Section 1 – Not This
Is There Enough Time?
And Is Time Enough to Support Independent Reading?
Debbie Miller
I am a big fan of independent reading. I think it is the most important part of
learning to read, but as the article says, there is not enough time. I see my students for 50 minutes every
day. In that short time, I have to
provide direct instruction for phonics, introduce high frequency and vocabulary
words, teach writing skills, allow time for independent reading, conference with
students, and assess to monitor progress.
I have to hope that my students will have enough time in their
classrooms and at home to appropriate practice independent reading.
I think we would learn a lot from having readers’ workshops
with students. That would give us more
information than any test could provide.
Reflecting on their reading is an important and useful skill our
students need to have. I think about my
students and how they would reflect on their reading. I imagine their reflections would not be very
accurate. Reflecting is not a natural
skill they should have at a young age. I
think we would have to spend a lot of time on teaching our students how to
accurately reflect on their reading.
This article made me sit down and really think about ‘what
benches I am guarding’. I thought about
the curriculum I use and each part of the daily lessons. Being a researched based intervention curriculum,
there are no parts I can really modify or skip.
Independent reading is 5-10 minutes of every lesson. The article talks about allowing 30-60
minutes of independent reading. The time
I have to spend on independent reading within the curriculum I use is spent on
reading the same story we read during guided reading in the whole group
lesson. Some stories we read interest
some students and some stories do not.
More times than not, my students race through the story to finish as
fast as they can.
Independent reading is such an important part of
reading. I understand the time
constraints that all teachers have to incorporate independent reading. I wish there was a fix all solution to this
problem.
Yours is a unique situation. You don't have the entire day with one group of students and you are bound by a set curriculum. It's great that you see the need for independent reading instructions. It's also valuable that you see the need to teach students how to reflect on their reading. Age and ability level play a role. Students need to be explicitly taught how to think as readers.
ReplyDeleteHi Katie,
ReplyDeleteI want to thank you for the time and thought you are putting into reflecting on your classroom practice and considering your students' unique needs and how you can best support them given the time and resources you have. I am thankful that you are considering ways to provide students with opportunities to reflect on their reading and how to build interest into the stories they are reading so that you can engage them in learning proficient reading strategies. Thank you! Dawn