Gruping allws children t supprt each ther in reading and feel part f a cmmunity f readers. It als allws fr efficient use f a teacher s time. Jhn Smith and Warwick Elley Funtas, I.C., & Pinnell, G.S. (1996). Guided reading: Gd first teaching fr all children. Prtsmuth, NH: Heinemann. Funtas, I.C., & Pinnell, G.S. (2001). Guiding readers and writers: Teaching cmprehensin, genre, and cntent literacy. Prtsmuth, NH: Heinemann. There are three assumptins at wrk when a teacher is getting ready t grup children fr guided reading: (1) there will be a wide range f experience, knwledge, and skills amng any grup f children; (2) every child will be different frm every ther child in sme levels f knwledge and skill; and (3) children will prgress at varying rates. Given thse assumptins, hw des a teacher rganize grups fr teaching reading? And added t the lgistic difficulties are the dcumented dangers f gruping. Dynamic gruping enables teachers t grup children effectively fr efficient teaching. Cncerns Abut Gruping In the last tw decades, gruping nearly disappeared frm elementary schls, a change that was made with gd intentins. Sme f the research has fund that: Assigning students t self cntained classes r tracks within classes accrding t achievement r ability des nt enhance achievement. Once a child is assigned t a lw grup, the chances f mving t a higher grup are very lw. Students in high and lw ability grups receive different instructin. Children in lw grups have fewer pprtunities t read. They spend mre time practicing item tasks like decding individual wrds. Students in higher grups spend mre time n critical thinking, fcus mre n meaning, and read tw t three times as many in cntext wrds as children in lw grups. Fr lwer grup students, the pace is slwer and they are mre likely t be ff task. Students self cnfidence and self esteem are damaged by their assignment t lw grups. N matter hw carefully teachers name grups, everyne always knws which is lw and which is high. Students frm minrity grups were mre likely t be assigned t the lw grups, as were students wh had nt had preschl experience. Interactin amng students f a variety f ability levels appears t increase achievement. If students, particularly lw grup students, benefit frm being in cntact with a variety f achievement levels, then we need t make pprtunities fr children f all levels f experience t mix. Supplementing hetergeneus grups with small needs based grups may cntribute t achievement. Ability grups are effective when students are placed in them fr specific instructin rather than as brad ability categries and when the cmpsitin f the grup is flexible and fluid. Ratinale fr Gruping There are several cmpelling reasns fr bringing students tgether in grups based n their learning needs at a particular time. Guided reading is nly a small part f ur students day, but with
teaching that is effective, efficient, and scially supprtive, it is an pprtunity t accelerate their learning. Effectiveness Small grup instructin is effective because teaching is fcused precisely n what the students need t learn next t mve frward. Yur gal, as yu strive t prvide the mst effective instructin pssible, is t match the difficulty f the material with the student s current abilities; material shuld prvide a challenge that is just right fr yur students. Extensive research shws that a text s difficulty level is a critical factr in helping early elementary readers. The Natinal Cmmittee n the Preventin f Reading Difficulties describes three levels: reading that is independent, frustrating, r instructin fr individual students. Our gal in guided reading is t wrk with students at their instructinal level that is, the bks that are within the student s cntrl but ffer a mderate amunt f challenge. Ideally, students shuld be able t read with mre than 90 percent accuracy. With texts that are t difficult, students can t learn hw t read better. Efficiency Class size prevents us frm individually reaching every student every day. Learning effective reading strategies demands a substantial amunt f time and necessitates that we teach ur students in grups. Wrking with a small grup enables yu t prvide fifteen t thirty minutes f high quality, intensive instructin that is apprpriate fr every member f the grup. Needs based gruping gives yur teaching maximum impact. Fr example: Wrking fr phrasing and fluency Slving multisyllable wrds Intrducing new genres Learning hw t read new kinds f texts Cnnecting persnally with reading Learning hw t read tests Learning hw t read and study textbks Thinking deeply abut reading Scial Supprt Gruping als fsters cmmunicatin and encurages students t help ne anther. The mre yu talk abut what yu understand and listen t thers interpretatins, the mre yu get ut f an experience. Frming and re frming grups is a way t create a sense f cmmunity in the classrm. Small grup wrk is particularly imprtant fr students wh have difficulty learning t read. Traditinal Versus Dynamic Gruping Traditinally, nly ne kind f gruping based n ability was used fr classrm wrk. In dynamic gruping fr cmprehensive literacy, many kinds f grups are used fr reading and fr ther activities, with nly guided reading based n achievement r experience. Matching children t texts is tentative and cautius, because yung children learn very quickly. Any particular gruping is a hypthesis that is cntinually being tested. Grups are expected t change. In dynamic gruping, children d nt read a fixed sequence f bks. Texts are chsen fr their apprpriateness fr the grup.
