Guided Reading

First developed by Pat Cunningham and Dottie Hall, Guided Reading is one component of the shared reading block during which the teacher provides support for small, flexible groups of beginning readers. The teacher helps students learn to use reading strategies, such as context clues, letter and sound knowledge, and syntax or word structure, as they read a text or book that is unfamiliar to them.

The steps for a guided reading lesson are:

• Before reading: Set the purpose for reading, introduce vocabulary, make predictions, talk about the strategies good readers use.
• During reading: Guide students as they read, provide wait time, give prompts or clues as needed by individual students, such as "Try that again. Does that make sense? Look at how the word begins."
• After reading: Strengthen comprehension skills and provide praise for strategies used by students during the reading.

The steps of a guided reading lesson will vary according to the needs of the students in the flexible group. As teachers become more comfortable planning and leading guided reading lessons, they will also become more skilled in structuring the lesson to best meet those students'needs.

The goal: students will learn to use these strategies independently on their way to becoming fluent, skilled readers.