Guided Reading: Reading With Children

Within Chapter 5 of Catching Readers Before They Fall, the authors discussed the many components that make up a comprehensive literacy framework within a classroom. These components included read-alouds, shared readings, guided readings, independent readings, morning messages, community writings, and independent writings, each of which are divided into two major categories. The first is reading to, with and by children, while the other is writing to, with and by children.  The chapter goes onto state that is important that both of these areas are addressed within the classroom because they work together to help students develop effective reading process systems. According to Marie Clay, “Writing can foster reading competence and vice versa if the learner becomes aware of the reciprocal nature of these acts. Reading and writing can be learned concurrently and interrelatedly” (1998, 138). This means that students can practice and use both reading and writing activities simultaneously to help them better comprehend how texts work.

           

While reading the chapter, one component of the comprehensive literacy framework stood out to me as something I had just seen in my current field experience. More specifically, last Thursday, I witnessed a small group of forth grade students participate in a guided reading practice with their teacher. In order to do this, the teacher called on six of her students to meet her in the back of the room for a round-robin read aloud. Each student took a turn reading a chapter from a book about the colonial period in American history. The teacher posed questions, answered questions, and had an open dicussion about what was going on in the text while they read together.  Also, just as stated in the book, the teacher played the role of observer by recording any important information that could be used to help the students form their reading processing systems in the future.

I thought it was very interesting that I was able to see one of the ideas outlined in the book done in real life. Even more so, it was cool to tell that techniques such as this really work in the classroom setting. While my field experience teacher worked with the small group, they all seemed very engaged and involved in the reading process. I could see them using their reading strategies to get through the text. I also noticed all of the information that the teacher was getting by both interacting with the students and observing them read. Overall, performing guided reading with the students in the classroom can be very benefical and, ultimately, can help students grow as readers in the long run.

Meaning, Structure and Visual

When students are learning to read, it is essential that they use all the sources of information possible in order to help them figure out what the text is. These sources are explained within the book, Catching Readers Before They Fall, and include meaning, structure and visual cues. Meaning (M), is knowledge that includes background information, context clues, and ideas gathered from pictures. More specifically, this is the strategy a student would use to figure out what the word is by focusing on what makes sense. During my observations in a first grade classroom last semester, I saw this strategy being used on multiple occasions. For example, a little boy in the class tended to focus more on sounding out the letters of words, instead of figuring out what would make sense in the particular book he was reading. When he would get a word wrong, the teacher would ask him to think about what the story was about and figure out the possible words that would actually make sense. He slowly started to use this strategy of meaning as the year went on and began using context clues in order to help him read. Structure (S), on the other hand, is when a student draws upon their knowledge of the spoken language and use that information to figure out what words sound right to them. This can also be checked by having the student read the text out loud and seeing if it makes sense to them in this way. Finally, visual (V) information, which includes the actual letters and words, can be used by students to help them see what word looks right within the text they are trying to read. I also saw this strategy being used within the first grade classroom I was in last semester. Students would often say a word that they thought made sense in the sentence without actually checking to see if it was right. The teacher solved this problem by having the students reread the sentence they just read and look at each word separately. Usually, on the second time around, they would notice the mistake and fix it using their visual strategy. 

Eventually, when students become more skilled at reading, that means that they are using the three cues (meaning, structure, and visual) simultaneously. They are looking for what words makes sense in the sentence, while paying attention to what looks and sounds right to them as well. In order for students to reach this level, the three sources of information should be modeled and practiced by the teacher in front of the class. They can also be touched on in small groups and working with students on an individual level. This way, the students become very familiar with the strategies and are fully aware of how to go about using them in their own reading and writing.

Zone of Proximal Development

While reading about Vygotsky's theory, I began to think about a time in which I had helped a child move a skill from their zone of proximal development to their zone of actual development. Within the reading, it is explained that, often, a teacher must offer explicit modeling and sensitive guidance in order for their students to eventually be able to do some tasks or strategies on their own. During this past summer, I did just that when I took on the difficult task of teaching the little boy, Sam, how to ride a bike. At first, he did not want to try because he was convinced that he was not going to be able to do it. I knew however, that he could learn to do it on his own with some of my help along the way. It took some time, but he eventually he agreed to give it a try. I began the lesson by modeling to him what riding a bike looked like. He had seen others ride bikes before, but I wanted to make sure he had a solid idea in his mind before he tried it himself. After that, he got on the bike and, with my help, started to pedal. I gave him support while riding and allowed him to practice with me for a long time. Eventually, I started to let go of the bike and he was able to do it all by himself. Sam had successfully moved the skill of riding his bike from his zone of proximal development to his zone of actual development, and I was very proud. I could definitely see how the idea of modeling and guidance would be beneficial to do within the classroom setting. Especially with those who are struggling, it is important to let them know that they can do some tasks with a little help from their teacher and then learn to do them on their own later.  Much like what I did with Sam, teachers must be able to locate their students zone of proximal development and offer them guidance in order to help them succeed.

What Really Matters For Struggling Readers

While reading chapters two and three from the book What Really Matters for Struggling Readers by Richard Allington, I came across a lot of points that I fully agreed with. For example, Allington explained the idea that a higher volume of reading can directly result in higher reading achievement. Studies have backed this claim and shown that classrooms where more of their school day is allocated to reading tend to have higher literacy levels and reading development, especially in lower-achieving students. Allington also states that students should be spending the majority of the time in class allotted to reading instruction actually doing the act of reading. This means that if the time set aside for reading is ninety minutes long, only five to ten of those minutes would be used for instruction, while the other time is spent actually having the students read aloud or silently. I think that this is very important because, often, students spend their reading time listening to their teacher’s instructions and doing other assignments instead of actually spending that time reading.  Students, especially those that are falling behind, need that time to practice and accelerate their literacy development. Although these points within the reading are valid, there is one argument that I did not fully agree with. Within the book, Allington explained the idea of a Whole-Day Plan (WDP), which involves scheduling just on subject a day. This means that the teacher would spend one whole day teaching only one subject, and then the next day teaching an entirely different subject. This could go on for a week or even more. I personally do not think this is a good idea because I feel like students would get very uninterested and disengaged with learning when only focusing on one subject a day. In class we discussed how people can usually only stay focused the number of minutes equal to their age. For example, a seven year old would most likely only be able to sit still and learn about a topic for seven minutes without getting distracted. Children, especially those in elementary school, need variety in their day and I just do not think that the Whole-Day Plan would work for them. Overall, I enjoyed the reading and will definitely use most of its ideas in my own future classroom.