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