This video explores how planned approaches can be used by educators to support reading progress, taking account of two factors:

• the wide range of skills, understanding and experience which children need to develop,
• the importance of nurturing a love of reading, which encourages children to engage with texts and build a positive reader identity.

The two planned approaches of shared and guided reading complement one another, with each having a different purpose to play in supporting young children’s reading development.

Shared reading involves an educator sharing or reading a text with a child or group of children. Educators lead interactive and shared experiences with texts with the aim of supporting reading for pleasure and developing skills through authentic, real-life texts.

Guided reading is a differentiated teaching approach in which the educator works with a small group of children who have a similar range of reading knowledge and skills at a particular point in time (Lesley University). The aim of guided reading is to support an individual or group of learners to read a text independently.

Shared reading experiences can provide a number of benefits:

• Educators can role model reading for pleasure, inspiring learners as they enthusiastically share and talk about texts. Participation in interactive sessions can remove the barrier of decoding text for some learners, promoting a more inclusive shared reading experience.
• Children can explore the type of authentic texts that they may come across within their home or community. This helps children to understand that print carries meaning and can connect to their everyday lives (Honchell & Schulz, 2012).
• Educators can model and support a range of skills for children, including phonological awareness, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and phonics.
• Interactions with a wide range of texts and contexts can help to build children’s background knowledge.

Oxley and McGeown (2023) suggest that the effectiveness of teacher read-alouds is likely to vary greatly and be determined by the extent to which the book aligns with the children’s existing interests, preferences and lives or successfully introduces children to new genres or topics that they enjoy. Children should be involved in choosing from a wide range of rich and varied texts. The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (2023) found that children are more engaged by high quality texts with strong human themes, especially those in which they see themselves reflected in the characters or story worlds.

There are some important aspects to consider when adopting a shared reading approach:

• A key finding from the Education Endowment Foundation is that staff are likely to benefit from training or professional development to use the approach effectively.
• The roles of both educator and child will change during shared reading experiences. As children are encouraged to play a more active role, over time the balance of who reads or facilitates discussion about the text passes increasingly to the child (Cherry, Education Endowment Foundation).
• Space should be provided for children to sit comfortably and see the texts. These should also be readily available in the environment for the children to explore independently (Honchell & Schulz, 2012).
• Small group activities can be useful and different people can be invited to share texts with children, for example, older children in the school, family members or people from the local community (The Open University Reading for Pleasure).

Some different prompts or strategies can be used to scaffold the interactive conversation between the child and educator whilst reading. Educators should consider how we sequence these over the course of a shared reading session so that children are encouraged to interact with the text without taking away from the overall flow or enjoyment of the story. Considering when to use different questions will allow educators to tailor shared reading sessions to the abilities and needs of learners.

Further information on prompts, strategies and questions can be found in the accompanying video.

Fountas and Pinnnell tell us that the goal of the guided reading session for learners is not just to read “this book” or even to understand a single text. Instead, the goal of guided reading is to help learners build their ‘reading power’—to build a range of strategies for processing texts. The educator guides the reading development of each child in the group, providing just enough support before, during and after reading to develop their skills and understanding, encouraging them to become increasingly more independent readers (Hudson & Walker, 2017).

A flexible and dynamic approach is developed through ongoing observation and assessment, ensuring groups are formed and reformed based on children’s strengths and changing needs (Lesley University). There may be times where children are not at a similar point in their reading development as a number of other learners so may work on an individual basis rather than a group.

Guided reading can provide several benefits:

• Educators can differentiate, catering for a broad range of learners by providing small group teaching that is tailored to a similar level of abilities and needs (Fountas and Pinnnell).
• Children’s oral language development can be supported, as both reading aloud and guided conversations about texts encourage learners to build important skills, such as oral vocabulary and expression.
• Children are provided with the opportunity to independently apply and practise reading strategies that they have been taught (Bodman & Franklin, 2021). The educator is also readily available to prompt them to use strategies or model specific skills as needed (Young, 2018).

Educators should carefully analyse guided reading texts to ensure they align with the goals and teaching points that have been identified for a given group of readers (Hudson & Walker, 2017).

A crucial element of text selection is ensuring that the level of difficulty is appropriate for the needs of the group. The quality of the text is also particularly important, it should be both engaging for the reader and fit for purpose, giving many opportunities for children to apply their learning (Bodman & Franklin, 2021).

There are some important aspects to consider when adopting a guided reading approach:

• The role of the guide involves preparation so that they can pre-empt potential difficulties and plan where they will focus on particular areas, model chosen skills and scaffold comprehension They should closely observe children’s participation, with the understanding that they can be ready to provide support or challenge as and when needed (Bodman & Franklin, 2021).
• The educator needs to plan the organisation of guided reading in a classroom setting.
• There are several components which will often be used during guided reading such as; group formation, text selection, introduction, reading aloud, independent reading, discussion, and one or two teaching points. There may also be a focus on specific letter patterns or words (Lesley University).

The guided reading approach does not include any type of round robin reading where the educator asks learners to read one at a time while the rest of the group listen (Hudson & Walker, 2017). Kuhn (2014) has highlighted several drawbacks with round robin reading:

• Each learner is responsible for reading only a very brief portion of the text, minimising opportunities for fluency or word recognition.
• Breaking up a text into smaller passages actually works against developing fluency and discourages comprehension of the material.
• Children often read ahead so that they can sound more proficient when their turn comes—or volunteer “just to get their turn over and done with”—and then shut down for the rest of the session.

However, we should still look to promote reading aloud as part of a guided reading session as it can improve children’s reading fluency, which can support comprehension (Coleman, 2018).

