Why Not? What Works?

I thought this chapter had so much useful information in it. I especially connected with the chart on page 16 which describes what students need to grow as independent readers. The beginning of the chapter talked about successful readers who read outside of school have higher achievement versus the struggling readers who never read outside of the school setting and usually have poor performance in the classroom and on standardized tests. We all know that, but can we change the outcomes to help the struggling readers for the better? I think with the help of the critical practices for effective independent reading, educators will see an improvement in reading for both struggling readers and those on or above grade level.

• Classroom time to read: Finding time for students to read in the classroom are at least going to offer a semi-quiet setting to read independently. With the reading, we will see an increase in fluency, word recognition, and stamina to read for longer periods of time
• Students need to be able to choose what they read: I think this is huge! I would NEVER choose to pick up an educational book when I could read Nicholas Sparks!! I think allowing students the choice of what they want to read not only encourages reading, but the students might actually not want to put the book down! It's almost like a light-bulb moment when kids find a series that they want to read. It can actually be fun! I do feel that we have a very good media center that offers a variety of books on many different genres that would appeal to all readers.
• Students need explicit instruction about what, why, and how readers read: With the STAR test as a guideline, this is a good framework to use to help with reading instruction, but struggling readers, or even overachievers for that matter, are going to choose books that may be over their academic level. Throwing different genres in there only makes the process messier. I like that the genre wheel creates a guided goal to covering all areas, or genres, because it is important for students to have a working knowledge of all the different types of reading available out there. Of course, the teacher is going to have to instruct on the different genres and how to navigate the different strategies to create success.
• Boost the number of texts students read: I'm out of space...students need to read smarter not harder. They have to read to comprehend, not just take another AR test!!!!