Guided Reading
Aside from the technical aspects of teaching children to read independently and well, teachers are developing children’s passion and enthusiasm for reading; encouraging children to read frequently and widely, to love literature in all its forms and to become lifelong readers. The government talk widely about teaching children to ‘read for pleasure’ and it is this aspect of reading that fascinates me most. I wonder – is it not ‘in you’ to love or hate reading?
To a degree it is innate isn’t it, as neither of my parents were avid readers. My Dad ‘didn’t do fiction’ and my mum picked up a book on holiday! We didn’t have bookshelves in the house and we visited the library now and then. I can’t remember going to book shops, but oh how I loved Puffin Book Club! I lay credit by my good teachers. Indeed the story/class book at the end of the school day was the best part as far as I was concerned and I would hate to miss it. Today I am responsible for choosing books to inspire children and to ultimately help teachers to select the very best and credible reads for their Guided Reading lessons. Something I couldn’t have imagined!
In my opinion, Guided Reading has been a revelation in classrooms. The mix of reading independently and one to one with a teacher clearly has extremely positive results on young readers. I am immensely proud of the range of teacher resources that Badger Learning offers. As a teacher once myself, I was grateful to find outstanding resources to guide my planning and preparation for lessons.
I feel passionate that children should read a mix of books – purposefully written books (scheme) and books that are written for pure enjoyment (real). In my role as Senior Book Collections Manager, I constantly strive to give teachers some guidance in selecting real books for the level their children are at. My colleagues and I have worked extensively this year on our Enjoy Guided Reading range; we have refined and tweaked our collections to give clear recommendations as to which books to use with different abilities within the class. We are really pleased with the new look and are excited to of included brand new titles like, Seal Island (Julia Green), Hook or by Crook (Jan Mark), Fortunately the Milk…(Neil Gaiman), and Whale Boy (Nicola Davies) to name a few!
What do we look for in a good guided reading text? Well, two things really – as authors are writing teacher notes and we want to make sure teachers can make the most of the Teacher Book we need to find titles with a ‘lifespan’ – prolific authors, award-winning titles, first in a thrilling new series…all of these things help to reassure us that a book will stay in print (we chat with the publisher too of course). Whilst the longevity of a book is important, ultimately and most notably it is whether or not a book will be enjoyed by the readers it is intended for. Is it well written? Does it have a good storyline? Will it keep the reader interested with its pace, good characterisation and plot? Does the book have a text/emotional level that is appropriate? You would be surprised how many books are rejected from our range due to the inclusion of inappropriate references or words. We don’t wish for any books to get into the wrong hands and we are acutely aware that reading aloud to your teacher could cause embarrassment, so we are extra sensitive when we review for any Guided Reading book!
All of these things we hope, above all else, make for superior Guided Reading sessions – that teachers are supported by good teacher notes and that most of all children are getting a lot of pleasure reading some of the best books around for their age and ability. They will be selecting reading books for their own children one day or even become the next generation of authors writing them!!
See the new range of Guided Reading here.
Written by Kerry Jarvis, Senior Book Collections Manager.