Chapter 4

Diagnostic Teaching of Reading
Barbara J. Walker
Chapter 4


Before reading with a student for guided contextual reading or diagnostic assessment, the teacher should get a few books together for the student to choose from. Allowing the reader to choose what they read will increase the students reading engagement. Before we read the book, we should look at the title, the front cover, and maybe do a picture walk depending on the reading level to help the student make predictions about the text. The teacher should go over any vocabulary words that they think the student may not know before they begin reading. During the reading the discussion should focus on the main theme of the text. After the story is finished, the student should analyze the text and answer questions.
Whether reading to a whole class, in small groups, or one on one this is the model that I have always followed. If the reading is not too long I have the students peruse the book quickly to find any words that are unfamiliar to them so I can add them to their vocabulary. During reading we check their prediction and modify it if the story takes different turns than we predicted. I always stress that predictions are not ever wrong. When we are writing our own stories, these predictions can be the stories that we write about during writing. It is a great way to encourage writing.
The students I work with always have 2 or 3 reading books in their reading folder that are at or just below their independent reading level. These books provide the successful reading that they need to give them confidence in themselves. When they pick out these books, all of the classroom books are visibly leveled so they know what bins to pick from for these independent reading books. The classroom library has a wide variety of genres to choose from to please every reader. I think that is very important to have enough books for them in the classroom library. If they get bored of the choices they will not be very engaged when reading.