More to Know: Guided Reading Creates Confident Independent Readers
Guided reading is smart, differentiated reading instruction that centers on a close read of texts, literary conversation, and, at times, writing about the reading—which aligns with higher standards that call for integrated language arts. This approach is a fast track to successful, independent grade-level reading and an indispensable first step to helping students achieve the primary objective of new rigorous reading standards: to read and comprehend independently and proficiently the kinds of complex texts commonly found in college and on the job. Guided reading teachers are well on their way to helping students accomplish this essential goal. Based on 40 years of irrefutable research, drawing from cognitive science and the linguistic principles that inform our understanding of language and literacy development (Clay, 1976, 2001; Holdaway, 1979; Mooney, 1990; Scharer et al., 2018; Richardson, 2016; Fountas and Pinnell, 2017; Johnston, 2010; Allington, 2012), guided reading supports all readers: challenged, gifted, and those for whom English is a target language. The basic tenets of guided reading are straightforward: • Students learn to read by reading. • The role of texts is pivotal. • Students engage in close reading and, as needed, reread to check up on meaning and search for text-based evidence. • Reading accuracy, fluency, and academic vocabulary reflect proficient reading. • The teacher is a responsive instructor, in sync with each student’s instructional trajectory. • The teacher knows when to step back and remove instructional scaffolds, enabling the student to take off on his or her own as an independent reader. Researcher Anita IIaquinata describes guided reading as one of the “most important contemporary reading instructional practices in the United States” (Fawson and Reutzel, 2000). Simply stated, guided reading has propelled hundreds of thousands of children into proficient independent reading. Teaching with a Sense of Urgency As many as one in three children find learning to read challenging (Adams, 1990). This makes guided reading’s goal—to help all readers achieve grade level independent reading—face challenges in catching up. Read the research on this point—it’s both extensive and unequivocal (Lentz, 1998; Neuman and Dickinson, 2001; Snow, Burns, and Griffin, 1998; Torgesen, 1998; Whitehurst and Lonigan, 2001). As Juel first noted in 1988, a child who struggles to read in the first grade is 88 percent more likely to struggle in the fourth grade as well.
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GUIDED READING
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