Blog 3-Section 2 Why Not? What Works? Why Independent Reading Matters and the Best Practices to Support It

 In section 2, Moss provides research showing the value of independent reading and then goes into how teachers can support students during independent reading. One point she makes in this section is how essential large and varied classroom libraries are. My classroom library is something I’ve recently been working on so I was immediately interested in this section. She suggests a library should have 300-600 books, which was a little daunting.  Genres should be split evenly between literary and informational and texts levels should vary.  One point she made was that many classroom libraries lack lower level books for their struggling readers and I think this could be said about my library. I need to focus more getting appropriate text for them. 

Another point she made was that students should be supported during independent reading.  She says teachers should provide explicit lessons on how to select appropriate leveled books and explicit instruction of reading strategies that can be used during silent reading. Students can be held accountable during this time through reading logs, written responses, story summaries and discussions. The teacher should also spend this time constantly conferencing with students on their reading.  She says a teacher “must bring all her teaching talents to bear during IR just as during any other instructional activity…structuring, guiding, teaching, interacting with, monitoring, and holding students accountable for time spent reading independently and silently.” This is the part of independent reading that I have not been successful at.  I must make conferencing with my students during their independent reading time a priority.