Reflection
Through the action research, I have learned a lot about the benefits of well-structured and implemented, daily guided reading lessons. Initially, the lack of organization and knowledge of the Fountas and Pinnell guided reading template caused my reading groups to feel rushed, challenging, and ineffective. After researching, I was able to understand how the 2-day structure of a guided reading group allows for specific time during which students can work on reading, fluency, word work, and writing with peers and a teacher guiding the learning. My own teaching has benefited from the action research, as I now have a much better understanding about how to time guided reading lessons to be as efficient as possible. I also have a greater understanding for how to best meet the needs of students who are reading at different levels, with different comprehension of texts as well. This allows the planning process to go much smoother, with each lesson specifically targeting skills and strategies that students are in need of help with, and has boosted my confidence in teaching every lesson effectively.
I saw a lot of growth through my own observations of students, not just from specific running record data collected. I saw great improvements in how students actually use reading strategies while reading and decoding words, often using the language of the reading strategies to help them figure out words and meanings. They said things like, "I'm going to stretch this word out," or "I'm going to skip the word for now and come back to it later to figure it out." Prior to the action plan, so many students guessed on words they didn't know, and would not think about context or semantics of words, and would just be focused on getting through books as fast as they could. I have found students to be less embarrassed about messing up while reading, knowing that it's okay to not know a word every time they read a new book. I think that students are overall more comfortable reading now than they were prior, hopefully from the strategies that I've helped them develop. My own confidence has grown as well, especially knowing what to say when students miss words or don't understand what they read every time. Using tools like the F & P Prompting Guide have helped me to know how to talk to students about books and how to help them move past surface-level understanding.
As a professional and first year teacher, it is often easy to look at areas of need in my classroom and see how they need to change, but it is also extremely overwhelming. The problem I've found as a first year teacher is not identifying areas of need among my students and my own teaching, but rather how to tackle those problems in a way that will benefit the most students and keep my sanity intact. Being able to find proven, research-based methods out there for best practice of teaching guided reading lessons was very eye-opening. The available resources in the teaching community often seem endless, but knowing that the tried-and-true instructional methods are available for implementation make me feel a lot more prepared for my future as an educator. Specifically for my students, having a resource like the Fountas and Pinnell guided reading lesson template allowed for each of their guided reading groups to be enjoyable and focused, maximizing their time with me each day to improve reading.
If I were to repeat this research project, I would add more elements of word work and writing into the implementation of the guided reading groups, among the structured lesson plans. I tried to incorporate as much word work and writing as I could in the lessons, but as my main focus was to make the reading as enriching as possible, word work and guided writing were often cut out due to time constraints. I would also structure my whole-group lessons completely different, as that was the most detrimental aspect of the implementation of the research project. As my whole group lessons were structured to be 10 minute mini-lessons between each of the three guided reading groups each day, I often found that the whole group lessons took much longer than the allotted time, which took away from the reading group time. There was also more behavior challenges to overcome, which often took away time that I was able to work with my reading groups more. It was a frustrating time trying to have the effective groups and also have the rest of my students working on meaningful activities, but after having now tried multiple methods, I plan to reorganize our reading block to allow for less time taken away from reading groups and more effective reading instruction overall. By having a 30-minute whole group lesson, I will be able to check up on students working on phonics skills, writing, and reading, with immediate feedback given and less questions having to be asked independently to classmates while I work with a reading group. It will also allow students to be more engaged in the reading groups, as my transition times will hopefully be shorter by not having to switch from our reading table to the whole group lesson area constantly.
A few questions that remain after completing the action plan were initially related to the outcomes of students: Did students really benefit from my specific instructional practices, or did they naturally become better readers just with more exposure to text and discussions? Is it possible for students to become better readers just with more time in reading groups? What would their reading skills be like had I done a different lesson plan template? Were the positive feelings shown in the post-survey a reflection of my specific action plan, or were they just from students feeling good on that particular day of school? What could I have done differently in my whole-group lessons to impact student achievement even more? Are my students who still struggle with reading gaining anything from these lessons as much as the students who have seen more growth? What can I do differently to better meet the needs of my lowest readers?
For my future teaching practices, I will definitely continue to use the Fountas and Pinnell guided reading lesson structure. Having this set structure will ensure that all of my guided reading lessons are effective and time-efficient, which will hopefully produce students with confident reading skills and allow for more growth. These specific practices align with Core Proposition 4, as my own organization allows my experience teaching good reading groups to continue growing and helping students understand the importance of reading and understanding text. I saw so much growth just from my own students and myself as a reading teacher. I was able to really understand each child as an individual reader, and saw them gain so much confidence in their abilities each day. I have also felt more comfortable and confident, which allows my future groups to continue getting better with more experience.
