This is truly distressing for me to hear. I believe so strongly that only
with significant time with eyes on text, engaging in thinking and talking
about reading will students make significant gains in the area of reading. I
agree with everything “Beth” posted in response to this question. All of the
authors mentioned in the responses are ones that I, too, would recommend.
I recently completed a master’s in reading and while I was working on this
degree had access to the wealth of articles through the university library. I
remember reading many articles reporting the research concerning independent
reading. If you could get access to such a library, you could get all the
research you needed.
I think with some principals it is a matter of not really understanding what
goes on or SHOULD go on in the classroom where independent reading time is
part of the daily plan. The teacher should both model her own independent
reading during this time and also use the time for conferencing with
individual students about their reading. I always used a reading log as well
and now in my position as curriculum coach in a title one school, have my
teachers using them. I like to see evidence of application of the mini lessons
presented where the focus is on strategy instruction. I also really like using
book clubs where several students are reading the same student selected book.
Literacy letters is my preference for determining the degrees of engagement
students are experiencing with reading. Expectations for these letters must
constantly be taught and reinforced. I alternated whom my students wrote
to…one week they wrote to me and the next they wrote to a literacy buddy that
I partnered with in another middle school in our district. The key here is to
get at what students are THINKING about their reading…not simply glorified
book reports. I give students a list of open-ended sentence starters that
point them in the right direction that they respond to on their reading log
daily. These are just one or two sentence responses. I guide them into using
these daily responses as “seeds” for developing a whole letter. I also like
to teach students to do book talks and require them to talk two or three books
per marking period. Again, the key is in modeling and reinforcing
expectations.
I believe any principal would be happy to come into a classroom where these
things were happening in response to reading. Sometimes I think it is all in
what you call it. Independent reading sounds like it is just about students
doing something on their own while the teacher is having a little break from
teaching. Here’s a link to an article that may help where this part of the
instructional plan is called Guided Independent Reading. This seems a simple
adjustment but worth a try.
http://www.extensivereading.net/er/hsui.html
Finally, I attempted to attach a PowerPoint used in a session at the state
middle school conference. All of the sources cited address this issue. One
slide is a video of the students discussing their reaction to a classroom
structured with the activities I’ve described above. They compare it to the
previous year where they were not part of the instructional plan. I speaks
LOUDLY about the motivation of students. Unfortunately, the file was too big
to be allowed posting. If you would like to see it, you are welcome to
contact me and I'll share it with you.
I’m passionate about this topic. I welcome conversation about it!
Sherry Elmore
Curriculum Coach
Chatham Middle School
2025 S. 2nd Ave. Ext.
Siler City, NC 27344
(919) 663-2414
_____
From: [email protected]
To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group
[mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sat, 07 Aug 2010 10:11:09 -0400
Subject: [MOSAIC] Independent Reading
I hope you can help! I need some sources (preferably current research) I
can print off regarding elementary age kids independently reading during
reading. My principal
extremely dislikes seeing kids just reading. Accountability is huge. Last
year I had the kids journal to me . . that was very enlightening! I had no
problems with that.
Independent reading seems to be a dirty phrase. Please help .. and ...
thank you!
Kathleen
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