Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students - Dr. Stirling ...

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Each group read three legends, and took Accelerated Reader tests on the books,when available, at the end of the activities. The unit concluded with a lunchfeaturing First Nations food. Some students retold a few of the legends they hadread by performing puppet shows on the last day of school for students inGrades One through Three. Students in the audience were asked to infer what theauthor’s message was at the end of each legend. Each legend was well received bythe audience.THE TEACHING APPROACH IN GRADE FIVEInstruction started with a fantasy themed unit in English Language Arts. ALiterature Circle approach with small manageable groups with students eachreading at their levels, performing critical and creative thinking tasks, andanswering inferential questions was used. Novels included Tuck everlasting byNatalie Babbitt (1975), A stranger came ashore (1975) by Mollie Hunter, publishedby Harper Trophy, and Allison’s ghost by Canadian authors Mary Alice andJohn Downie (1984). Sentence stems from an English Language Arts workshopwere enlarged, reproduced and laminated. Color-coding was used for before,during, and after reading activities. Cards were made for each of the researchersto use with any English Language Arts unit (see Appendix 3 for a detailed list ofthe sentence stems). Students also used response journals to record I wonder…,I think…, and to draw a picture or make notes about their reading under a sectioncalled, “My Space.”The Grade Five researcher engages a Literature Circle group withsentence stem cards.The Grade Five researcher continued to develop students’ critical and creativethinking and inferencing skills in a variety of areas across the curriculumbeginning with a cross-curricular Heroes unit. Students did four lessons from thebook, Heroes: 21 true stories of courage and honor – with exercises for developingreading comprehension and critical thinking skills (1999) by Henry Billings andMelissa Billings from Jamestown Publishers.According to Heroes, “When you combine your own experience and informationfrom a text to draw a conclusion that is not directly stated in that text, you aremaking an inference” (p.58).Students practiced making inferences by:• identifying cause and effect relationships, theme categories, predictions,as well as fact and opinion,18 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
• identifying the main idea of each story,• recalling details,• working with new vocabulary,• summarizing and paraphrasing,• responding to critical thinking exercises,• raising questions, and• making personal responses to learn about heroes.In English Language Arts, a Guided Reading approach was employed using shortstories, poetry, and essays on Canadian and world heroes.In Social Studies, students learned about Canadian War Heroes/RemembranceDay by reading and responding to several information cards from Lest we forget,grades 4-6 (2000) by Ruth Solski, published by S & S Learning Materials.In Guidance, students made personal reflections on the Stations of the Cross anddrew posters to represent each station.In Mathematics, personal dictionaries were used to help students understandvocabulary, and problem solving duotangs were created to help students thinkmore critically. Students did the Written Assessment Task, Understanding theProblem on pages 77 through 83 of Alberta Education’s Diagnostic mathematicsprogram: elementary: division II: problem solving (1990). This assessment includeddetermining what information was not needed to solve problems and answeringa variety of multiple-choice questions about tables, charts, signs, diagrams, andword problems. Students also made their own tables, lists, pictures, and diagrams,or used guess and check to answer problems from The Problem Solver 3: Activitiesfor Learning Problem-Solving Strategies (1987) by Shirley Hoogeboom and JudyGoodnow, published by Creative Publications.SCHOOL VISITIn January 2007, three of the researchers, armed with questions, visited SacredHeart, an inner-city school in Regina, to observe a highly successful GuidedReading program in action. The program was intensive and involved all of thestudents in Kindergarten to Grade Eight. The program was facilitated by 18dedicated teachers and three educational assistants and occurred four days a week.Benchmarking was conducted three times a year. Students were groupedaccording to their reading levels and expected to improve one reading level per term.Reading materials consisted of benchmarking tools, books, and activity sheetsdownloaded from the Reading a-z website. The enthusiasm of all the participantswas clearly evident.RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five19
Page 7: IntroductionTHE RESEARCHERSFour tea
Page 10: Research QuestionHow can Guided Rea
Page 15 and 16: The researcher discovered that “[
Page 17 and 18: • a poem, on one side - what the
Page 19 and 20: • word sorts, and• anticipation
Page 21 and 22: THE TEACHING APPROACH IN GRADE FOUR
Page 23: HOW WOULD STUDENTS REACT TO BEING G
Page 27 and 28: Summary of DataSTUDENT INTERVIEWSWH
Page 29 and 30: In November, with the support of re
Page 31 and 32: Grade Five students read one inform
Page 33 and 34: • Teaching a small class of 11 st
Page 35 and 36: LimitationsThe research was not wit
Page 37 and 38: ReferencesAssessment ToolsAlberta E
Page 39 and 40: Ketch, A. (2005). Conversation the
Page 41 and 42: Appendix 2: Release FormRelease For
Page 43 and 44: Appendix 4: Student Work SamplesA)
Page 45 and 46: Appendix 4: Student Work SamplesC)
Page 47 and 48: 3. Did writing or drawing in your A
Page 49 and 50: RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Str
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