Sharon Doyle's August Blog Post #1: Time?

     I am often amused that I sometimes use the excuse that "I don't have time to exercise", however, I seem to always find the time to eat.  Miller's article gave me the inevitable reminder that we always have time for what we genuinely believe we should be doing.  We read consistently that the improvement of reading for our students will not occur unless the students spend time reading with supported instruction about their work as strategic readers.  Perhaps the question needs to be re-framed to the statement of "There must be enough time."

     I have read research previously that the average time students in elementary schools spend actually reading is approximately 4 minutes per day.  Think about it - students listen to teachers read, other students read, complete work sheets, watch video clips, and stare at texts for hours during the day, but to actually read for themselves, question their thinking, and examine themselves as readers, little time is clocked.  I noticed today in my second grade music class that obvious ideas like you have to be looking at the book to read the words of a song was a concept that escaped more than 50% of the class.  Miller is correct, silent reading without conferencing or accountability systems that examine exactly what students are doing is not productive.  I witnessed first hand the artful or in most cases not so artful example of fake reading and these are second graders who should be excited about learning to read interesting materials that once were out of their reach. I am reminded that they must be reminded what good readers do for themselves that is not so instinctive to those who are struggling or in this case just learning to be readers.

    Students, to become meaning makers, must engage in independent reading - 'real' reading using books where they share both interest and ability to read. Realizing that teachers in all areas of the school can provide support for reading in a variety of ways is helpful, but is no substitute for strategic support by those same teachers for students' own mechanics of  independent reading.  As I think about the upcoming kid-watching observation, I also want to consider the amount of time I see students in actual reading - are they practicing reading with support or are they doing activities about reading or worse yet, are they mastering the fake reading Miller aptly described?

     Miller reminded me of the constant need to examine with one question - WHY?  Why do we engage in the learning activities we use each day?  Tradition or genuine need based on our best intuition, beliefs, and knowledge of our students? Is there enough time?  If we want to make a genuine difference for our students as readers - there has to be.