Blog 5
Making the
Most of Independent Reading
The Afterword section of this book has the very
important quote that says, “There is no greater impact on students’ reading
growth than giving them time to read.’ That kind of sums the object of this
book up in a nutshell. This book has explained why we need to give students
time to read, how we can find time in our day to give our students time to
read, where we can gather the hundreds of appropriate books we need to have available
in our classrooms for students to read, what we do to hold students accountable
for their reading, how to share their ideas about reading in book clubs, among
so many other things.
The beginning of the last section of this book describe
how we monitor independent reading. Teachers should actively confer with
students as they are reading. During these conferences, you are “ . . .
actively gathering information about how they’re reading and what they need to
grow as readers.” You are gathering information as much as you’re instructing. You
“. . . use that information to set goals with students, share with parents
during conferences, and inform small-group instruction.”
This section also introduced to me the idea of
book clubs. This seemed to go hand in hand with the focus of this module about
talk. The expectations for and the prompts used during book clubs were almost identical
to those listed in one of our videos for this section.
I recommend this book for any teacher who is
trying to reorganize her classroom so that it offers children more time to
practice independent reading. It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings
attributed to Mark Twain, “The man who does not read has no advantage over the
man who can’t read.” Many of our children don’t have the opportunity to read or
to learn to cherish reading in their homes. It is up to us to give them the
time to read and support them in learning to love reading.
Sande I love your quote from Mark Twain and I agree! Reading is so important! I also agree that we must give students time to read in order for them to grow because this allows them to practice. I am so glad now I understand the importance of conferencing with students also because it really does help to prepare for small group and whole group instruction. This book really is amazing!
ReplyDeleteHi Sande,
ReplyDelete"There is no greater impact on students’ reading growth than giving them time to read". I agree that this is a very important quote. It's basic, but at the same time it's so powerful. We as teachers have to remember that all of our students aren't given then opportunity to sit and read a book when they go home. Every student home environment is different. "Teachers should actively confer with students as they are reading". I really enjoy talking the time to walk around the classroom, and have students individually tell me a few details about the book they are reading. It's helps me to see if they are enjoying and comprehending their reading.
Sande,
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the book did a good job of making sure that you know that there is always time for reading. Reading is very important though! I think it's good that there was a section about how to monitor independent reading. That way, as a teacher, you can know how well your student is reading their book. I also really like the Mark Twain quote that you included!
I enjoyed reading your blogpost. I agree, we need to give our students time to read. We need to make it fun and make sure our daily schedules allow for students to read independently.
ReplyDeleteHi Sande',
ReplyDeleteI love reading your posts, and this one nicely summarizes the most important part of our reading instruction...when kids actually read! I agree with you and the authors of this text 100% with their point that the most important component of our reading instruction should be tied to independent reading. I am also glad that this book introduced you to the structure of book clubs. I want to recommend Harvey Daniel's professional dev. text, "Literature Circles" to you to read as it provides teachers with a great way to structure book clubs.
Sincerely,
Dawn
Hi Sande
ReplyDeleteReading with support is what one needs to get students motivated to read books. Conferencing with students create a conversation on what the student learn from her reading with the teacher. My students have lots of time for free reading without being timed.
Pam Boggs