Before I could turn to page two, Miller already made an
excellent point on page one. She writes,
“When
children read extensively they learn about themselves, other people, and the
world; they learn that reading is something they can do that empowers them to
control their lives, connect with each other, and make the world a better place”
(p. 1).
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to view today’s
world through one of your student’s eyes? Can a child who does not have a
single book at home learn about himself? Can that child connect with others?
Can that child change the world? I bet not. What if our classroom is the only
time and the only place where that child gets to hold and read a book of his
choice? This is why Independent Reading (or as Miller refers to it, “Drop
Everything and Read Time” is important to me. Time does not stop, but what we
do during that time can make a world of difference in our students’ lives. Independent
Reading teaches our students all of the skills that we as teachers can’t teach
them; sense of empowerment, control, and connection can’t be taught by us. Students
learn these essential skills on their own (hopefully with our help).
I must also agree with Miller when she asks, what stops us
from incorporating daily Independent Reading time? Is it that we are afraid we will
run out of instructional time? I think that we are afraid students won’t
actually read if we give them that time. They won’t if we let that happen! They
will if we give them a reason to read with purpose. I always tell my students, “it
is your time, do what you will with it, but time doesn’t stop.” Besides trying
to use “words of wisdom,” I select books that I know they will want to read. I
ask them to free their minds of anything else and read with purpose. That
purpose is joy, imagination, connection to the author and to self. If we want
to experience what they experience during their Independent Reading time, why
couldn’t we do the same at that time? I bet they would be better students and
we would be better teachers after that thirty minutes is up!
Great job incorporating more independent choice reading into your day. You are right. Doing so opens up so many opportunities for children to learn. It's important, though, that you are taking this time to model what good readers do and talk with students about what they're doing as readers. That thirty minutes is an excellent time to conduct reading conferences!
ReplyDeleteHi Mascha,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that one of the biggest purposes of providing students with self-selected reading time is to provide them with joy and opportunities for discovery - from whatever and wherever the author takes them and that ever important discovery of self. I agree with Miller that effective independent reading is more than just drop everything and read; it requires support from a thoughtful teacher that provides mini-lessons that anchor the independent reading and conferencing that helps differentiate during and after. Thank you! Dawn