Independent Reading Matters

March/April Blog - Miller & Moss - Section 2 - IR Matters

If there is one thing that I have learned from this course it is the importance of Independent Reading and student choice. The section of this book had fantastic charts and tables that I will use to guide my lesson planning as well as to reflect on my reading instruction. I believe in independent reading and enjoy this time during my instructional day. My students enjoy this time during the day as well. I think it is so nice to hear the murmur, whisper, and silence of students reading independently. It is even nicer to get to hear about what they are reading when conferencing with them. 

As I read I realized the importance of students' stamina and what that means for different readers. I thought it was extremely interesting how the different amounts of time spent on independent reading for good and poor readers affected what they learned. I know that as a reading instructor that it takes time for poor readers to build stamina. This section of this book gave me a good perspective of trying to find a balance in a classroom of mixed leveled readers. 

Another perspective that I felt like was good to read about was the fact that students have to be exposed to many different types of text. Not only is the exposure important, but the explicit instruction to the genre-specific text is necessary. On page 23 the author explains, "...the reading processes used to comprehend a story like Charlotte's Web are different from those needed to extract information from an article on spiders." In the same paragraph, the author identifies the different texts we come across as professionals and adult readers. I find it interesting that I do not consider myself a "reader", yet I spend the majority of my day reading. This course has helped me realize that although, beyond required reading, I do not choose novels or things of that nature to read, I do read all the time. I believe that this is so important for our students as well. Students have to be exposed and taught how to read and understand other types of texts. If we are truly creating college and career ready students, we must look at what we as readers do each day too. 

I have found it so interesting that throughout this course I have learned a lot of what I already knew about reading. I have been reminded of simple things that are necessary for student achievement. Below are some of the main ideas and takeaways that I have from this section of this book.

- "...IR can promote achievement gains under specific conditions..."(pg. 15)

- Students need to be able to choose texts, but with some guidance in that they understand how to differentiate their genre and level.

- Students stamina differs, and the gains from the time spent in IR differ for each child as well.

- Students need to understand what different types of text are for and how we can use them and understand them.

- Accountability in reading is necessary, in the types of text, the complexity of texts, and the assessment of texts. 

- In order for students to be able to read different types of texts, they must be available to them and they must know how to find them.

- Easy reading is good for students to build confidence, but harder reading is also good for student growth. 

- Reading should be shared and conferred in both independent and whole group settings.