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

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Sacred Heart Community School, Regina, Saskatchewan taken byLorraine Brecht.Reprinted with permission.After observing Guided Reading at Sacred Heart, the researchers met with two ofthe teachers to get answers to any remaining questions. Seeing first-hand how aGuided Reading program using multi-grade groupings was conducted was aninvaluable experience. Practical ideas about how to implement it were gathered andcontinued enthusiasm for the project was generated.ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATIONStudents’ comprehension and thinking skills were assessed in a variety of ways.Computerized assessment included the Star test to identify instructional levels andgrade equivalent scores, Accelerated Reader quizzes to measure basicunderstanding of the books read, and Literacy quizzes to measure higher-levelthinking skills including inferring. Both types of quiz had multiple-choicequestions.We also assessed students’ daily work, i.e., their writing, which included story mapsand other graphic organizers, responses to written questions, response journals,and interviews, their speaking skills in discussions, oral reading, and retellings, andtheir representational skills in artwork. A Guided Reading Evaluation checklist wasalso created (see Appendix 5).Student self-assessment included a Fantasy Unit survey in Grade Five (seeAppendix 4d), and a Looking Back at the Unit sheet to evaluate the Guided Readingunit on Native legends in Grade Four.20 RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five
Summary of DataSTUDENT INTERVIEWSWHAT WAS THE STUDENT SAMPLE LIKE? WHAT WERE THESTUDENTS’ INTERESTS? HOW DID THEY SEE THEMSELVES ASREADERS? HOW DID THE GRADE THEY WERE IN AFFECT THEIRPERCEPTIONS?In September 2006, the students in Grades Three, Four and Five were given theStudent Interview, Kindergarten – Fourth Grade from The Critical reading inventory(2004) to gather some background information, including students’ perceptions ofthemselves as readers. Students wrote their responses on an interview sheet. Ananalysis of their responses followed, and the results are summarized below.There was an even balance of boys and girls in the sample, with a total of 22 boys(one boy moved before the March 2007 reading assessment) and 21 girls.Reading was the students’ third favorite home activity, rated below watching TVand playing on the computer. Students explained that they like reading at homebecause “the book is interesting, reading teaches you stuff, I’m good at reading, Ilike reading because it’s exciting, and I relax.”The number of students who were read to at home dropped as the students gotolder. The majority of Grade Three students were read to at bedtime, while themajority of Grade Four and Five students were not. While it was parents who readto most of the Grade Three students, a grandparent read to several of thestudents, and a brother or sister read to a few.Whether students liked to read or not depended on the grade they were in. Themajority of students in Grade Three and Four liked to read, while only about halfthe students in Grade Five liked to read.There was a wide range of favorite books and authors that depended on the gradestudents were in. The most popular books in Grade Three were the Magic TreeHouse series and Junie B. Jones; in Grade Four students preferred fantasy,animal stories, and books by Lemony Snicket; and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potterbooks were the favorites in Grade Five.The students’ perceptions of themselves as good readers varied according tograde. The majority of Grade Three and Four students saw themselves as goodreaders, while the Grade Five students were split as to whether they sawthemselves as good readers or not.According to the majority of the students, no matter what grade they were in, thehardest part of reading was reading words that were hard or long. Otherdifficulties listed were taking an Accelerated Reader test, finding the perfectbook, understanding a book, the fine print in a book, pages that are too long, andthe middle of a book. Several students indicated that nothing about reading washard for them.RESEARCH REPORT: Guided Reading Strategies to Improve Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Grades Three, Four and Five21
Page 7: IntroductionTHE RESEARCHERSFour tea
Page 10: Research QuestionHow can Guided Rea
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Page 21 and 22: THE TEACHING APPROACH IN GRADE FOUR
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Page 37 and 38: ReferencesAssessment ToolsAlberta E
Page 39 and 40: Ketch, A. (2005). Conversation the
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Page 43 and 44: Appendix 4: Student Work SamplesA)
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