An effective reading strategy
Teaching kids to read is a very important component of a students development and education. Research shows that the effective readers are generally more engaged in their learning and go on to have higher paid employment. Reading starts at home and needs to be viewed as very important in the initial development of a child’s reading. In the classroom, one effective reading strategy to gauge a students reading ability and progress is through Guided Reading.
Guided Reading is an instructional approach where a teacher supports a small group of students to read a text independently. The text is always selected based on the students reading level that is not too easy or difficult, but challenges their current reading ability. A challenging text is one that a student can read 90-94% of accurately and is a very important component of guided reading to maximise the benefit of guided reading for the students involved.
Generally, guided reading involves 3 components:
- before reading discussion and text analysis;
- independent reading;
- after-text discussion and analysis.
Guided reading helps students develop greater control over the reading process through the development of reading strategies which assist decoding and construct meaning. The teacher guides or ‘scaffolds’ their students as they read, talk and think their way through a text (Department of Education, 1997)
There are some fantastic resources and research highlighting the process and benefits of guided reading. The benefits of the guided reading strategy can be linked to Vygotsky’s zOne of Proximal Development theory.
Guided Reading provides teachers with opportunities to listen to their students read individually. This enables them to track the progress of their students reading and respond with targeted strategies to address individual students reading deficiencies or needs. It is a effective strategy that is supported by research to effectively track and improve the reading of students in the classroom at all levels.