Erin Lee Blog 1: Section 1 Not This: Is There Enough Time? And Is Time Enough to Support Independent Reading?

This section discussed the importance of independent reading in the classroom and how it differs from other reading times such as Drop Everything and Read and Sustained Silent Reading.  It also discussed how to find time within the day to include more independent reading by cutting out or down on other activities going on.  A large part of this section was focused on a school outside of Baltimore that worked on incorporating independent reading in the classroom to help prove just how beneficial and easy it is. 

                I really agreed with all that the article had to say about independent reading and even though I have always had this as part of my schedule, there were some things I noticed that I need to work on as well.  Throughout the years I have had independent reading in my room but not for the 30-60 minutes that it stated in the article.  The maximum time that I have used is about 15 minutes.  I have found being in 2^nd grade that anything longer than that is not productive time.  After about 15 minutes, the kids seem to lose interest in reading or get tired of sitting still to read.  I find that I have to redirect students more while I am trying to conference if the independent reading time goes on too long.  Another thing I felt like I could work on was making sure there was a focus for the independent reading time.  This is something I haven’t really done in the past.  Sometimes I feel like we get so wrapped up with other things, that there’s not enough time to really set a focus or strategy of the reading.