Today in class we began discussing Guided Reading and took a look at some GR books. I don't recall ever seeing GR used in a classroom so this was all new to me. I like the idea of GR because it allows the teacher to address all students reading levels. This is essential in today's classroom because students are on all different levels in reading and with a program like GR the teacher can keep track of each individual student and mark their progress as they improve their reading skills.
Although I look forward to getting to use GR in an actual classroom, I am worried about finding educational activities for my other students while I am working with my GR groups. I am glad we will be spending 2 weeks on GR and that we will get to see how it works first hand, because I hope this practice will help us to feel more comfortable using GR in our classrooms, and show us ways to keep all students busy and learning throughout the LA lesson.
Although we only took a quick look at the surface of GR in today's class, I already prefer using GR over basal books. With basal there is only instruction for low, middle, high readers however you may have students in between. With GR there are levels (almost like stairs) and students are able to climb these levels without skipping any steps (as they may with basal because there are only 3 levels). Sorry for the corny metaphor :-p
I like guided reading and was fortunate enough to do guided reading with my tutoring experience. I feel students like to do guided reading because it addresses their level. It does not matter whether they are high or low in reading there is always a level for them. Also, it provides choice and variety for the student which I feel is important in order to be interested in reading. I feel guided reading is more engaging then a basal selection.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it will be hard to come up with activities for the students who are not in the reading group. I think this is everyone’s concern. I think it’s about being good managers of time and the material be taught. I think the more time we spend on guiding reading the better off we will be, which is why I am glad we are spending two weeks on it. Also, I am curious to see Dr. Poehner’s approach to guided reading compared to the approached I used in tutoring. It will be interesting to see the similarities and differences.