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.

Teachers may also discuss ideas such as prediction what a book is about, based on things like the title or cover illustrations. Children in a group using the guided reading philosophy may be asked to evaluate the story, and explain what parts they liked and did not like. There are many other strategies that fit into this type of program. For instance, children may discuss solutions to problems that arise in the story or be asked to predict what they think is going to happen next.

While this group of strategies may seem diverse, they all fall within a guided reading philosophy and are designed to help students improve their reading comprehension. By learning these skills at an early age, they can enjoy independent reading. Parents should learn what strategies work best with their children and use them when they are reading together at home.

For a child to achieve academic success, they need to have good reading skills. The guided reading philosophy is an effective way to help your child improve their skills one step at a time. The better your child learns to read, the more success they will enjoy in their later education.