Guided Reading Assignment

1. My Guided Reading Definition:
        Guided Reading is a way to help students gain and understand the tools and skills to make them into better readers. It usually involves a teacher directed small group, a shared text, and a means of discussion about that text.



2.

Before Reading	During Reading	After Reading
Teacher: Correlated the book with the theme of learning. Made the children pay attention to the cover and the title. She is very theatrical to keep the student’s attention and get them to interact. Asks questions like “Do you like rain?” There is a lot of repetition. Looking at the photographs and discussing them. Talks about picture clues. Moves as if the pictures are moving. “Wha Wha”- Discusses the long W sound as in W-eather, W-ind, “Are there other words that you know on the page?” Makes the children confident that they know each word on the page. The teacher is very theatrical and makes movements with each word and with student’s accomplishments2. “Iii”- the long I sound “I-ce” “L-i-ghting” Explains how and why to use the photograph as your read. Gets them to pay attention to the difference punctuation marks at the end of the sentences.   Gets children to read aloud matching the punctuation with the sentence. Students: The students were very interactive and answered the questions. They followed each page with their finger and knew the front of the book and cover. One student before the teacher said anything says something that she notices she already knows about the reading.	Teacher: Gets children to read quietly to themselves, while the teacher walks around and listens in to help and to take notes. Uses the “secret thing” to get the children to want to read the story again. The teacher goes by each student and helps them understand each long sound and what the words on the page mean. She listens to them read and reiterates what they learned in the big group.  Students: The students do a good job of pronounciation. They pay attention to the pictures, and use them to correct with the different types of weather.  They then have the chance to read the books on their own, while the teacher listens in. Most only have trouble on the “Wh” sound.	- Teacher: “Here is something that I want you to remember the sounds at the beginning and ending of the word go with what is seen on the page.” “Sometimes when we read along it might not make sense, like “Wh-at,” go back and reread and that will help you say hey I know this and say "What." She used the pictures of what was read about in the book, and shows pictures of what each object is and verbalizes the word that goes with each picture. She puts the pictures on the table, and gives letters and makes the students put the beginning letter to the picture. She is reiterating the pictures and words they learned and the sounds of words that they learned. Then she takes the ending sounds and gets the children to make the letters with the words they heard it in. Students: The students are guessing with the picture. Giving the adjective instead the noun on some of the pictures. Ex. Windy, but should be Wind. As a group they are match each beginning and ending letter with the pictures.

3. Response to the Video:
    There were many things that I liked a lot about the video and thought very helpful. The teacher’s energy and interaction was something that really stood out to me. I think it’s important for the students to feel comfortable and able to respond in Guided Reading exercises. The teacher may have looked silly to other adults, but really did a good job connecting and finding ways to get on the student’s level and teach so that they would have ways to remember what they learned. I thought the "before reading" exercises were very important. I like how the teacher went through the entire book and each new word on the book before letting the kids read on their own. It’s important to discuss the words and their meanings in case there are some students that understand it and some that do not. It was important for the students to find the similarities in what they already knew and what they learned through this reading, so they could correlate the two to make them better readers. I also like how the teacher increased the importance on the ending sounds just as much as the beginning sounds. Sometimes the ending sounds are not as thought about, and we assume that if the child understand the beginning sounds then the flow of the word with help the child with the ending sounds. I liked her picture activity after reading, when she emphasized on this skill. I thought there was room, however, for some students to not necessarily understand some sounds or words since there was a big group and not a lot of individual advances. Some students seemed to be calling out every answer while some were not as quick. The teacher did a good job, but I think it would also be helpful to let the children tell us what they are learning instead of the teacher giving them the answer so quickly.

4. Readinga-z.com website:
       The website readinga-z.com seems to be a good resource when trying to find books and activities correlating with the books in Guided Reading activities. The website has multiple options based on level of reading and genre, so the teacher can reach out to many different readers and their interests. The website includes everything needed to help in a Guided Reading lesson, such as the worksheets and quizzes. This website would be good for me to use in my Special Education classroom as a guide to help my students understand readings or understand the world around them.