The following are some guiding principles that may help you get more power in your teaching:
- Notice the student's precise reading behaviors.
- Eliminate ineffective behaviors and help the reader do what proficient readers do.
- Select a text on which the reader can learn how to read better- not too difficult and not too easy.
- Teach the reader not the text.
- Teach the student to read written language not words.
- Teach for the student to initiate effective problem-solving actions.
Use clear precise language that passes the control to the reader.
- Only ask the student to do what you know he can do.
- Don't clutter the teaching with too much talk.
- Focus on self-monitoring and self-regulating behaviors so the reader becomes independent.
- Build on examples of successful processing.
- Teach for fast responding so the reader can process smoothly and efficiently.
From Guided Reading: Responsive Teaching Across the Grades by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Copyright (C) 2017 by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Published by Heinemann.