Rigid systems that perpetuate static grups are filled with prblems, but teaching the class as a whle grup with a single text als has serius drawbacks. Whle class instructin tends t marginalize thse students wh need mre interactin and clser cntact with the teacher and a text they can read successfully. In whle class instructin, it is easy fr sme students t tune ut r avid taking risks. In small grups, students find it easier t participate in discussins that supprt the develpment f deeper understanding. Page 5 shws imprtant differences between traditinal gruping and dynamic gruping in terms f underlying assumptins and the prcesses f gruping, teaching, and evalutatin. The Prcess f Dynamic Gruping Guided reading grups are temprary, an imprtant difference frm traditinal gruping practice. Within the cmprehensive language and literacy framewrk, grups are frmed and re frmed fr many different purpses. In general, yu will fllw these steps as yu decide hw t grup students fr maximum instructinal benefit: Wrk cnsistently with students wh read at the same instructinal level, gradually increasing the level f text difficulty thrugh supprtive instructin. If mst members f a grup mve faster than ne r tw r if ne r tw surge ahead, change the makeup f the grup. Cnvene a small, needs based grup fr a cncept that sme students need t learn and are ready t learn. If the cncept is ne students can explre acrss several different levels f text, the grup can be hetergeneus. If the cncept is characteristic f a particular level f text r genre f text, the grup shuld be hmgenus. Use a minilessn with the whle grup, fllwed by applicatin, t help the class learn a cncept that all students need and are ready t learn. Using Assessment Data fr Dynamic Gruping When gruping students and matching bks t their reading ability, it is always wise t rely n several surces f assessment infrmatin. N ne measure can give yu a cmplete picture f student prgress. Think what yu can learn frm the fllwing: Listening t a student read ne hundred t tw hundred wrds f a text will enable yu t determine accuracy, fluency, and errr behavir. Examining students respnse jurnals will help yu recgnize the kinds f things students are taking frm bks they read independently what they understand. Reviewing students writing will give yu a ntin f the kinds f language structures and text structures they cntrl as well as their knwledge f spelling patterns in wrds. Taking ntes as students respnd during bk discussin will help yu hypthesize abut the depth f their cmprehensin and surmise their ability t summarize and infer frm text. Using a set f benchmark reading (shrt pieces representative f levels f text difficulty) will prvide yu with a mre frmal way f assessing students ability t read accurately read with phrasing and fluency, find key infrmatin in the text, and interpret the text. Infrmal reading inventries can indicate an apprximate ability level as well as the rate f reading. Discussin f texts befre and after will give yu imprtant infrmatin abut the students level f understanding. Examining several kinds f assessment tasks, as well as bserving the student clsely as she participates in guided reading, will help yu mnitr yur grupings. If a student seems t struggle with the text day after day, yu will need t d sme clser bservatin. Students wh finish befre
everyne else and remember, understand, and interpret the text may need mre challenge. The fllwing factrs enable dynamic, rather than static, gruping. Select bks fr yur students based n their reading abilities and needs rather than fllwing a prescriptively defined list f rdered bks. Invlve students in many different kinds f grups sme based n instructinal needs and sme based n interest r cntent studies. Use bth hetergeneus and hmgeneus grups. Cnsider the rle f genre as a factr in students reading abilities. Make sure that students are reading at their instructinal level and making maximum use f their independent reading time. Avid rund rbin reading in which everyne takes turns reading alud. Instead, make sure that each student reads the whle text r a unified part f the text silently/sftly and independently. Integrate guided reading, independent reading, and literature study. Students begin reading a text in guided reading and mve t independent reading r literature study. Students are learning hw t d smething they can apply in ther cntexts. This interrelatinship helps t mve a guided reading grup alng, s that it is nt bgged dwn in a very lng bk fr a lng time. Using shrt pieces and changing what students read allws fr mre flexible gruping. A teacher cannt establish her reading grups at the beginning f the year and keep them intact thrughut the year. If she des, she is nt addressing individual differences and nt respnding t differential rates f prgress r allwing fr different paths t the same gal. Smehw her practices are lcking children int fixed rates f prgress. Jeanne Olsheske