About 'Guided Reading' - good and poor practice - 'throw out the throwbacks (please)'

This is the hub of the site and the place to post queries, start discussions and join in the conversation!
Post Reply
User avatar
Debbie_Hepplewhite
Posts: 2499
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

About 'Guided Reading' - good and poor practice - 'throw out the throwbacks (please)'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

IFERI committee member, Gordon Askew, has written a very helpful blog posting about the well-known notion of 'Guided Reading'.

Guided Reading is a method of hearing children read which was heavily promoted in England with the roll-out in 1998 of the, then, National Literacy Strategy which was based on a 'multi-cueing reading strategies' approach. This multi-cueing (whole language, mixed methods) approach has been discredited by a body of international research on reading for many years (although not everyone accepts of even knows that this is the case) but still multi-cueing persists even in England and in other countries around the world where the English language is taught for reading.

Gordon describes the issues about Guided Reading well and provides beneficial ways to support small groups of children reading:
Throw out the throwbacks (please)
http://ssphonix.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/ ... ase_7.html
I have already explained at some length on this blog why multi-cueing is so deleterious and the posts remain below for anyone who wants to read them. However, I find myself moved to write this new post because I am still seeing a range of classroom practices which I consider throwbacks to the days of the old National Strategy and beyond. Sometimes teachers simply do not question themselves sufficiently about things they were advised to do in the past and which have now been part of their practice for a long time. Thinking has moved forward - on the basis of what demonstrably ensures that many more children learn to read quickly and effectively - but some classroom practice is still littered with throwbacks.
Post Reply