Guided Reading Library

Contents: About the Collection | Tech

About the Collection

Margaret Vaughn

The Guided Reading Library is a digital collection of short books created by students in the University of Idaho’s College of Education. This library is directed by Margaret Vaughn, in collaboration with the Digital Initiatives unit of the University of Idaho Library.

The Guided Reading Library developed out of Dr. Vaughn’s experiences as an elementary teacher, as well as from conversations and collaborative research with current teachers. One of the project’s goals is to engage preservice teachers in authentic literacy work. As such, the library hosts e-books developed as part of a culminating multimodal project in Dr. Vaughn’s Children’s Literature course.

To develop these books, preservice teachers engage in a Writing Workshop and develop their e-books based on a topic of interest. One of Dr. Vaughn’s primary goals as a teacher educator is to create spaces in teacher education where future teachers can learn of literacy tasks that support their student’s sense of agency. The Guided Reading Library is an integrated literacy project that supports building and acting upon student’s agency.

Such an approach to teaching literacy is needed today. According to Madda, Griffo, Pearson and Raphael (2011), all too often educators today are pressured to promote literacy instruction that emphasizes unrealistic tasks often related with “doing school rather than doing life” (p.44). By engaging in authentic literacy projects like the Guided Reading Library, preservice teachers are exposed to thinking about literacy connected to their students’ interests, experiences, cultures, and lives.

A future goal of this project is to include elementary, middle school, and high school students in the creation of e-books to be hosted on the site. For more information, please contact Margaret Vaughn at margaret.vaughn@wsu.edu.