Some preferable alternatives are:

• Reading in pairs, where children alternate after each paragraph
• Choral reading, where learners and educators read the same section of text simultaneously
• Repeated reading where children read the same passage multiple times
• Echo reading, where the educator reads aloud to children and they follow by echoing the text back as a group (Coleman, 2018, Kuhn, 2014).

Regardless of which of these methods are used, the educator should take time to listen in to children as they read aloud, in order to monitor progress and provide appropriate support to each child as needed.

Hudson and Walker (2017) emphasise that comprehension discussions should be a prominent feature of guided reading sessions as they encourage children to develop a deeper understanding of the text. Fountas and Pinnell encourage us to use dialogue in order to get readers thinking and using what they know.

We can organise guided reading sessions into the three stages of – before, during and after reading. According to the needs of the group, educators may choose to focus on one or two of teaching points at the various stages in the guided reading session.

Further information on the strategies which may be useful can be found in the accompanying video.

Reading is complex and educators are required to make important decisions to ensure that teaching methods are responsive to the learner (Fountas & Pinnell). Effective use of assessment and planning is key to supporting progress and building both independent and engaged readers.

To guide effectively, we need to have good background knowledge of how children learn to read and be clear which learning outcomes we are supporting the group to achieve (Bodmin and Franklin, 2021).

Assessing individual progress will help us to ensure that we develop a full understanding of children’s reading skills and can identify any potential barriers to learning. According to Fountas and Pinnell the key to effective teaching is your ability to make different decisions for different learners at different points in time, honouring the complexity of development.

Penny Bill (2022) suggests that the best choice, is to incorporate the strengths of both shared and guided reading systems.

Fountas and Pinnell remind us about the importance of taking time to pause and ponder, asking ourselves some critical questions about how we teach reading. Either individually or with colleagues you may want to reflect on the pedagogical approaches which you use to teach reading in your setting, these could be shared or guided reading or perhaps other methods which you have in place.

Lead interactive and shared experiences with texts to support reading for pleasure and develop skills in authentic contexts

Cherry, N. (n.d.). Interactive reading – More than just a reading book. Education Endowment Foundation.

Cremin, T., Mottram, M., Collins, F., Powell, S., & Safford, K. (2014). Building communities of engaged readers: Reading for pleasure. London/New York: Routledge.

Department for Education and Child Development, Government of South Australia. (2016). The ‘Big Six’ components of reading: Best advice learning improvement – Literacy.

Education Endowment Foundation. (n.d.). Early literacy, approaches for supporting early literacy. Interactive Reading.

Folsom, J. (n.d.). Dialogic reading: Having a conversation about books. Reading Rockets.

Honchell, B., & Schulz, M. (2012). Engaging young readers with text through shared reading experiences. Journal of Inquiry & Action in Education, 4(3), 62-64.

Hwang, H., Orcutt, E., Reno, E. A., Kim, J., Harsch, R. M., McMaster, K. L., Kendo, P., & Slater, S. (2023). Making the most of read-alouds to support primary-grade students’ inference-making. The Reading Teacher, 77(2), 169-175. International Literacy Association.

International Literacy Association. (2018). The power and promise of read-alouds and independent reading. Literacy leadership brief.

Noble, C., Sala, G., Peter, M., Lingwood, J., Rowland, C., Gobet, F., & Pine, J. (2019). The impact of shared book reading on children's language skills: A meta-analysis. Educational Research Review, 28.

Oxley, E., & McGeown, S. (2023). Reading for pleasure practices in school: Children’s perspectives and experiences. Educational Research, 65(3), 375-391.

Rudine Sims Bishop. (1990). Mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors. Reading Rockets.

The Open University. (n.d.). Reading for pleasure. Reading for pleasure pedagogy: Reading aloud, classroom strategies.

The Power of Reading in the Early Years. (2023). Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.

Use a range of guided reading approaches to support an individual or group of learners to read a text independently

Adcock, E. (2022). The principles of effective practice in teaching reading: Group guided reading in KS1 – Part 3. VNET Education CIC.

A primer on guided reading. (n.d.). Lesley University.

Bodman, S., & Franklin, G. (2021). Guided reading: What’s in a name? Scholastic blog.

Coleman, R. (2018). EEF Blog: Whole-class reading – choose your strategy carefully if you don’t want to miss the mark. Education Endowment Foundation.

Fountas, I. C., & Pinnell, G. S. (n.d.). Guided reading: The romance and the reality. The Reading Teacher, 66(4), 268-284.

Hudson, A. K., & Walker, M. (2017). Supporting effective guided reading instruction for all students. Texas Association for Literacy Education Yearbook: Literacy Alive and Well! Supporting Effective Literacy Instruction for All Learners, 68.

Kuhn, M. R. (2014). What’s really wrong with round robin reading? Literacy Now. International Literacy Association.

Ramsa, N. I. B., & Rawain, R. M. (2021). A review on systematic guided reading strategies and its implication on reading comprehension. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(6), 203-215.

Young, C. (2018). Increased frequency and planning: A more effective approach to guided reading in grade 2. The Journal of Educational Research.

Ensure research informed guided and shared reading methods support the progress of the learner

Adcock, E. (2022). The principles of effective practice in teaching reading: Group guided reading in KS1 – Part 3. VNET Education CIC.

Bill, P. (2022). Guided or whole class reading, which is best? The Education People.

Bodman, S., & Franklin, G. (2021). Guided reading: What’s in a name? Scholastic blog.

Fountas, I. C., & Pinnell, G. S. (n.d.). Guided reading: The romance and the reality. The Reading Teacher, 66(4), 268-284.

Schwartz, R. M. (2005). Decisions, decisions: Responding to primary students during guided reading. The Reading Teacher. International Reading Association, 436-443.