












































 
 

ISSN #2331-6845 

 
Guided reading: A poem 

By Tara Ridgedell 
Dekalb County School District 

tridgedell@gmail.com  
 
 

“I need help reading in English,” a student confided 
The smart ESOL teacher tried reading that’s guided 
The approach is great for students of all ages 
In no time at all they’ll understand pages and pages 
To employ this approach, there are just two things you’ll need 
On-level books and students eager to independently read! 
 
Small groups work best for this type of instruction 
Teacher to student, text to student, and peer to peer are the modes of knowledge 
construction 
In guided reading, students ask if words look and sound right and make sense 
Background knowledge, context clues, self-assessment, and other strategies make reading 
comprehension commence 
 
Teachers should guide students to draw upon existing schema 
For example, ask what students know about Peru when reading a book about Lima 
Then, the teacher guides students through the first viewing of the text 
Students then read independently and discuss any words or concepts that perplex 
Next, students re-read the book on their own or with a buddy 
This time they’re sure to understand concepts originally muddy 
 
Lastly, students respond to the text on their own 
This can be through writing, discussion, or a piece of art to be shown 
As you can see, the teacher serves as a guide 
By teaching these skills and strategies, independent readers will be filled with self-
efficacious pride 
So, next time you’re unsure of how to help struggling readers 
Try guided reading and you’ll have a group of reading leaders! 

 

1   GATESOL in Action, Vol. 1, Spring 2014 
 

mailto:tridgedell@gmail.com


As an ESOL teacher it is very important to introduce students to many different modes of 

literacy.  These multiple literacies inform students by presenting the language in the many 

different forms that students will encounter throughout their school career and outside literacy 

activities.  Teachers can explicitly talk about and present these forms to students, or model 

different literacy forms for exposure. 

This poem demonstrates presenting content area material in poem format.  When 

presented in this format, students are more likely to be engaged with the material than when 

listening to a short lecture or other common format.  I used this poem to present a chapter in a 

graduate course.  Many different groups had presented their chapters before mine, and I knew 

that my presentation needed to be somewhat different to hold my classmates’ attention.   

I wrote this poem using Dr. Seuss poems as my inspiration.  While it will certainly not be 

winning the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished poetry, the poem captured and held my classmates’ 

interest and they understood the material that I was presenting.  In an ESOL classroom, I would 

give every student a copy of the poem and present the poem several times so that students have 

the opportunity to process both the language and the content.  

Taking the time to compose this poem not only gave me the opportunity to process the 

material myself, but I also began to explore many different creative possibilities for presenting 

the material.  It is very easy to get stuck in the routine of presenting main points in PowerPoint or 

handouts, but taking time to engage in creative literacies breaks the routine and opens new 

possibilities.    

In my own personal experiences, it has been the poems, songs, and rhymes that have 

cemented important concepts in my mind.  To this day, I still sing my multiplication tables in my 

2   GATESOL in Action, Vol. 1, Spring 2014 
 



head and recall a rhyme when differentiating affect and effect.  These seemingly cheesy literacies 

can make a big difference in students’ education. 

As an ESOL professional I must constantly push myself to try new things in the 

classroom and put the extra effort forward to lead students to mastery of both content areas and 

language.  It is both fun and helpful for myself and my students to explore new literacies and 

engage in creative means of presentation.  By modeling these new literacies and the creative 

process for students, they will feel more confident and empowered to use the language in new 

ways. 

3   GATESOL in Action, Vol. 1, Spring 2014 
 


