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

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