November - Katie Miller: Miller Chapter 2 - Why Not? What Works?

Sections 2:  Why not?  What works?

Why Independent Reading Matters and the Best Practices to Support It

Barbara Ross

I do not think anyone would argue that independent reading is a very important part in learning to read.  It gives readers a chance to practice everything they have learned about reading and gives readers a chance to find a love for reading.  The statistics in this article about standardized test scores and how those correlate with the amount of time students read outside of school made me stop and think about our population at FES.  Unfortunately, a lot of our students do not have the support and resources at home in order to have time for independent reading.  It makes independent reading time even more important and challenging in our school setting. 

When I think about independent reading and what this article says about what students need to do in order to grow as independent readers, I think about a specific group of 2^nd graders I have this year.  We do a lot of phonemic awareness and word work, but I also allow the most amount time for independent reading as I can in my 50 minutes.  This particular group has such a hard time during the independent reading time.  After reading this article, I realize how much more I need to do and how much more my students need to learn before we can effectively read independently. 

I fully agree that students should choose what they read.  I think about a lot of my students and how I have seen them choose their books in the library and in my classroom.  Often time, students choose books based on what their friends choose or a book that is much higher than on their level.  I have had many talks with my students about getting books they want to read and can read.  Those conversations do really seem to make an impact on their book selections.  The article talked about how reading harder text could benefit, not harm.  This made me think about my students who have very low confidence levels and are easily frustrated when they struggle in reading.  I can see where reading harder text could potentially be harmful for those students because it could change their opinions and love for reading.  I think it would be challenging, but necessary, to find a book at an appropriate level that also interests the student.

This article made me really think about the curriculum I have to use in my classroom and the importance of independent reading.  The two contradict each other in some ways.  There is not really an opportunity for students to select their reading materials in my curriculum.  We do offer reading in a variety of texts, but those are only included once a week and are very short.  My curriculum focuses a lot of word work and learning phonics skill to become more accurate and fluent readers.  There really is not time or resource in my curriculum to teach all of the necessary components of independent reading.  There are some components, however, that we do incorporate that could support independent reading.  We provide explicit instruction and modeling of teaching strategies, provide feedback for student reading, have reading conferences, and discuss student progress.  While these components are included in our curriculum, there still is not a lot of freedom when it comes to text selection and time for independent reading.

I have books in my classroom, but I would not necessarily call them a classroom library.  I have tag readers and Leap Pads from Leap Frog.  These include books and allow for interactive reading.  I use these for independent reading when I am doing individual assessments.  Students are allowed to choose a book of their choice during this time, but there is not a very wide variety. 

One section that really stood out to me when I was reading was the section about students needing to talk about what they read.  I have worked a lot with my students this year with talking about what they read.  It is such a struggle!  A majority of my students have a speech/language impairment that makes conversations difficult.  I have incorporated what I call ‘conversation cards’ that prompts student conversations.  This has helped some, but it is still difficult for my students to talk about what they read independently.

My struggling readers need so much support and have such a long way to go to become independent readers.  This article stressed me out and encouraged me at the same time.  I feel like I have a better understanding of what needs to be done to support independent reading, but know that is will not be an easy road getting there.