Skip to main content

Revolution in Guided Reading


Recently, the teaching publication Teach Primary (@TeachPrimary) published an article on the growth of continued professional development and how schools should be embracing, what article author James Toop (@jtoop) considers, their greatest asset - teachers. Whilst James' article provides his audience with an articulate and well-considered approach to developing continued professional development, the article started to me think about a recent development within my own practise - the development of Guided Reading.

Guided Reading is an important tool in the development of children as readers but, as recently as the Spring term, I loathed it. I disliked immensely the carousel approach that, ever since initial teacher training, had been stuck to rigidly and, in my mind, provided little value in return for the hours of preparation. Now, I know that this view has the potential to send many into rapturous anger and, it must be stressed, I am not saying that I neither neglected the teaching of Guided Reading in this format nor think ill of those who use it. Rather, I felt that there must simply be a better way. A way that would facilitate purposeful, focused learning in regards to reading whilst promoting the rich tapestry of discussion and engagement that books can promote. A better way in which I could, with the help of a carefully selected high-quality text, whisk a classroom full of inspired children (and fairly often support staff) to new worlds to seek adventure, mystery and excitement. A better way in which I could model the methods and skills required to develop the children as reads more effectively and to ensure that those, who were not scheduled to read with me during the session, would not simply be kept preoccupied by contrived holding tasks. Unfortunately, for me, the ludicrous task of sitting within a group listening to each child read individually did little to develop the children as readers with less-able waiting for their slow reading peer to finish and more able constrained by it. Anecdotally, this is something I know other professionals have wrestled with.

Throughout weeks of reading, research and reflection, I decided that I needed to evaluate the method by which Guided Reading is taught within our school and, as English Subject Leader, embark on providing a series of continued professional development meetings for staff (both teaching and support). As a result of the guidance provided by Rachel Clarke at Primary English (@PrimaryEnglish), inspiration from Guided Readers: Layer of Meaning by Nikki Gamble, Wayne Tennant, David Reedy and Angela Hobsbaum  (an essential book for any teacher) as well as the Twitter community, I have developed a two-part strategy to delivering Guided Reading more effectively within the classroom. Each of these approaches will be covered in subsequent articles coupled (with example lessons) but centre on the following areas:
  • Whole Class Guided Reading
  • Precision Group Teaching
So, if you are where I was a few months ago and looking to adapt or review the way that you deliver Guided Reading, then keep checking back. Before we look at how to plan and deliver effective Guided Reading, it is important to understand what is happening in the background of our teaching.

Reading: What is the point?

In order to provide effective teaching of a subject or skill, it is important to first understand the reasoning behind it. Clearly, reading is a vital skill for children but is it really that important?

In August 2016, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published an report which found that approximately five million adults within the United Kingdom lack the basic reading skills essential for daily life. The report, which also consider the issues surrounding writing and mathematics, found that those to whom this applied, "...they may struggle to carry out a number of basic tasks, ranging from writing short messages, using a cashpoint to withdraw money, being able to understand price labels on food or pay household bills." Similarly, the National Literacy Trust found that 5% of the adult population in the United Kingdom have literacy level below that of an eleven-year-old.

Evidently, statistics such as these demonstrate the impact that vital skills, such as reading, have on an individuals ability to build toward a successful future. It is, therefore, important that we provide children with the prerequisite skills which will enable them to engage more effectively with the world in which they live. In some sense, early Guided Reading is about providing the children with the mechanics of reading through the provision of consistent and robust phonetic and early-reading teaching.

Despite this, as a Key Stage 2 teacher, the issues around Guided Reading were less about the mechanics of reading (intervention being provided to support those for who this was an issue) but more about reading skills rather than an ability to read. Therefore I sat down and considered why I taught reading - what was the point? Here is what I decided...

Reading provides our children with the opportunity to:
  • Experience and rehearse situations which they may meet within their own lives: supporting children in dealing with difficult emotions or situations (such as death and racism).
  • Develop empathy with characters and use this to develop real-world skills.
  • Develop their imagination and gain an insight into a specific event or period of time.
  • Learn about different ideas which will make them think or challenge a particular belief or idea.
  • Develop prediction and inference skills which could be applied to real-life.
  • Experience different points of view and explore difficult themes sensitively.
  • Develop their understanding, and use of, a wider range of vocabulary and sentence structure.
Whilst these are not a comprehensive set of reasons for why reading is important, they do validate the importance of reading and extends beyond the idea that reading is only important to gain employment. As little as ten minutes of reading (particularly for pleasure) a day can make a significant difference. Within my class, I strive to ensure that the children receive about 10 to 15 minutes of a class story at some point during the day. A time in which we can sit and share a story without the need to over analyse it and to simply develop our pleasure of reading - for some of the children, this may be the only time in the week, month or year that an adult reads to them; provides them with the opportunity to experience books that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. When I consider the impact of this time, I always think back to video by SaveTheChildren. Just ten minutes.



