Kelli Wolfe's August Blog Post 1: Let's Push Up Our Sleeves

No More Independent Reading Without Support Section 1 peels the orange precisely. If our goal as teachers is for students to grow up and be "real" readers, then shouldn't they have tons of time practicing just that? Debbie Miller explains that for students to become readers, they need to spend huge amounts of time... reading.  However, we cannot forget that the second part of her sentence . . . “but not without instructional support.”  

Sadly, many teachers view independent reading as an extra...a time filler.  There are so many standards and expectations that need to be met each day.  As teachers, we very often feel we don’t have enough time to get it all done.  I love how Miller encourages us to look at our daily schedules and determine how much time is wasted . . . or could be better spent.  I read Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites several years ago, and Miller’s book reminded me of many of the principles Marcia Tate wrote about in her book.  We need to push up our sleeves and really evaluate every minute of our day.  Do we waste time?  Could time be better spent?  

Finally, Miller points out how important it is to know our students as readers so that we can coach them and challenge them in their journey.  One-on-one conferencing during Independent Reading will open our eyes and our minds to what’s going on inside the heads of our learners.  I am looking forward to future chapters . . . where I think Miller will give us more direction instruction on how to do just that!  J