Ralph Fletcher

Lessons for Bridging the Gap

Guided Reading is an essential part of any literacy program.

1. The goal of Guided Reading is for students to become fluent readers who can problem solve strategically and read independently and silently.
2. All students have copy of same text.
3. Groups are determined by teacher; based on reading level of children. The teacher needs to complete Running Records. on students she suspects are reading below grade level. (For grades 7-9 - according to NS Department of Ed.) It is expected in lower grades that all students having Running Records on a regular basis.
4. It is a context in which a teacher supports each reader’s development of effective strategies for processing text at increasing levels of difficulty. (Fountas and Pinnell)
5. Opportunity for small group or individual conferencing.
6. Peer group interaction and support encouraged and taught by teacher.
7. Students read orally in turns or chorally while teacher does a read aloud picture book.
8. Strategies for before, during and after reading are always included.
9. Knowledge of Fix-It Strategies taught early.
10. An effective reading workshop is introduced in increments throughout the year. Pieces are added as the class feels comfortable with the previously established structures. During the beginning of the year, teachers will need to set up the structure of an effective reading workshop by focusing strategy lessons mainly on procedural issues.
11. Information on author's craft, genre, or text elements will be included as the content around which procedures are introduced and through class literature discussions.
12. Procedural strategy lessons will be revisited often throughout the year as necessary to keep the workshop running smoothly or to add strategies as students are ready.

Guided Writing is also an essential part of a  literacy program.

1. Students use details from the selection that the teacher has provided to complete the writing task.

2. Students learn through notebook keeping that they can write.

3. The teacher supports the writer through conferencing and by addressing the needs of the writer.

4. Students learn to develop a voice by reading what they write to other peers. They "try on" their skill.

5. Students practice writing with whole group or partners and learn to peer edit or self-edit.

6. Students learn to shape pieces of writing through teacher conferencing and peer conferencing.

7. Students get to practice strategy lessons that the teacher has taught.

8. Students practice effective writing skills.

9. Through whole group strategy discussions, students practice the writing strategy and have a correct model to follow.

10. An effective writing workshop is taught in increments over the whole year. Conventions of sentence structure are taught early and followed by paragraphing and essay type writing. Vocabulary building and dictionary/thesaurus useage is mandatory throughout.

11. Teacher's through think alouds should draw attention to the author's style, tone, and general attitude of writing. She should develop lessons that demonstrate How the author thought as he/she wrote or to point out How she/he would not have valued a certain way of thinking.

12. Revisit conventions of writing often, display them around the room!

Explicit instruction may also be modeled through the teacher's own writing ,or using the think aloud method, as well as through individual group conferences, student examples from previous years and guided reading discussions-oral partners or whole group.

How do you make it work? Many books have been devoted to this topic. Mary Browning Schulman and Carleen DaCruz Payne have written Guided Reading: Making it Work [Scholastic-isbn0-439-11639-2]  Another book I often refer to is Guided Reading: Good First Teaching for All Children by Irene C. Fountas & Gay Su Pinnell. A third book Guided Reading in Grades 3-6 has over 300 strategies and activities for reading success. This was written by Anthony D. Fredericks

    Some examples of the above:  running records and miscue assessment, anecdotal records, checklists of reading/writing strategies and skills, reading inventories, writing samples, audio and video tapes of student performance, student self-assessments and peer evaluations, observation rubrics, and conference rubrics.

     Reading/writing assessment  of student performance and instructional practices should take place on an ongoing basis keeping in mind what is best for this student and how does this student learn. Of course what they learned [or didn't learn] should guide your next lesson for the student.