When teachers are helping students become independent and skilled readers, many of the turn to the guided reading philosophy. By using a guided reading program, students progressively learn and develop different skills related to phonics, grammar, and reading comprehension. While the primary grades are typically targeted with a guided reading philosophy, it can also be an effective technique to help older students who need improvement. It can encourage skills such as research and information gathering in these older students. When the guided reading philosophy is used to its best advantage, students learn all the necessary skills to read successfully and to enjoy the activity for the rest of their lives.
What Is The Guided Reading Philosophy?
When putting a guided reading program together, students are generally put in smaller groups of four to six children. This team will all read the same book and complete any assignments related to it. It is important for the guided reading philosophy that the book chosen is appropriate for the level of all the students in the group, which is why children may often be separated into groups with similar learning needs. With young readers, teachers may often employ pictures and picture books to aid with comprehension. Attaching the word to an image of the item can help develop comprehension. A second common technique is to look for common letter combinations in a word, which helps the child sound it out. For instance the letters “-at” and “-it” are typical pairings in children’s books. It may be helpful for the child to read the entire sentence out loud, and attempt to decipher the word by its context. In the guided reading philosophy, multiple techniques are encouraged to help children with all learning styles.






