Lori Henke- Bog #3-- Examine Guided Reading

        I chose to read Routman's: Examine Guided Reading because I am always trying to improve the Guided Reading in my classroom.  I was glad to read that a lot of what is in the chapter, I am already doing in my classroom.  For instances, I start with a mini-lesson about the skill that we are focusing on in the classroom.  After the mini-lesson, we break up into guided reading groups.  I am fortunate to have Mrs. Hood push-in to my room every day for 40 minutes.  I usually schedule my guided reading time during the time that she is in my room.  Mrs. Hood usually works with one small group, while I work with another group.  The students that are not in a group are partner reading.  I started out the year trying to do guided reading groups while other students were reading independently, but that was a complete "fail!" I quickly realized that, although we were trying to reading quietly in our guided reading groups, it was still a distraction to those students that were trying to read independently. 
        During our guided reading time, I usually use leveled text that I get from the Literacy closet, or from Reading A-Z.  We have established the routine and expectations for this time in our classroom, and the kids, for the most part, do very well.  Lately, we have been reading non-fiction text about the European Explorers that I have found on Reading A-Z. This has been a great way to integrate my Social Studies content and ELA. 
         One thing I took away from this chapter was that the author suggests to not always "ability group".  I tend to make my groups/partners by "ability grouping".  One reason is for the leveled text that I choose.  I am going to make an effort to try to group differently as I see fit. 
      Another thing that I took away from this chapter is the use of the dry erase boards that the teacher uses where she wrote the assignment for each group.  I always feel like I need to complete the reading and task with the groups (which tends to be a time management issue).  This way, I could get them started on the reading, then send them to finish in their group, while I meet with another group the same day. 
       I will be trying both the heterogeneous small groups and the "white board" assignments in my classroom in the coming weeks.