Stevie Fields-April Blog Post-Routman Chapter 6

Part of me wishes that I had read this chapter at the beginning of the year since I have been working on including more independent reading in my classroom. However, I also think it’s good that I didn’t. After spending time trying to provide my student with more choice and more time to simply read, I believe I have seen the benefit of independent reading. Having personally seen the benefits, the idea of giving up more control and having independent reading take over the majority of my reading instruction is less daunting. The majority of my students have loved reading books that they got to pick out and the growth that I have seen in them as readers, especially my lower readers, has been fantastic. This chapter has me thinking about how I want to structure my reading time for next year and how I really want to commit to this idea of independent reading. It also has me thinking about what parts I need to improve for next year.  One area that I really need to work on is conferencing with students as they read their books.  I have been conferencing but I have not been consistent about it.  The conferencing I have done showed me that it is a valuable use of time. It provides so much insight into my student’s strengths and weaknesses and, ideally, I should be using that information to plan instruction. Another area I need to work on is helping students determine the “just right” book for them. I want to get away from having kids look at numbers and asking if it “on their level” and, instead, teach them how to find an appropriate book just like an adult going into the library would do.  I truly believe that this will help grow lifelong readers and not just kids who can answer comprehension questions.