Observational Tool: Guided Reading Lesson
Selection and Preparation
Teacher Did/Said
Students Did/Said
● Uses assessment data as evidence to support text selection
● Expresses sound rationales for the grouping of students
Introduction to the text
● Engages the students in a conversation that sets them up for successful reading
● Provides a brief, well-placed guide through some, but not every page, of the text
● Attends to the meaning and the language (including about two or three essential new and
important words) in context
● Attends to special print or text features that may be new
● Helps the reader understand how the book works
Reading the text
● Supports the students’ ability to self-monitor (or check on) their reading
● Supports the students’ ability to search for and use all sources of information (meaning,
language, structure, phonological information, and print)
● Helps students learn how to take words apart using several sources of information as they
process the text
● Supports the readers’ construction of the meaning of the text
● Uses prompts that are not specific to the book but that foster problem solving by the readers
(strategic actions)
● Supports the readers’ ability to initiate problem solving actions as needed as they work through
the text
● Helps students learn how to initiate worthwhile independent work if finished before others
(reading, writing about reading, etc)
Discussing the text
● Helps raiders give immediate attention to the full meaning of the text (thinking within, beyond, and
about the text)
● Promotes sharing of thinking, not teacher-student questioning only
● Helps students think about the big important text ideas and their relevance (the “so what”)
Teaching Points
● Selects from immediate observations one or two teaching points to demonstrate, prompt for, or
reinforce strategic actions that readers can apply to other texts
Word Work
● Preplans work that helps students learn how to take words apart
● Provides two or three minutes of fast-paced attention to letters, words, and how they work.
● Supports flexibility and quick word recognition
