TRULY GUIDED READING and a short piece about Revising.

TRULY GUIDED READING, my latest book to be published, aims to eliminate the 'myths' that seem to have grown around Guided Reading.

When implementing Guided Reading, students' attentions are directed towards specific learning; it is genuinely student-centred pedagogy that moves towards catering more equitably for the diversitiy of learners present in the everyday classroom. Rigorous teacher decision-making is needed to make clear the expectations, processes and specific outcomes, hence the need to brush away the myths that have surrounded Guided Reading over the years. Fallacies such as:

·      Teachers say, “Can’t manage the class while I take small groups”. “Receptions are particularly hard to manage”. “Grades 3, 4, 5 fool around”. “No worthwhile work done” (Chapter 1).
  • Teachers say, “I give my groups the black line masters from published resource books that accompany small books; I only take one group a session” (Chapter 2).
  • Teacher says, “I take one group a week for Guided Reading”. (Chapter 3).
  • Guided Reading inevitably turns into word study. The teacher reacts to the ‘ent’ words in the text; this study occupies most of the Guided Reading time (chapter 4).
  • Teacher reads the story before the group reads the story (Chapter 5)
  • The term ‘picture walk’ has become synonymous with introducing readers to the story (Chapter 6)
·         Control of the discourse remains very much in hands of teachers – their utterances are longer than students (chapter 7)
  • Guided Reading is a set of routine steps to work through (Chapter 8).
·         Guided Reading turns into Round Robin reading where each child reads aloud a part of the text (chapter 9).
  • To read fluently a child must read at a fast rate (Chapter 10).
  • Teachers say, “I find I am often in a quandary about grouping and re grouping”. (Chapter 11).
  • Teacher says, “I Thought I had to begin Guided Reading straight away with my Reception children” (Chapter 12).

  • Guided Reading is not for older children (Chapter 13).
  • Teacher says, “I haven’t got time to read the books. I just choose a book as you do not have to know what is inside it to do Guided Reading” (Chapter 14).
  •  Teacher says, “I thought they read the same book for a week” (Chapter 14).
  • Teacher says, “Haven’t got the resources to have a book for each child so one child holds the book and her partner reads over her shoulder” (chapter 16) 
If you Google the title and my name name you will find more information about my book.
The book is in two forms: ebook (ISBN978-0-9923909-5-2 (ebk)), $10; and
hard copy (ISBN 978-0646-90781-9 (pbk)), $20 + $3 postage.
You can obtain a copy or copies of the book by contacting:
Dr. Scott Zarcinas, DoctorZed Publishing
Mobile: 0430 036 693
Phone and fax: 08 8431 4965
 Or
Buy it directly through PayPal.
I am sure you will find that Truly Guided Reading will be a worthwhile addition to your resource collection, especially for those teachers unsure how to put Guided Reading into practice; those teachers who would like to confirm methods they are using and for staff leaders who would use it to train staff.
Thanking you for your consideration.

*********************

 

REVISING

Revision is part of the process of clarifying how you express yourself in writing. It is not a sign of failure. Knowing that revision is a helpful process supports students' ability to reflect openly and in depth about their own writing. (Singer, J. Shagoury, R. 2005) 

Authors find that they ‘revise’ differently when reading paper copies. More is seen, the writer is more sensitive to unwanted words, missed punctuation, realization that paragraphs could move to make the piece more cohesive. Why is this so? Could it be that reading hard copy is slower than reading on-screen? Is it that reorganization  of thoughts are being processed from a different perception or structural way? One author describes his experience, “I read my chapter on-screen and think it is OK then, make a photocopy print of the chapter - 'get above ground' - and suddenly I see things I was missing”. If you do everything on the computer screen, you may have trouble seeing the whole structure of the piece.
*
The first reading,  it is recommended to pay attention to your overall story, argument, explanation, the logical and cohesive flow of themes and the following details - evidence, examples, and information. On-screen it is easier to move paragraphs, phrases around, insert sentences or any other material. that has been ommitted.

Re-reading to revise is a two-way operation, sometimes it works on-screen, other times on-paper.

EDITING
The second reading, editing and proof reading in the classroom (or anywhere) is often forgotten, time runs out at the end of a lesson, so change and have students edit their writing at the beginning of a lesson. Editing means attending to phrases that do not make sense and need to be rephrased, language expressions to be improved, grammatical corrections, making additions and adding missing words, spelling (spell check is not reliable when dealing with homophones), capitalization, and punctuation.
Many people find that they do a better editing job on the hard copy rather than on a computer screen.
  • Try and not read large sections at one time    and
  • Read the text aloud as your ear finds clumsy rhythms, repetitions, awkward and complex sentences, missing links, and the like that your eyes may miss    and
  • Older students should be including referencing, so as a student writes a quotation or paraphrases an idea they use a symbol e.g. + against the author's surname and later record their reference. You may have introduced them to Endnote, a software tool for publishing and managing bibliographies, citations and references. 
Whatever is the preferred way, hard copy in hand or on-screen re-reading, is best done some days after you have written the final copy. Then you will probably be asking yourself, "How could I have missed that."

For more in depth information refer to the internet site Study Guides and Strategies  
www.studygs.net/writing/revising.htm. It is a terrific site and includes some information about grammar revision!

Singer J & Shagoury, R. 2005. International Reading Association (p.337) doi:10.1598/ JAAL.49.4.5

No comments:

Post a Comment