Mindy Connolly's August Blog Post 1: Always Time to Read

As I read the section of Debbie Miller's book, Finding the Time, I find myself reflecting on the ways we have attempted to encourage reading with our students. I am reminded of DIRT, Daily Independent Reading Time, that was put in place for 30 minutes a day, everyday. Teachers were encouraged to read silently so the students would see them reading. As Miller states, "they're modeling what a good reader looks like". No matter how hard we tried, many of us spent the DIRT period tying up loose ends, completing paperwork, grading papers - just trying to stay afloat. And while modeling to an extent is good, we weren't helping students find meaning in the text, we weren't helping them improve their reading skills. To many of us, reading is a hobby. We enjoy it. Give us a good book and a comfy couch and we are all to happy to indulge ourselves. To many of these students, reading was a chore. Oftentimes, they sat, staring out the window, they drew, they finished their homework. As long as they were quiet and it appeared they were reading, everything was good. But it wasn't. This in itself was wasted instructional time.
Last November, I went to New York City for personal reasons. While there, I visited a friend who teaches in a KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) school in Harlem. The teachers rotated as well as the students. There was one class every teacher taught. Unfortunately, I don't recall the name of the class. In this class there were two sets of students and two teachers. The school was small and so sometimes a room was shared. But while in this class, the students were all reading a book together. The students read in class and they read at home. While reading, the students were required to mark parts of their books with a sticky note. Sometimes the sticky note would be a question about something they did not understand, or it would be an Ah-Ha! moment. There were sticky notes throughout all of the students' books. I asked one student what they meant. Each note had writing on it, and she explained it in full to me. She did a much better job explaining the notes than I am in this blog. These students, they lived in the projects, they were poor and underprivileged. And they were reading. They were taking meaning from the text. Their literacy skills were improving! I was beyond impressed. No one was teaching from a text book or handing out worksheets. Their work was meaningful, it had purpose and I was excited!
After reading this chapter, I am excited about teaching reading! I am looking forward to what we are going to learn and how we are going to make reading meaningful for our students. If we can improve their reading ability, I believe they will show an increase in performance in their other subjects. It's a win win situation and we MUST find the time!