Lisa Brooks Summey: Blog #2: Why Not? What Works? Why Interdependent Reading Matters and the Best Practices to Support It.
For my second blog post, I decided to continue in the book, No More Independent Reading Without Support, with the passage Why Interdependent Reading Matters and the Best Practices to Support It. This was a really great read. the article talked about effective practices that are critical for independent reading. These practices include time to read, student selection, instruction on why we read, variety of genres, teacher support, and time to reflect on reading. In the time to read selection, I started thinking about the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. If SSR time is too short, the students will get little to nothing from their reading experience. If the time is too long, they may lose interest or fall asleep ( sometimes that's WHY I read at night). So, the teacher needs to determine that "just right" time for each learner, which could pose a problem since our classroom is made up of diverse learners and learning styles. I think it is very important that teachers explain to students the importance of reading and help individual students set goals, but remember that reading is fun. Student and Teacher accountability should be considered as they collaborate, conference, and confer on the books that are being read.
I believe the best part of the passage for me, was the section that began discussing ELL learners. It was stated that ELL, below level learners, learning disabled, and average readers benefited the most from being given opportunities to read. It explained that students in Group 1 (where all effective practices were incorporated showed the greatest benefit in reading, which is really no surprise. After all that is why we call these techniques BEST PRACTICES. It is encouraging to actually see this in a study.
I do agree with the passage about holding students accountable. They should be using reading logs, story summaries,book chats, conferences, and written responses. However, if this is done daily during SSR,...I wonder~ will that take the fun and enjoyment out of reading? Will the struggling/ELL student become so bogged down with the assignment that he/ she will not enjoy the book? Will they worry and stress over getting their thoughts on paper or just writing neatly? I think teachers need to be wise on how often these elements need to be incorporated. With adults, when too much is required and expected, learning which many truly enjoy becomes a chore...and in the end does that make the task and our end goal ineffective?
.....back to Goldilocks. How much is,.... "Just Right"?
It IS hard to meet the needs of all readers and create a schedule that works for everyone when different reading times, etc. work best for different students. I have been thinking through that, and I feel that differentiating would be easier to accomplish within a Reading Workshop schedule.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the student accountability . . . I agree with both of you and the author. We DO need to keep students accountable, but once again . . . we need to differentiate even our expectation for recording their reading and reading responses. Teachers should not expect the same from every student. Maybe a struggling ELL student could just check a box (or 3) showing that they were thinking while they were reading, they picked a just-right book, etc. etc. Then, a more advanced student might need to expand more on what they infer will happen later in the book or jot down a few questions they have while reading. If teachers have different expectations for different students, accountability is something we can expect from all students.