Rationale
I taught second grade in a Title 1 building. 44% of students in my building qualified for free and reduced lunch. Of my fifteen students, eight were boys and seven were girls. Two of my male students were on Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), one of whom was on alternate assessment. Two of my students were enrolled in the English Language program, and three students were recently dismissed from the program but remained on EL observation.
According to my baseline assessments, four students did not meet the quarter one reading level target and six scored below 50% on the AIMSweb oral reading test. In addition to this data, I did not have experience teaching guided reading to students reading at a second grade level. My lack of experience led to ineffective or inappropriate planning, disengagement of students, and limited progress of student guided reading levels. I believed that my students would benefit from a purposefully planned lesson that engaged readers and focused on age appropriate reading skills.
Guided reading instruction was an area that I felt uncomfortable planning for and thus teaching. My experience teaching guided reading had been restricted to emergent readers in kindergarten and first grade. Preparing reading level appropriate plans was a significant struggle for me after transitioning to second grade. I had difficulty planning pacing for each group and choosing appropriate skills to focus on for the texts. Additionally, I noticed that my students seemed disengaged during guided reading. I believed that students would increase engagement and achievement in reading if I was able to strengthen my ability to purposefully and efficiently plan guided reading lessons.
Data Prior to Research
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11 out of 15 students were proficient or above in reading- 4 students were below the 2nd grade reading level target.
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6 out of 15 students scored below the 50th percentile on the AIMSweb oral reading test.
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9 out of 15 students scored progressing or below on a reading comprehension test.
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Low confidence for guided reading on teacher perception survey.
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Students were not engaged in the lessons planned for guided reading groups.
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Reading levels of students exceeded my skill set of guided reading instruction.
At the end of Quarter 1, four students were reading at text Level I, four students were reading at text Level J, and seven students were reading at text Level K or higher. Out of the 15 students, 11 students met Q1 reading target of text Level J or higher.
