Amanda Justice Blog Post 2

Miller, Section 2:  Why Not?  What Works?

As I sat down to begin my assignments for this month I was faced with the decision of what to read.  Unexcited by the available choices, my strategy was to pick what I thought was the shortest chapter.  Just glancing at the two books, it was obvious to see that Miller’s book was smaller with less words on the page.  The first section of this book was relatively short, so I assumed the second section would be short too.  As I began to read, I soon realized that I should have counted the pages….. I chose to read 28 pages.  28 PAGES!!!  For a slow reader like myself this could mean reading ALL day!  Being that I had already started, I was not going to start again.  As I continued to read the chapter I slowly became interested in the content.  I began to think about my experiences as a teacher and a parent and relate them to the information contained in the text.

When I taught first grade, I thought students could not possibly learn much from independent reading.  I did not take this time seriously and only squeezed it in when we had time.  I felt like when students were reading independently, I was not teaching.  As I have grown as a parent and educator I see the importance of this practice and how I can make the most of this time with my students. 

Personally I have faced many struggles as a reader.  I never enjoyed or valued reading until I was given choice.  To this day I still cringe at the thought of having to read something I am not interested in or that I don’t want to read.  I believe that reading without choice often causes stress and takes away excitement and enjoyment. 

In thinking about the reading habits of my children at home and school, I notice them pick books that pertain to their interests.  They enjoy reading when they have time to engage with the pictures and the text in ways that are meaningful to them.  In the classroom my students enjoy reading once they understand how to use books.  They learn how to turn the pages, to talk about the text, to notice details in the illustrations, and to find letters we discuss in class.  They learn to engage with books even though they may not be able to read the words yet.  They learn about the behaviors of good readers through engaging with texts that are meaningful to them as individuals. 

At home I see my children become excited about reading.  I see their eyes light up as we get a new scholastic book order form.  They have a difficult time choosing which books to pick.  I often make suggestions and encourage them to pick certain books.  Sometimes they listen to me and sometimes they don’t.  Either way they are getting to make the final choice of the books they want to purchase and read.    

While I love what the chapter says about giving students free choice during independent reading, I also believe that teacher guidance and input is important in this choice.  It is easy to stay within your comfort zone and not step out to try new things.  I know as a reader, I would never have made the choice to read the selections we were given for this course.  However, after getting started I enjoyed the reading very much and was able to learn and grow as an individual. 

As I continued to read this chapter a point that stuck with me, was the fact that students ranked classroom libraries as the last place they would look for interesting reading material.  I believe it is important for us as educators to reflect on our libraries and the materials we place in these student libraries.  So often we are prone to place books that we ourselves do not care to read in our student library because if students tear the pages or mess up the books we won’t care.  Placing our “good” books or favorite books in our student libraries is something that we as educators do not like to do.  This is why having multiple copies of a book is important.  If we enjoy a book it is very likely that our students will enjoy that book too.  Sometimes I think we have to change our frame of mind as to how we think about our students and our libraries.  If we believe students will tear the pages, then perhaps they will.  However, if we teach students to care for the books, how to put them away neatly, how to turn the pages, and continually discuss taking care of books with our students then they will grow to find the books important and will hold each other accountable for taking care of the books.

Last, it is important to note that for independent reading to be successful, teachers must be active participants.  As a parent, I am an active participant in the reading of my children.  I look at the pictures with them, discuss the text, ask questions about the reading, allow my children to ask questions, and discuss strategies to help them become better readings.  I notice patterns in their reading and work to correct any miscues that I repeatedly notice along the way.   Why not apply this same practice to the classroom?