I was with the same students in second grade, in third grade, and… well, you get the picture. Think about it this way: Back when I was in elementary school, I was in the “blue” reading group. How do we know that small-group instruction is not always guided reading? Let’s dig in to these important components of guided reading. Jan Richardson, in The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading: An Assess-Decide-Guide Framework for Supporting Every Reader (2016), offers three essentials of guided reading:

Just what should we expect to see in a guided reading lesson? Experts agree that small groups and leveled texts are necessary, and there is also consensus that teaching must be targeted and include progress monitoring. By focusing instruction on these areas, a guided reading lesson prepares students to be able to read the next level of text complexity. Therefore, a guided reading teacher plans lessons and focuses instruction on the areas where students need support. A guided reading teacher plays the role of an expert reader who scaffolds-and, yes, guides-the lesson for less-experienced readers. In guided reading, the goal is to build independent readers who can read fluently with comprehension. But does that term mean the same thing to everyone? Some teachers, any time they meet and read with small groups, call it guided reading regardless of the text they use, or the instructional focus of the lesson.Īt Scholastic, we believe that teaching reading in small groups is just one part of the instructional practice known as guided reading. Jan continues her dedication to improving literacy education and increasing teachers’ connections to supportive instructional materials.It’s not unusual to hear the term guided reading used to describe small-group instruction. She is also the author of Next Step Guided Reading in Action, The Guided Reading Teacher’s Companion, The Next Step in Guided Reading: Focused Assessments and Targeted Lessons for Helping Every Student Become a Better Reader, and The Next Step Forward in Reading Intervention, each published by Scholastic. In fall 2019, Jan’s new book, coauthored with Michèle, The Next Step Forward in Word Study and Phonics, will be published by Scholastic. Together with Michèle Dufresne, she has coauthored the best-selling Literacy Footprints Guided Reading system, published by Pioneer Valley Books (PVB), which has become an indispensable part of helping teachers deliver high-quality guided reading to students in K–6 classrooms. Jan is the author of the best-selling professional teaching resource The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading: An Assess-Decide-Guide Framework for Supporting Every Reader. She has turned her commitment to reading education into a passion for supporting educators in classrooms throughout the country and around the world.

Jan Richardson is a reading specialist, Reading Recovery teacher leader, staff developer, and former K–12 teacher.

The next step forward guided reading