Reading and the Curriculum.
Clearly, as those within the primary environment, everything we do should seek to develop the children's knowledge and understanding in relation to the National Curriculum but it is important to know where your children have come from and what expectations were required of them.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) often comes in for ridicule concerning the amount of "play" that the teaching staff get to experience but the importance of their role should never be undervalued. Consider a child's journey through school as a Lego set. Throughout the different stages, you contribute to building the final product - the able child. However, pieces of understanding are lost (and construction made harder) by missed learning. In Key Stage 1 and 2, some of these missing pieces can be found or replaced by creatively using alternatives but without the fundamental building blocks provided by those in EYFS, no amount of creativity will enable you to construct the intend end product.

The Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage (2012) document det
ails the standards that children, dependent on chronological age up to 40-60 months, are required to meet. Within these are statements relating the mechanics of reading, early prediction and recall with a summative "Early Learning Goal" which, in regards to reading, states:

"Children read and understanding simple sentences. They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read."

In regards to the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 and 2, the skill of reading is divided into two categories: word recognition and comprehension. It is important to note that children are required to have a good level of comprehension of texts read to them as well as those they have read for themselves.  


"Assessment Focuses by any other name will smell just as sweet." - Bill Wigglestick, Victorian Education Minister.
The Content Domains, which are outlined within the Department for Education test developer documents (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum-assessments-test-frameworks), are the replacement for the previous assessment focuses (AFs). Whilst the Department for Education have stressed they should not be used to teach from, they are invaluable in helping to develop effective questions that will further develop key skills relating to inference, prediction and text comparison. The statements details within these documents, also show the suggested weighting given to each focus. This is, of course, not to suggest that one skill is anymore important than another but it is good to know. The Content Domains consist of five statements (1a to 1e) at Key Stage 1 and seven statements (2a to 2g) for Key Stage 2 and are well-worth considering when delivering Guided Reading. As a result of this, I adapted a set of resources created by Rachel Clarke of Primary English (@PrimaryEnglish) to provide teaching and support staff with potential question stems relating to the Content Domains for their Key Stage (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8nJ1qcdrJ39TGh5bzluWGM2alk).

It is important that, in order to use these statements effectively, you consider using them in your planning to develop a couple of key questions to ask within a lesson or precision group. In doing so, you will be able to develop a wealth of evidence to support your teacher judgement at the end of the academic year (particularly in Years 2 and 6).

"That's all well and good Andy but I teach outside of Year 2 and 6. The children are not assessed against these criteria." Understandably this is something that, if you teach outside of Years 2 and 6, you maybe thinking however these skills are not mutually exclusive to the end of Key Stage year groups. In fact, due to the way the National Curriculum is designed, these statements are a result of teaching and learning within a given period and are skills the children should be developing from an early age. As a result, I seek to ensure that I provide the children with regular opportunities to demonstrate these skills within all lessons. Of course, the context in which these statements are pitched; the text they are used alongside and the responses your children give will be dependent upon their age, ability and the expectation place on them - in some ways this makes them self-differentiating. So whilst the Department for Education do not advocate the use of the Content Domains to teach, why ignore a valuable insight into the skills the children will be assessed on and use them as a basis from which to develop your questioning.

Reading: Weaving into the Teaching Sequence.
Another aspect of Guided Reading that concerned me was the apparent separation of reading away from the other areas of English such as writing and grammar. Often, children would focus on their reading and their ability to interpret, retrieve information or predict during Guided Reading and then, just minutes later, abandon these skills when looking at text with a view to writing. Whilst it is important that children have the opportunity to read independently and as part of a smaller group, I firmly believe that children should see reading as an integral part of English as a whole. Recently, I have sought to provide the children with one whole-class Guided Reading lesson (per week) in which we use the high-quality text chosen for our unit to further develop their skills as readers. This has since become an expectation of all teaching staff and has, after the first few weeks, reduced work-load and stress.

Whilst I will not go into specifics in this article, I have found that children have begun to see reading more as part of a wider learning process which also acts as a vehicle by which they can improve their own written pieces. Discussions based on authorial intent, sentence and word choice, perspective and inference have started to become more ingrained within lessons with children often taking the lead. Lessons are quiet, focused and relaxed with a task that seeks to develop their understanding of the narrative further. These lessons, and the creative approaches which have been developed to facility them, have changed the attitude and culture of reading within my classroom. The children are excited by the prospect of studying a text for an hour and I feel confident and empowered to deliver the meaningful content of reading I had previously felt powerless to provide.

Next time..
In the next article, we will look into the planning and delivery of an effective whole-class Guided Reading lesson. From text select and initial ideas to engaging and inspiring tasks to keep the children onside.

Comments

  1. Good post. I teach GR through a whole class approach. There are times I look at small group work (mixed ability) to focus on a specific aspect but whole class and mixed ability works best by far I've found. All accessing the same text reduces workload and ensures they are (literally and figuratively) on the same page.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Emporium of English.

Welcome to The Emporium of English - your guide to uniquely creative and engaging approaches to the subject of English. Within the electronic walls of The Emporium you will be able to find a plethora of ideas and information to develop your approach to the teaching of English and inspire the children you teach. I sincerely hope that you find something of use within The Emporium and take advantage of the resources and ideas to be shared! Mr. J