On Saturday, March 9, 2019, the Twin Cities Area Reading Council (TCARC) and Scholastic Education welcomed Jan Richardson to the Twin Cities. The TCARC leadership along with 220 fellow educators came together to learn with Jan.
Jan Richardson spoke eloquently about comprehension from her book, The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading: An Assess-Decide-Guide Framework for Supporting Every Reader. Jan reminded us that guided reading is not the entire literacy block. It is a part of a balanced literacy approach to teaching and applying reading and writing skills. The guided reading portion of our literacy block should include productive struggle by students, requires knowledge of the reading process, integration of reading, writing, and speaking, and is the best opportunity to scaffold comprehension.
When teaching comprehension through a gradual release model, teachers scaffold by teaching whole group, small group, and independently. During small group/guided reading, comprehension should be taught before, during, and after reading. Teaching comprehension skills during the introduction of a book is important. Comprehension should be scaffolded for learning throughout the lesson, not just taught at the end of a lesson.
Jan explained her four main points for teaching comprehension during guided reading: knowing your readers, selecting a focus, selecting an engaging book that supports the focus, and discussing the text.
Jan concluded her presentation by providing a brief overview of her new book: The Next Step Forward in Reading Intervention: The RISE Framework. For further information, tips, video clips, and resources from Jan, please visit Jan Richardson’s website.
The response to Jan Richardson was so great that we are in discussion with Jan to have her present for us again next year. Look for an update soon. We hope you can join us!