Guided Reading versus Differentiated Instruction

Michael C. McKenna

University of Virginia

Sharon Walpole

University of Delaware

Let’s start by reviewing three approaches to

differentiated reading instruction.

Approaches to Differentiation

By instructional level

By fluency level

By assessed needs

• Informal reading inventories

An IRI contains …

One or more sequences of graded word lists

One or more sequences of graded passages

Questions accompanying each passage

PP P 1st 2 3 4 5 6 • • •

C

B

A

Approaches to Differentiation

By instructional level

By fluency level

By assessed needs

• Informal reading inventories

• Traditional basal instruction

• Groups move at same pace

• Groups are all but permanent

• Differentiation is in all areas

• Parallel skill “strands” used

Approaches to Differentiation

By instructional level

By fluency level

By assessed needs

• Differentiation by leveled books

• Decoding skills not a target

• Fountas & Pinnell

Approaches to Differentiation

By instructional level

By fluency level

By assessed needs

Assess for differentiation Screening + diagnostic Groups are temporary Groups are flexible Target areas of greatest need Goal is “upward mobility”

To us, differentiation is …

“instruction that helps [children] accomplish challenging tasks that are just out of their reach”

“instruction that targets a particular group of children’s needs directly and temporarily”

“instruction that applies a developmental model”

Walpole, S., & McKenna, M. C. (2007). Differentiated reading instruction: Strategies for the primary grades. New York: Guilford Press.

Our Approach and Guided Reading: What’s the Difference?

For a small group that is best served by a focus on fluency and comprehension, our approach looks very much like Guided Reading.

And yet there are important differences. We will begin

by making those differences clear.

Determining Group Membership

Overall leveled placement assessment, such as the DRA

This process ignores the specific skill deficits in the areas of phonological awareness and word recognition

Screening and diagnostic assessments in phonological awareness, phonics, sight words, and/or oral reading fluency.

Diagnostic Assessment

Running records are used to analyze oral reading errors (miscues), a practice that has been called into question in light of current views of the reading process.

The cognitive model of reading assessment is used to systematically determine skill needs on the basis of developmental stage theories of reading acquisition.

Stage models of reading

Oral Language

Fluency

Alphabetic Principle

Phonemic Awareness

When children are acquiring literacy – developing the skills necessary for reading comprehension – they tend to move through stages in which their focus is very different. All along, during each stage, they are developing oral language skills.

Three Cuing Systems

Decoding

Syntactic Context

Semantic Context

A key distinction between our approach and Guided Reading is how teachers approach

the use of context in recognizing words.

What is this word?

What information did you use to identify it?

read

What does this word mean?What part of speech is it?How do you pronounce it?

That novel was a good read.

Now try again.

What new information did you use?

In actual reading, information within the word and information in context are

available simultaneously.

That novel was a good read.

Proficient readers use all three cuing systems, to be sure, but they use context to decide among multiple meanings and multiple pronunciations. This occurs after decoding has allowed them to locate the word in memory.

So what should a teacher do when a child reads this sentence and hesitates before the last word?

That novel was a good read.

1.Ask the child to predict the word based on the previous context. or

2.Ask the child to use decoding skills to determine the word’s pronunciation.

We want to move children to the point where they decode first and then use context to select the intended meaning of a word.

We do not want to encourage them to predict the word from context and only “sample” its letters to the extent needed to confirm this prediction.

Three Cuing Systems

Decoding

Syntactic Context

Semantic Context

The three systems are not equally important. Context should become a child’s last resort

– not the first!

Instructional Focus

Fluency is always the primary focus.

In guided reading, the teacher coordinates reading components (comprehension, word recognition, fluency).

Fluency is the focus 1. only for grade 1 and above

2. only if decoding skills are

strong.

In differentiated instruction,the teacher isolates readingcomponents to addressdeficits.

Fluency Instruction

Fluency techniques do not proceed from most to least supportive.

Fluency techniques progress from most to least supportive:

1. Echo reading2. Choral reading3. Partner reading4. Whisper reading

Text Types

Predictable books are preferred for beginning readers in order to promote fluency. Such books provide little basis for decoding instruction.

Decodable books are preferred for beginning readers in order to promote decoding in context. Such books provide little basis for comprehension instruction–so there is none.

Comprehension Instruction

Comprehension instruction is based on texts at fluency level.

This means that the easiest texts provide very little basis for asking reasonable questions or modeling strategies, but this practice is still encouraged.

In the primary grades, comprehension instruction is based on small-group read-alouds for children who are at benchmark in word recognition.

Comprehension instruction is linked with fluency or vocabulary but not with word recognition instruction.

Word Recognition Instruction

Word recognition needs are not systematically addressed during guided reading.Rather, they are addressed on an as-needed basis.

Word recognition needs are identified through the cognitive model of assessment and are addressed on this basis.

MeasuringProgress

Running records are used to determine readiness for the next text level.

Three-week post-assessment focuses on areas targeted by instruction.

The assessment question is whether a child should move to a more advanced focus, remain at current focus, or move to a more basic focus.

MeasuringProgress

PA and Word Recognition

Word Recognition and Fluency

Fluency and Comprehension

Vocabulary & Comprehension

A Stairway to Proficiency