Kristin Roddy Blog #6 Ch. 10 Examine Guided Reading

Chapter 10 in Routman's book was a very beneficial read. Guided reading groups have been a concern of mine from the beginning of the year, and I still feel like I have some learning to do with guided reading. Guided reading sounds easy...split up kids and guide them while reading appropriately leveled books and...GO. So much more goes into guided reading than you would think. I have made mistakes I'm sure and I have several concerns still, but one thing that I have learned this year and that Routman suggests all teachers do is have flexible groups. It's easy to say that groups should be created based on their abilities. Of course that would make sense. However, Routman suggests that this should not be the case after a certain point. I agree. At a certain point the students do know they are grouped a certain way and why that is. They know they are the "low" readers or the "high" readers. Children are quick to catch on to these things. The students benefit a lot from having flexible groups. I may group my students one day by reading level, then another day group them according to their interests. I have grouped students according to skills they need to work on, and I have purposely groups high readers with lower readers. I have found that the students learn a lot by reading along peers that can help and guide them in their reading as well. Also I have learned that their confidence and their voices seem to appear.