Blog 1

What I’ve read so far in the book (Chapters One and Two) entitled, “No More Independent Reading Without Support”, by Miller & Moss (2013), is that the teacher must provide support and effective interventions for all of their students, which includes developing and good readers. Helping students to time-manage their reading inside and outside of class is important to help better their reading habits. It is important for teachers to find time for their students to read for meaning and to discuss their reading with others. Encouraging collaboration amongst students and teachers during reading instruction is a proven reading strategy to help students construct their ideas and to learn from each other. “Teachers need to talk about how they make meaning of a text so that the process is “visible” to students” (Miller & Moss, pg. 18, 2013). I incorporate many different strategies to encourage open and constructive dialogue before and after a reading activity or lesson. “For children to develop the habits and identity of thoughtful, strategic, proficient readers, they need to practice and, to make their practice productive, they need the tools that we can provide through interaction” (Miller & Moss, pg. 1). I always try to get my students motivated and involved in real-life situations and debates regarding important health issues (reading materials) so that they share ideas and assist one another through problem-solving techniques for finding common solutions. I focus on building content vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, phonemic awareness, and accuracy. I’ve read about the importance of reading scaffolding techniques that my developing readers can use to help them with information texts and other reading genres. Before I introduce different reading texts to my students, I observe to see what they know from the reading, and to see if the reading is comprehensible for them. I think it is important for all teachers to implement similar independent and whole-class reading practices in the school so students know how to read productively, and that they are supported during the entire day when it comes to reading for mastery. School administrators should also be willing to support a school-wide literacy/reading program and allow their teachers to try new proven reading practices for diverse readers.

 Finding consistent reading time in my daily instructional day for reading can be a challenge for me. Being as though I teacher high school physical education courses, my daily interactions with my students consist primarily of physical activities, rather than reading content material. However, I always find time at the beginning of class to incorporate a reading activity that focuses and builds upon prior knowledge and critical thinking skills. “Perhaps most advisable at this point is encouraging engagement with texts of varying levels of difficulty, providing greater support for students when they select more difficult texts” (Miller & Moss, pg. 22, 2013). I have students set reading goals (based upon academic reading progress) throughout each quarter and reward them for their accomplishments.