Selecting Text for Guided Reading

Selecting Text for Guided Reading

Introduction

According to Martínez et al. (2015), guided reading mainly refers to the approach that tutors use in meeting the diverse instructional requirements of all learners within the classroom. The guided reading’s goal is not just to teach based on a chosen book but also teach the learners the reading approaches that they may be able to apply to every book. Teaching every learner the best way to read tends to be the priority of all schools. However, it becomes a key challenge to accomplish the goals in instances where the classroom consist of learners with diverse backgrounds. Thus, the guided reading assists the tutors in customizing the instructions to meet every learner’s specific reading requirements. This paper has, therefore, been written with the objective of reviewing the best ways of selecting text for the learners in guided reading.

Discussion

According to Blachowicz and Ogle (2017), in the selection of text for guided reading, the teacher chooses the text for the guided reading group comprising students through matching it with the various learning requirements of the small group. As such, the learning focus identification is mostly through the assessment of the various running records for the text accuracy, reading behaviors and cueing systems, as well as the assessment of the anecdotal records and individual conference notes. In this regard, it is recommended that the texts selected for small group instructions should rely on the purposes of the teaching. For instance, in case the teaching purpose is mainly to demonstrate the directionality, the tutor should select text that have the return sweep, and in case the purpose of teaching is to offer prediction through the use of illustrations and title, the teacher has to select text supporting that. Still, if the purpose of teaching is to make inferences, it is recommended that the teacher selects a text that the learners may be able to utilize their background of the topic being taught, along with the text clues that are identifiable to prop up the inference making.

Moreover, it is recommended that the selection of text for guided reading should take in an array of genres, texts spanning diverse topics and texts of different lengths (Blachowicz & Ogle, 2017). Moreover, Fisher and Frey (2015) note that, to select the best texts for guided reading, it is vital that the tutor first read the texts prior to providing the guided reading lesson in order to be able to acknowledge the text’s gist, its organization and main vocabularies. Also, the guided reading lessons’ learning focus have to be established prior to the commencement of the lesson. To attain this, Blachowicz and Ogle (2017) propose that teachers must prepare and record their perceptions in the weekly planning to enable the making of the teaching explicit for the learners. Additionally, Calderon and Slakk (2018) maintain that the choosing of an array of texts will ensure that the reading experiences of the learners are not limited.

On the other hand, in reviewing the best strategies for selecting texts for guided reading, Martínez et al. (2015) maintain that, when the tutor is ready to start the guided reading sessions, he/she should commence the lessons by placing the learners in groups that are based on their instructional needs and reading levels. For instance, grouping the learners as per the reading range that is around the focus approach is always recommended and might be based on aspects such as decoding, monitoring, understanding and fluency. This should be followed by the selection of the appropriate book for each group, and this should also be done wisely. It is, nevertheless, worth observing that guided reading might fail or succeed on the basis of the texts chosen by the teacher. In case the texts are very easy, then the children are likely to learn nothing, and in case the texts are very difficult then the teacher will be tasked with reading for the learners and this might not enhance the learner’s problem resolution skills.

In instances where the teacher is faced with the challenge of not knowing the right text to choose for guided reading purposes, it is recommended that the conceptual knowledge and interest levels should be considered. For the younger elementary grade readers, the tutor should make sure that the selected texts are sensible to the learners. At times, the texts for the early levels may focus on the development of sight word knowledge leading to the loss of the implication of the narrative (Fisher & Frey, 2015). For the intermediate grade learners, the teacher should identify and select short texts that include nonfiction articles, poems and short narratives or stories that the learner is capable of finishing in a day or two. Furthermore, in selecting the text for guided reading, it is recommended that the teacher should make sure that the selected text offers numerous opportunities for the students to successfully apply the skills and strategies that have been identified for the group.

Still, Martínez et al. (2015) opine that so as to select the best texts for guided reading, the teacher should look through his/her group of texts that have been leveled. The leveling is meant to assist the teacher to narrow his/her choices, and the tutor should, therefore, mull over the apt level and also go over the available array of texts. This should be followed by the consideration of texts that are likely to appeal to the level learners. Also, the teacher may also think of different topics, genres and themes that he/she might have undergone in the past. In case the learners are able to aptly process the texts and are also discovering novel opportunities on the specific level, the text selection can be considered as appropriate; however, to select the best text for guided reading, there are a number of aspects that must be considered. Some of the factors include the determination of whether the text’s concepts are familiar to the learner and if they may be accessed via introduction; whether the topic of the text will engage both the curiosity and intellect of the learners, as well as whether the setting is vital and the plot is appealing and interesting. Other aspects that the teacher should consider in choosing the apt text for guided reading include determining if the texts proffer opportunities for the learners to apply what they already know, and whether the texts offer the learners the opportunity for problem resolution, review of the reading implication, as well as whether the illustrations used extends the text’s implication.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is worth observing that the selection of the apt text is vital for the success of the guided reading lessons. As such, the texts chosen for the guided reading should, therefore, reflected the instructional level of the learner, and should neither be very easy or increasingly difficult, but proffer the learners with increased opportunities for applying their varied reading strategies. Long texts should also be shortened so as to effectively target specific skills coordination amongst learners.