1. Tom Nicholson1 Guided reading Yrs 1-4 Common in NZ classrooms Encourages children to use strategies that they have already learnt in shared reading such as: Predicting, Cross- checking and confirming, and Self- correcting

2. Tom Nicholson2 Guided reading Years 5 - 8 Provides opportunities to talk, think, and read through a text e.g. with stories, attend to: Character Plot Setting Style Form of text Language features

3. Tom Nicholson3 Method Small group of 3-7 Each student has copy of the text Before: Teacher selection of text and purpose. Introduce text to children - activate prior knowledge During: Children read, silently or quietly to themselves. Stop at points in the text, discuss After: Questioning, revisiting the text

4. Tom Nicholson4 Preparation for Guided Reading Choosing text: Ready to Read and School Journal materials are already graded for shared, guided or independent reading. Choose text that can be read with 90-95% accuracy. Website for teaching ideas: 1. Ready to Read Junior School Ministry of Education – TKI website http://www.tki.org.nz/r/literacy_numeracy/profession al/teachers_notes/ready_to_read/index_e.php 2. School Journals – TKI website http://www.tki.org.nz/e/r/literacy_numeracy/professio nal/teachers_notes/school_journal/index.php

5. Tom Nicholson5 Before reading - Introduce text Work out your purpose for the lesson – what are you going to focus on? Activate prior knowledge (recall Schema theory) Try to link pupil’s past knowledge with the ideas that will be in the text Talk about the title, the cover page – figure out what kind of story/article this will be

6. Tom Nicholson6 During reading Children read ‘chunks’ (silently or quietly to themselves) and then stop and discuss text If it is a short text, one or two pages, pupils can read whole text to end Use a whiteboard to record main ideas, etc. Clarify difficult words as they come up, e.g., in A pocket for Corduroy, what is a spool? Try to give synonyms, e.g., round. Give features e.g., made of wood. Give purpose e.g., to wind thread on

7. Tom Nicholson7 After reading Review what you wanted pupils to learn Follow-up activities: –Rereading in pairs or independently –Making text structure e.g., story web, flowcharts etc. –Retelling, writing the story

8. Tom Nicholson8 Strengths & Weaknesses PROsCONs Connecting to prior knowledge seems a useful thing to do – to build on existing knowledge Poor readers will struggle to read the words and will get left behind Guided reading is a way to get more deeply into the text, achieve a more in-depth understanding Guided reading only helps to understand the specific text taught – not comprehension in general Discussing the text will help to increase understanding and clarify new vocabulary Comprehension depends on fluent reading and extensive reading of texts at appropriate level of difficulty Studying the way the writer has written the text can be helpful for pupils’ own writing Guided reading advantages the better readers who have better prior knowledge and vocabulary