Guided Reading 101

(Grades K-5) / Flex Course

PDI Course Number: 112T02 / UCSD Course Number: EDUC40264

Course Description

Is the push for individualized differentiated instruction making it difficult for you to address the various learning needs and ability levels of your students during your reading block? Perhaps you feel frustrated because “teaching in the middle” seems to alienate a whole spectrum of learners? Guided reading is a way in which teachers can guide their students throughout the entire reading process, in a targeted and personalized manner. This online course is designed for teachers who wish to explore the guided reading strategy in detail. Teachers will be introduced to the basic framework of guided reading and will learn a variety of strategies to meet all their students’ needs in the “building block” areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Teachers will learn about the importance of using data to find their students’ reading levels and how to determine the readability of leveled text so that students can be appropriately “matched” to high-interest books. The course takes teachers through the entire process of guided reading, including introducing the text, reading the text, discussing the text, teaching the focus mini-lesson, incorporating word work, and responding to reading by writing. Additional topics include how to organize a shared guided reading library, how to incorporate writing into the guided reading framework, how to further differentiate guided reading instruction for English language learners, and how to extend guided reading beyond the classroom. By the end of this course, teachers will feel more confident in implementing this best practice into their teaching repertoire. This course is worth 3 ⅓ semester units/5 quarter units (50 hours of training) from University of California San Diego (UCSD) Division of Extended Studies. For detailed information on university credit, click here.

"The information in each unit was extremely helpful! It was organized very well and very clearly! I learned so many wonderful ideas that I feel I can immediately apply to my teaching!" - Lisa Forschner