Guided Reading Video (Jayne Royal)

URL of Guided Reading Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17mnwPrCTFQ

I really liked the video that I picked. It was made by a elementary teacher (I’m assuming a teacher that teaches Kindergarten or 1^st grade) who is trying to teach reading within the classroom. The video itself is less than ideal only because there is no actual interview or classroom instruction taped, but merely words and pictures. Besides that the information from the video was very interesting. The teacher brought up a number of points and examples that I think would be beneficial in a classroom setting.

One point that she made was that guided reading should be started within the classroom even before the students gain any type of fluency. There are ways to have guided reading for students who are not yet able to read and for those who are. The teacher who made the video really emphasized that it is during guided reading time that she is able to assess the student’s reading ability and see what needs to be worked on. Once the teacher is able to see each student’s reading level she splits them into three groups: non-readers, pre-readers, and readers. The teacher has devised some sort of plan and follows the protocol for each. In this teacher’s classroom each child has a bin with their name on it as well as the time that they meet with the teacher.

The teacher does a number of exercises with them during the time of guided reading. For the start of the lesson the teacher has the students read a review book for a warm-up. It is during this that the teacher times how quickly the student is able to read.

The teacher does a number of activities within the classroom to stress reading and help the students with guided reading. One thing that they do is the Picture Walk. A Picture Walk is when the children discuss the pictures in a book with the teacher. This helps them when it comes down to the time when they have to actually read the book. After the students discuss the pictures they begin to read the book at hand. For this step in the process the teacher really emphasized that the students should read at their own pace and not all together. This is important because this is the time when the teacher can listen to the students and see what needs to be worked on and what they have a good grasp of. The last thing that the teacher does to wrap up the guided reading time is some sort of mini-lesson in skills (i.e. ending sounds or sight words).

This goes along a lot with what we have been learning in class. The point of guided reading is to have a chance for teachers to actively engage with each child and to better assess their skills.