Whenever we begin something new, we must remember to give ourselves the grace to learn and become proficient. Years ago, when we were reflecting about our Guided Reading groups, we realized that even though the groups included children with generally the same reading level, the students in the group had different strategy needs. This is why we originally began shifting from the traditional Guided Reading groups to Guiding Readers Strategy groups, where children were grouped with others who needed the same strategy to move forward in their reading. This shift came from our belief that our students needed more focused instruction on strategies rather than just gathering in a small group to read a book together.

However, we didn't just decide to dump everything we knew about how to run and manage Guided Reading Groups and move headlong into Guiding Readers strategy groups. Instead, we began with just one small group of children who we gathered together based on their similar strategy need, even though they didn't all read at the same reading level. We tried out a variety of materials and instructional approaches -- all geared toward teaching the children in the small group how to become proficient with the strategy and practicing the strategy in their own good fit books.

While we were learning how to work with one small strategy group, we gave ourselves permission to keep the rest of the children in their traditional Guided Reading groups. As we became more proficient with small strategy group instruction, we shifted to holding two small Guiding Readers groups, while the rest of the class stayed in Guided Reading groups. Over the course of months, we eventually changed all of our small group work away from traditional Guided Reading groups, to our current method of small Guiding Readers strategy groups.

It didn't happen overnight. It really came from our deep-rooted belief that children deserve to be taught the strategies they most need. This belief made it possible to persevere through the ups and downs of changing what was familiar. Our children are better readers as a result of the shift, and we are glad we stuck with it.