NCTCA2018

How do you support, monitor, and assess student comprehension? How often? Is the information you collect useful for future instruction? What if you could regularly assess student comprehension during instruction, saving precious hours of instructional time? “…Coaching during reading may be one of the most significant distinctions between highly effective schools and moderately or less effective schools.” (Taylor, Pearson, Clark, & Walpole, 1999) “Simply assigning hard books will not ensure that students learn at high levels.” (Douglas Fischer, International Literacy Conference, 2016) Guided Reading is an essential component of a comprehensive, supportive literacy program. An effective 20-minute Guided Reading lesson allows teachers to work on comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, and word-solving strategies, in a small group setting. Session One: The first session will look at how Guided Reading offers teachers the opportunity to engage students in strategic conversations about texts which are more challenging than reading at the independent level, leading to deeper comprehension with other texts. Participants will explore practicalities of setting up Guided Reading: scheduling, classroom management, student groupings, group rotation, resources, lesson building, and assessment opportunities.