Tell me about what you just read...

So hold onto your hat... I was wrong again.

In my son's first grade class, the first one I have really been able to observe because he is my youngest and I am not winging in and out with a toddler beside me, they have guided reading groups.

I thought they were leveled reading groups and fussed that my son was in the lowest group, as I surmised from the other participants; many of whom I work with every Friday. (that is another story; no time to read with my son at home, but I"m in his class every Friday morning helping the three greatest need/most amazing kids.)

During this guided reading time the rest of the class, in my opinion, is loud, unfocused, wandering and often argumentative with peers. When I would break up a tiff between scissor users, or count out art supplies while recalcitrant first graders looked on, Mrs. M would calmly continue her lesson with the reading folks.

What in the world? Didn't she care that the rest of the class was going to pot while she dallied with just five students? Couldn't she see that they did not understand that the paper loops were supposed to form a pattern and they were just stapling them willy-nilly? Really, maybe this job is too much for her after 32 years.

Guess what? Regie Routman waits for blood before looking up from her guided reading groups. And maybe the class wasn't all that loud or crazy, maybe they were learning to rely on peers for instruction (or not, but still happy with their results) and learning that they could argue about the pencil lead that just fell out of someone's desk that they both want to scrape across their paper but they will have to work it out.

They have their worksheets, an art project at the art table, and are allowed to choose books from the library or even quiet games when their work is finished. It really is a matter of comparing their behavior to when Mrs. M is in charge of all of them and that is comparing apples to oranges. For first graders, they do an amazing job of policing themselves (and Sophia is top cop, let me tell you. First-born girls to bossy mothers.... just like mine was.)

I wonder if she explained this at parent night. I've had her for three kids and never observed, pondered or asked about this aspect of class. If she can do it, and successfully, with 18 first graders, then there are no excuses that I can think of!

The difference between guided reading and the reading groups I remember being in are huge. Apparently they don't just take turns reading the story aloud and then return to their seats. The comprehension aspect is huge, with gentle questions, clear strategies and focused monitoring. They are learning, in a small group, how to help themselves learn to read.