Section 2 - In this section of the text the authors begin to expand on their theory. If you recall the first section was titled "Not This," and the authors explained the issues surrounding independent reading time in most elementary school settings. This section is titled "Why Not? What Works?," and here the authors begin to delve into their rationale about how to make independent reading work and make it purposeful. Here, Miller & Moss make their case for why Independent Reading should become Scaffolded Silent Reading (ScSR). With ScSR, students are supported in their independent reading, they are still allowed to select their text, and read on their own at their own pace, but with support. There is a chart in the text that, in my opinion, outlines this process very well. It states that teachers should support student book selection, so that students find "just right" books. Also, not only should a variety of genres be represented for each level, but students should be encourage to select different genres by using a "genre wheel" to help them decide.teachers should also conference with students and hold them accountable for what they are reading by asking questions and creating discussions that aide them in their independent reading.
As a special education teacher, I have always been focused on the "can they read?" aspect of student's reading. However, one comment that the authors made, made me realize that should also be fostering a love of reading. Miller & Moss stated that, "the best readers read the most, and the poorest readers read the least." That one statement made me think that not only should I be focusing on whether or not my students can read, but do they want to read? If they don't want to read when they leave my classroom, what good have I done? They need to be reading both inside of school and outside of school in order to become a successful reader. This section not only made me think about what I should be teaching, but how. So, I guess Miller and Moss have made a believer out of me so far!
Hi Whitney,
ReplyDeleteI know exactly where you are coming from as a special ed. teacher working with students who are identified to receive services based on identification of need/struggle and/or their response to interventions. Our priority has to be helping determine that they are really "reading" for meaning and are understanding what they are reading in order to comprehend the text. When I also realized like you discussed in your post, the influence that choice has in a student's reading motivation I couldn't help but look at the texts my students were reading with a different light. I realized that with my students who were struggling, many times I chose their text based on a skill/strategy or on their reading level. When I provided students with options to choose what they wanted to read, teaching them how to find a just right book and providing "text sets" that were specifically created to have both high interest and readability levels in mind based on student interests, that my students' enjoyment of reading increased and their "want to" increased as well. What strategies from this chapter are ones that you envision yourself applying with your students?
Sincerely,
Dawn
I feel as though my greatest impact for my students in an independent reading situation will be made during my co-taught classes. I co-teach in both 3rd and 4th grade ELA. That is the only time I see most my students in that grade level. So, I feel I could make the biggest impact during those class sessions. Having co-taught for four years, I have come to realize that I am just an extension of the general education teacher with some extra strategies in my tool belt. One thing I definitely want to use is the genre wheel. It would have been a fantastic tool for one of my students last year. She was a student with ASD, and was completely hung up on nonfiction, specifically nonfiction about biology and animals. If I could find a way incorporate this into my conferencing and independent reading time I might could force some students to branch out. The other strategies in this section we have worked hard to implement during my co-taught time, but the genre wheel takes the cake!
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