Moving forward, students are going to continue reaping the benefits of well-practiced guided reading groups not only in school, but in life in general. Having well-practiced skills in reading and language is the building blocks for almost every other subject, and almost every job out there today. Students will see the benefits every day of being able to read things in different contexts, and knowing that they are well-equipped to handle any situation. As an educator, knowing that I am preparing students for success in every subject in school and in their futures gives me a lot of pride in how and what I teach every day. These impacts, although they may seem small right now, are what build students into young adults, and eventually into functioning members of society. I also know that with this new research and practices in place, I am only going to continue perfecting and tweaking my own instruction to meet the needs of the new learners that I get each year in my classes.
I saw a lot of growth through my own observations of students, not just from specific running record data collected. I saw great improvements in how students actually use reading strategies while reading and decoding words, often using the language of the reading strategies to help them figure out words and meanings. They said things like, "I'm going to stretch this word out," or "I'm going to skip the word for now and come back to it later to figure it out." Prior to the action plan, so many students guessed on words they didn't know, and would not think about context or semantics of words, and would just be focused on getting through books as fast as they could. I have found students to be less embarrassed about messing up while reading, knowing that it's okay to not know a word every time they read a new book. I think that students are overall more comfortable reading now than they were prior, hopefully from the strategies that I've helped them develop. My own confidence has grown as well, especially knowing what to say when students miss words or don't understand what they read every time. Using tools like the F & P Prompting Guide have helped me to know how to talk to students about books and how to help them move past surface-level understanding.
As a professional and first year teacher, it is often easy to look at areas of need in my classroom and see how they need to change, but it is also extremely overwhelming. The problem I've found as a first year teacher is not identifying areas of need among my students and my own teaching, but rather how to tackle those problems in a way that will benefit the most students and keep my sanity intact. Being able to find proven, research-based methods out there for best practice of teaching guided reading lessons was very eye-opening. The available resources in the teaching community often seem endless, but knowing that the tried-and-true instructional methods are available for implementation make me feel a lot more prepared for my future as an educator. Specifically for my students, having a resource like the Fountas and Pinnell guided reading lesson template allowed for each of their guided reading groups to be enjoyable and focused, maximizing their time with me each day to improve reading.
If I were to repeat this research project, I would add more elements of word work and writing into the implementation of the guided reading groups, among the structured lesson plans. I tried to incorporate as much word work and writing as I could in the lessons, but as my main focus was to make the reading as enriching as possible, word work and guided writing were often cut out due to time constraints. I would also structure my whole-group lessons completely different, as that was the most detrimental aspect of the implementation of the research project. As my whole group lessons were structured to be 10 minute mini-lessons between each of the three guided reading groups each day, I often found that the whole group lessons took much longer than the allotted time, which took away from the reading group time. There was also more behavior challenges to overcome, which often took away time that I was able to work with my reading groups more. It was a frustrating time trying to have the effective groups and also have the rest of my students working on meaningful activities, but after having now tried multiple methods, I plan to reorganize our reading block to allow for less time taken away from reading groups and more effective reading instruction overall. By having a 30-minute whole group lesson, I will be able to check up on students working on phonics skills, writing, and reading, with immediate feedback given and less questions having to be asked independently to classmates while I work with a reading group. It will also allow students to be more engaged in the reading groups, as my transition times will hopefully be shorter by not having to switch from our reading table to the whole group lesson area constantly.
A few questions that remain after completing the action plan were initially related to the outcomes of students: Did students really benefit from my specific instructional practices, or did they naturally become better readers just with more exposure to text and discussions? Is it possible for students to become better readers just with more time in reading groups? What would their reading skills be like had I done a different lesson plan template? Were the positive feelings shown in the post-survey a reflection of my specific action plan, or were they just from students feeling good on that particular day of school? What could I have done differently in my whole-group lessons to impact student achievement even more? Are my students who still struggle with reading gaining anything from these lessons as much as the students who have seen more growth? What can I do differently to better meet the needs of my lowest readers?
For my future teaching practices, I will definitely continue to use the Fountas and Pinnell guided reading lesson structure. Having this set structure will ensure that all of my guided reading lessons are effective and time-efficient, which will hopefully produce students with confident reading skills and allow for more growth. These specific practices align with Core Proposition 4, as my own organization allows my experience teaching good reading groups to continue growing and helping students understand the importance of reading and understanding text. I saw so much growth just from my own students and myself as a reading teacher. I was able to really understand each child as an individual reader, and saw them gain so much confidence in their abilities each day. I have also felt more comfortable and confident, which allows my future groups to continue getting better with more experience.
Moving forward, students are going to continue reaping the benefits of well-practiced guided reading groups not only in school, but in life in general. Having well-practiced skills in reading and language is the building blocks for almost every other subject, and almost every job out there today. Students will see the benefits every day of being able to read things in different contexts, and knowing that they are well-equipped to handle any situation. As an educator, knowing that I am preparing students for success in every subject in school and in their futures gives me a lot of pride in how and what I teach every day. These impacts, although they may seem small right now, are what build students into young adults, and eventually into functioning members of society. I also know that with this new research and practices in place, I am only going to continue perfecting and tweaking my own instruction to meet the needs of the new learners that I get each year in my classes.