A few Septembers ago I was in an auditorium with lots of teachers. We had just finished a day of professional development. I was tired, hungry, and my brain was so full that teaching strategies were spilling out of my ears and dribbling down my shirt. The workshops had been facilitated by these awesome people with funny accents, consultants from AUSSIE.

I raised my hand and asked, “So, I’ve been working on this teaching reading thing for some time now (7 years). When will I feel like I’ve got it, like I know how to do it, like teaching reading is easy?”

Vicki stepped forward. Vicki somehow reminds me of a fairy godmother. She’s tiny, wise, has sparkly eyes, and of course, she has that accent. “Well,” she began. “I don’t think there’s really ever a time when we’re done learning. In fact, I’m still learning myself.” Great, I thought to myself, that’s just great.

The fact is, Vicki is right. As teachers there is always more to learn, especially when it comes to teaching reading. And learning is exciting, especially when we have adequate time and encouraging teachers who create a safe space for us to explore new ideas. Ultimately, professional learning is worth it; it helps us do our best for kids.

My goal in this chapter is to give you some virtual coaching while you're on your way to becoming a strong reading teacher. For three years I had a fabulous literacy coach named Lisa Burman. In addition, I've taken and taught courses on literacy instruction. So here's some info to get you started.

The assessment process is easier if the school has given me a good reading assessment kit, such as the DRA, Scholastic’s On the Mark, or a kit that came with the adopted reading program. However, an assessment kit only works if it matches with books that children will read during lessons. If it doesn’t match, then I do my own assessments as follows:

First, I choose several books out of my classroom library that are unfamiliar to students and set them aside for assessments. I level them using Fountas and Pinnell’s Guided Reading leveling system.[1]

Starting the second day of school, I have each student read the books to me. I take running records as the student reads.[2] The running records show me the student’s accuracy, fluency, and strategy use.

When I find a level that the student can read with at least 96% accuracy, I have student retell the story. I use the retelling to assess comprehension. When I first started running records and retellings, it helped me to audiotape the students. A question I try to answer is, “What is the highest level book that this student read with 96% accuracy and good comprehension?” This is how I determine a student’s independent reading level. The next couple of levels up is their instructional level - good for guided reading and partner reading. Above that is probably their frustration level - good for read alouds and shared reading.

Once I have assessed each student, planning instruction is easy. Well, “easy” may be an exaggeration.

• First, if I've assessed a student, then I know what books she or he should be reading during independent reading time, and I have a sense of what strategies I might teach when we're conferring.
• Second, I list all the students, sorted by independent reading level. I use this list to divide students into homogenous groups for guided reading lessons.
• Next, I scan students’ assessments to see which decoding, comprehension and phonics strategies the class needs to learn. For example, if students rarely stop when they’ve said a word which doesn’t make sense, then I know to teach them to stop and think during whole group minilessons.

It took me a while to become familiar with reading strategies. I read books, took a couple of classes, talked with experienced teachers, and spent lots of time thinking about my students. See the Coach's Favorites for resources that will help. The effort paid off, because now I can listen to a child read and know almost automatically what to teach that child next.

Teach the whole class how to read:

• Read stories to them aloud (kids can't see the words).
• Do shared reading (kids can see the words and read along with you either silently or chorally).
• Teach them reading strategies during minilessons.
  

Teach small groups how to read:

• With guided reading groups teach reading strategies and comprehension skills.
• With literature circles and book clubs teach comprehension skills to students based on student interests and sharing the leadership with them.
  

Teach individual students how to read:

• Match them with leveled books.
• Confer with kids to assess, teach strategies, or just plain get to know them.
• Give students time for independent reading.

Planning: Do it all in 45 minutes!

Mon, Fri

• 20 min read aloud or shared reading
• 20 min conferring \ independent reading
• 5 min closing

Tue, Wed, Thu

• 10 min minilesson
• 10 min guided reading group \ independent reading
• 10 min conferring \ independent reading
• 10 min guided reading group \ independent reading
• 5 min closing

This is a sample beginning of the year unit for grades 2-4. The unit overview, the first lesson plan, and assessment documents are included.

 1. Get Guided Reading by Fountas and Pinnell (Heinemann, 1996). Then read it. Then do what it says to do. It is the single best instruction book on how to teach guided reading (GR) and there is no substitute. By the way, it’s much more fun to read with friends, i.e. in a class or study group. Even having one GR buddy is better than going it alone.

2. Your kids have to have some modicum of independence. If your management isn’t such that you can look away from them for 10-15 minutes, then get help from one of those teachers who has the most independent kids in the city. You know, that teacher down the hall who can leave her or his classroom and go use the restroom, meet with a parent, and convince the custodian to find another bookcase. Meanwhile the class is quietly completing their independent work and then starting their next lesson, on their own. By the way, doing step 1 above, will help with step 2.

3. At what level are your kids reading this quarter? You need to assess them. Your goal is to know two things: At what level are they reading? What strategies do they know?

4. You need books. It’s best if you have lessons to go with the books because then you can get a sense of how lessons go. You won’t always need the lessons… After awhile you’ll be able to think about a kid's level and known strategies, think about a book, and make up a lesson in your head that will help that kid, using that book.

5. If you’ve done steps 1 through 4, then you’re ready. Take a deep a breath and teach.

First, I assess my students using running records and retellings (see the reading assessment section). I divide students into homogenous groups so that I can match groups with books that they will be able to read with 90-95% accuracy. Homogenous groups work for my class because I reassess about every three months to prevent the social and academic delays caused by tracking.

I make it clear that just as adults are expected to get along with those they work with, so are my students. Nevertheless, occasionally I have to change a student’s group to make the group’s behavior manageable. In these cases, the target student isn’t in her or his ideal group. Frankly, however, I’d rather have a student reading a book that’s a little too easy rather than have students chatting, goofing off, or arguing during the reading workshop.

While I’m teaching a guided reading lesson, the other students are reading. For an excellent guide to the research on this see Chapter 2 of Allington's What really matters for struggling readers (Addison Wesley, 2001). I used to have the other students do various art or worksheet activities, but then a principal pointed out to me that if the students could be busy, then they could be busy doing academics.

Now, I have one group at the library area reading any books they choose. I have one or two groups reading the 5 to 8 books in their ziploc bags which are at their independent reading level. When I had a larger class, I had an additional group listening to a book on tape. Sometimes, a group who has just received a guided reading lesson is doing a follow-up activity to that lesson. Sometimes, a group might read poetry, or some other genre we’re studying. K and 1 students can also read around the room.

This system works for two reasons. One is that I expect students, even six-year-olds, to “read, read, read” and I spend time during the first six weeks of school training them to do just that. Second, I do what ever I can to get books so that there are enough for each child to have 8 books to read at any one time. 

It depends on your kids. When I taught K, read alouds, shared reading and word work were much more important than GR at the beginning of the year. When I taught 2^nd, my goal was to meet with my struggling readers at least three times each week and my advanced readers at least once each week. My students were grouped homogenously for GR. I was able to do two groups a day (most days) in a 50-minute reading workshop.

Here’s a possible schedule for a class with three GR groups: struggling students, students who are on-track, and students who are advanced.  Notice that the teacher does GR three days each week.  The amount of GR that students receive relates to their level of need.  And the students would pick their own group names; I would certainly not refer to any group of kids publicly as 'strugglers'. 

GR = guided reading, IR = independent reading, Resp. = reading response