Heather Register's August Blog Post-Miller Section 1

Miller Section 1: Not This: Is there Enough Time?  And is Time Enough to Support Independent Reading?

Coming from a fifth grade classroom into the reading coach position, I feel like I’m not very far removed from the very real classroom teacher time crunch. We fought hard to get all of the standards covered in time for testing. I remember grumbling that there just wasn’t enough time in the day to do everything “they” wanted me to do. “They” being the people in charge that wanted us to read longer, do math harder, and fit in that extra recess every day. I was convicted by Miller’s reference to the “benches” I may be guarding. When I look back to how I taught, I realized there were many instances throughout the day that I could’ve skimmed extra time off of transitions or other work and dedicated it to more reading opportunities. All of this done without the extra grumbling. As an educator, it comes down to priorities. Much like Mills and Clyde refer to in their article, “Children’s Success as Readers and Writers: It’s the Teacher’s Beliefs that Make the Difference,” it’s what the teacher feels is important that will take priority in the day. My belief is that reading is one of the most important skills a child can have. That being said, it should drive my instructional decisions.

Miller states what seems like common sense, “For children to develop the habits and identity of thoughtful, strategic, and proficient readers, they need to practice, and to make their practice productive, (p. 1).” We know that children need practice as readers yet all too often, we fall into the routine of trying to cram more instruction in a day, not better quality instruction, just more. The reading workshop Miller refers to as a means of guiding students through authentic reading opportunities is one we’ve heard about many times from many experts in the field. As a teacher, I used this approach to my reading lessons. Short focused mini-lessons with time for students to practice the skills they’ve learned were the crux of my reading block. What is confronting me as a practitioner is the idea that students should be choosing the books they read during this time. Here is where my red flag flies up again, worried that if they choose what they read, we will never have time to cover everything. During this choice time, is it acceptable to provide controlled choice? When I provided students with a variety of texts on a social studies topic from a variety of genres and allowed them to choose, was this enough to catch their attention and encourage them to read independently?

My final reaction in this section was to the statement made by the teachers in Baltimore, “We don’t really know our children as readers.” Knowing your students is one of the most important parts of the job of teacher. Knowing them as readers won’t happen unless you’re talking to them about what they do as readers. Conferring with students is the only way a teacher can assess what the student knows and what the student needs to know. When this isn’t a required task, it can often fall by the wayside in the interest of checking off other “to dos.” After our school stopped requiring them, I noticed that it was way too easy just to forget about conferences. Then I noticed that my kids weren’t doing as well in reading as I would have liked. When I decided to implement them again, I had issues with organization. Even after being shown different ways to keep track of conferences, there were times that I wasn’t approaching them in the organized way that signaled they were a priority.  I felt confident in my conferences by the end of last year. I was meeting with students, recording what I felt was important, and using my findings to fuel my lesson planning. I know this is important. As a teacher I feel that it should be a priority. Now all I need to do is help others find the time.