Literature Responses Part V: Intersections with Guided Reading

It isn't that what I'm presenting to you as a very encapsulated version of Guided Reading is repetitive--(stop me if you've heard this one before as the saying goes)--so much that in the realm of Literacy and Instruction, all roads lead to “research-based, best practice methods.”  And it just so happens that there's a very fortuitous and pragmatic overlap between Literature Responses and Guided Reading.

The basic instructional outline of Guided Reading:

1. A Guided Reading group is a small group of students who are roughly at the same reading level. 

2. A book is selected that students have not seen before and is at the instructional (not independent) level of reading; that is, a text students can read with 90-94% accuracy. 

3. All students silently read the book to themselves. 

4. The teacher conducts a teacher-led mini lesson for focused exploration:

·        Story Elements

·        Vocabulary*

·        Sequencing

·        Character Development*

·        Predicting*

·        Fluency

·        Decoding Strategies

·        Making Connections* (personal, to another text, to the world)

·        Inferring*

·        Summarizing

·        Analyzing*

·        Critiquing*

·        Skimming and Scanning

·        Retelling*

·        Word Meanings

5. Students respond in reflective discussion as a group.

*Contained in Mr./Ms. Lexicon, Role Model, At First Glance, Face-to-Face, Predictor, 5/15/30, Connector, Reader's Theater roles of Literature Responses
*Contained in the Questions Types workshop students need to become a Discussion Director in Literature Responses

In the Fountas and Pinnel/Four Blocks method, there are four concepts students work in when responding to the text:

·        Predicting

·        Questioning

·        Clarifying

·        Summarizing      

This is where Literature Responses come into play.  If you look at the roles within Literature Responses, especially the first four (discussion director, connector, quoter, and predictor), they bear a striking similarity to what is asked of students during and after a reading session in Guided Reading.

One of my main goals when modifying Literature Circles was to build in “research-based, best practice methods” that lend some meaning to what students are reading in a way that is immediate, authentic, and fun.  I would suggest to those teachers who prefer using the Fountas and Pinnel/Four Blocks method of Guided Reading to delete “summarizing” from the four roles as this is something teachers should be doing with students as a comprehension check during reading (every few pages depending on the grade and ability level).  Additionally—again, stop me if you've heard this one before—whatever summaries students come up with should be written down in their Writer’s Notebooks in the section set aside for Guided Reading.

(The links I'm including here are the same ones used in a workshop which Clelia conducted; just know that some of the links presented on those sites are broken, outdated, or not useful to someone who's not a primary grade teacher.  If you need assistance or supporting materials, please e-mail me.)

Reading Strategies II: Using Post-It Notes to Mark Up the Text

One of the most important forms of note-taking happens in the margins of texts; commonly referred to as "marginalia" it is the act of assuming ownership of learned material by transacting with the text.  This happens most effectively with Post-It notes, especially when annotating a text is not feasible (i.e., school textbooks).  There are actually many different forms of taking notes using sticky notes, but I've found two levels of using them:

• 1. Asking questions about what isn't understood during reading (then following up on doing the research necessary to answer these questions).
• 2. Responding to annotations made on Post-It notes as can be seen in the images I've included here; the text used was Weasel by Cynthia DeFelice.

As a brief codicil to using sticky notes in teaching students note-taking skills, I'd like to pass on an absolutely amazing and downright useful link to the New York Times blog on using articles from the New York Times as resources for textual material.  To this end, the following link would be great to use in teaching students a variety of note-taking methods:

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/briefly-noted-practicing-useful-annotation-strategies/

Literature Responses Part III: Roles, Rubrics & More Rubrics!

Some of you may be wondering why I've chosen to concentrate on Question Types when it seems to be such a niche way of going about literacy; some of the most important roles in Literature Responses, however, require students being in the full working knowledge of how to construct, deconstruct, and respond to each of the Question Types (e.g., Discussion Director and Predictor), or require students to be able to think in a sophisticated, logical, or higher-order manner, much as open-ended questions do.

Just for everyone's convenience, I wanted to post PDFs of Literature Responses and to let everyone know that whatever they whittle the roles down into, the ones I would consider to be essential going forward are:

• Discussion Director
• Connector
• Quoter
• Predictor
• Debater
• Reader's Theater
• Take-Away
• Best Case/Worst Case Scenario

Coming up as soon as I get all of the Question Types covered: the Debater role!  Here's where teachers will get a chance to practice Close Reading with their students.

Reading Strategies I

Whenever possible, it’s advisable to marry reading with writing, which is why a Writer’s Notebook is so important.  It’s in this section of their binder that students should be prompted to make predictions, ask questions about words and the text, and complete summaries as they make their way through a text.

One sound regime might be (in the notebook for a reading session):

• Pre-reading: Make a prediction about the day’s reading based on last session’s reading

• During reading: Ask questions about the text/create summaries (instead of checking for comprehension orally)

• Post-reading: Go back to prediction/answer questions/create end-of-story summary/create open-ended questions for discussion

Students should also be permitted to use their own Writer's Notebooks on tests and quizzes.  In this case students will be more likely to take notes, and this will lead to discussions and questions bent on the open-ended variety as simple recall questions can be subordinated to comprehension checks and review quizzes...not to mention that because students are writing what you speak and/or write, their Writer's Notebooks will become valuable resources for all of you as well.