Ethical Guidelines

confidentiality

informing all parties involved

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Action Research Project: Guided Reading Interventions

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Background Information

low socioeconomic status

single parent homes

multiple siblings

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Limited Experiences
Students with little parental support with academics often show deficits with fundamental skills such as reading.