"Decisions, decisions: Reading to primary students during guided reading" Robert M. Schwartz
This article focused on how to respond to student errors during guided reading. Schwartz states that guided reading lessons are a very useful tool for beginning reading instruction, however incorrect responses by the student must be responded to by highly skilled decisions. The articles lays out a four factor model that affect teacher response during student guided reading. The four factors are: response history, cues, strategy, and prompt support. The fact that all four factors play into the construction of individual errors, teachers must be skilled at providing immediate response. To be able to make such quick and accurate responses, the teacher must make careful observations of the errors students typically make and how they recognize or respond to such errors. Most errors contain a partially correct response, and it is best to play off those positives. We must also notice student cues as they read. What cues they pick up on and which ones they do not. To help struggling beginning readers, teachers can used leveled reading where the material is often print right, and sticks to a simple but meaningful vocabulary. Teachers need to use scaffolding strategies to monitor and correct the students errors. The goal is for the student to eventually be able to do independently, what they have done with the teacher. The teacher should always prompt the student with questions such as "does that sound right to you?" or "what do you think?". Through these questions and taught guidance, the student should develop self monitoring skills over time.
This article highlighted the difficulties teachers face when correcting student errors during guided reading. Responses to student's errors is not a one size-fits-all approach. Teachers must spend lots of time observing student response history to understand the types of errors the student most commonly makes. Responding effectively to student errors is hard, especially when there is a small group not just an individual. It takes a split second decision that overtime must come naturally to the teacher. Many factors play into student errors and the correction of such. We must consider if the student used cues to correct their initial attempt, if they simply ignored the error, and how does the student respond to our prompts. However, all these questions need answers because for struggling beginning readers, it is less likely that they will switch their processing strategies without direct support. It is our objective as teachers to teach students how to read and self monitor independently. This article proposes some very tough ideas and truths. Monitoring student errors and responding with the best means for that individual student is not a simple task. It takes time to get to know your student's reading history and understand the typical mistakes they make. It seems like a daunting task, and a skill that I am far from reaching full understanding. But I look forward to learning more strategies and responses to student error during guided reading.