I am currently working on how to improve independent reading
in my classroom. This chapter begins by
pointing out why children need to read more.
In the chapter it states that any reading program that substantially
increases the amount of reading students do will impact their reading
achievement. Not only should children
spend more time reading, but they should be reading more on their level. The chapter states that students should
choose “just-right” books to read. I
think I have done a great job choosing books that are on their level. I have a container for each child with books
on “their” level. The children love to get “their” container and read the books
they chose. They really get into reading
and want to read every chance they get.
I still feel that I need to be with each individual child
during independent reading. I want to be able to help when I see the help is
needed for all children.
Something I need to work on is assessing. This is not apart of my daily routine. I need to work on using the assessments to
drive my instruction. The chapter states
that implementing this will improve instruction and learning. I would like to try conferencing with my
students on a daily basis. I feel like I
can use the strategies mentioned to begin a successful conference time with my
students. It’s all about finding the time and finding what works and what does
not work when I am conferencing.
I am sure in K5 it takes a little extra time to teach students what IR looks like. However, the benefits are great - as I know you know. It was so fun to be in your room the other day and watch the progress that students are already making. And, in truth, the more opportunities they have to read, the better readers they become.
ReplyDeleteRemember, you do not have to conference with every student every day. You will probably only have time to meet with 5 or 6. I found that this one-on-one time told me much more about my students than anything else I did with them during the week. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and see their progress!
You are doing a lot of thinking about the best ways to implement IR in your classroom! Assessment is tricky. I tried a whole bunch of things in K to keep records during conferences--Evernote anecdotal notes, printed forms, Google forms--and so forth! It would be interesting to let the kids pick their own "just right books" to see how independent they are in this process by now! :-)
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