guided reading in groups

[colleysmill]

We had a letter home from school saying that from now on school will be doing guided reading in streamed groups and not be heard individually. There was a meeting about it but unfortunately the notice was really short (whole other thread!) and ofcourse I couldn't get time off work to attend. I did get a leaflet which doesn't really say a lot.

Is this normal these days? I was slightly surprised as these are reception children so only really just starting to read but I can see this would be good way to help vocab and comprehension but it's clear that children won't be heard individually. Are there any benefits to individual reading as opposed to group reading. I don't want to make a fuss if this is the norm!!

This is interesting. After a few years in various schools just doing a nod to guided reading, it's just come back with a bang in my current school. We start at 11.35 until noon and have a carousel of activities. Teacher reads with a group to develop reading skills and comprehension. Another group does a follow up task to that. One group does spelling or dictionary work, another free reads, then the last group does a 'what's in the box' writing task. It's hard to plan and source and feels a bit retro as I'm not sure about the quality of what the rest of the class do if they are not reading with me. I don't think reading 1-2-1 is necessary with all kids, but neither am I convinced of our current approach.

My dd's school has shifted the emphasis on guided reading and it seems to be working very well. I think they still do some reading individually but I can see that my dd is making progress so I just don't get excited about it these days. I'm probably completely negligent. She doesn't get that many books home either thank God - given that they have 10 chapters this is a blessed relief.

Yes, clearly guided reading that allows the rest of the class to sit and colour in isn't good for anyone. Crap teaching is crap teaching. If reading skills are not taught then obviously this won't work either and is a massive waste of time. If you're not going to teach reading in these sessions it's a bit pointless. I thought the days of kids sat around chanting along the book together were long gone, sadly by the look of the blog they're not. Maybe I'm doing myself an injustice calling it guided reading as it possibly chunks me in with the old fashioned crap routine however on the other hand if I'm happy my teaching is effective does it matter?

Arguably listening to children 1:1 whilst the rest of the class remain bored and unchallenged doing inappropriate tasks is also rubbish for the class and actually no different to what she describes. Children need independent tasks as well as guided tasks, it's up to the teacher how that is managed and how they make it appropriate.

I find that in order to meet the expectations of the new curriculum, differentiated group reading "lessons" will continue in my classroom. I've mentioned before that I have a huge range of abilities and this meets my current classes needs.

I have a session in the timetable called 'Guided Reading' (older than reception, though). Essentially it is 5 parallel reading lessons, with 4 trained adults (mix of TAs / HLTAs, some of whom happen to be qualified teachers, and a teacher) taking the groups. I manage 5 groups with 4 adults by alternating taught and independent sections of the lesson for 2 of the groups. The adult working with each group will change round periodically, but tbh they are all fab andf haver been very specifically trained, so there is very little disfference between what is delivered by me as a teacher and what one of my colleague TAs deliver...it's just that I do all the planning!

Each lesson lasts an hour. In that hour, each group of 6 or so will have a full reading lesson with specific objectives. Typically a lesson for a group will include some silent reading (often with note taking about a character, setttin, plot or e.g. collecting unfamiliar words to inestigate later in the lesson), some 1:1 reading with the adult during that silent reading by the rest, some teaching input, some time for group discssion or guided work, and some independent written work.

It is planning heavy - essentially 5 different lessons - but the year group is building up a bank of these lessons for different texts which are then adapted for the specific class and group, rather than starting friom scratch each time. Defintely not 'reading round a circle', and every child has the lesson at the same time so no 'what does the rest of the class do?'

We get exceptionally good reading results.

Do kids chant along to books in guided reading they certainly don't in whole class reading lessons.

(Doing reading lessons with such a high adult:child ratio is brilliant, btw, because we can really focus and teach to each child's next steps in reading. In our daily English, RE, History etc lessons, we of course do much more reading as a whole class, the children do independent solo reading every day, and we read to them a lot, but the weekly small group reading lesson is where we really push their reading skills on. It's a big school with several classes in eaxch year, so we release all year group TAs for each other's Reading lessons as it works so well)

We don't have that level of support staff teacherwuth2kids. In most classes there is one teacher and we get very good reading results.

Never seen chanting along in any lessons at all - except when teaching choral and performance poetry, when it is an integral part of the lesson!

I know, mrz. If I was in a different school, I might well teach reading differently,. as we each cut our coat according to the cloth we have. I was just making the point that, in ouir circumstances, what we label 'Guided Reading' works excellently, and delivers genuine 'reading lessons' at a very targeted level - which is what OP was asking about.

I suppose I would suggest to the OP that she asks who will be taking the guided reading groups, how often they will be, and a structure of a typical session. Without that information, it is difficult to judge, because there is no reason why Guided Reading 'per se' would be bad, though there are reasons why it could be under specific cirumstances IYSWIM?

Yes, teacher with 2kids, I agree. Having a chunk of timetable labelled "guided reading" does not automatically end in poor results. Poor teaching is what ends in poor results, as well as unchallenged children who are bored. I also get good results with my children and they have had a "guided reading" session on their timetable all year.