Maggie Delaney August Blog 1

“Children learn to read by reading…but not without instructional support.”  Reading is so important.  We as teachers know how true that really is.  Reading is a requirement for all courses in school…science, social studies, math, music, etc. If you can’t read, it’s going to be hard to work a math problem or conduct a science experiment.   At the start of my career, independent reading was a hot topic and there was a big push to have it in place in all classrooms.  In my second grade classroom, I took on a balanced literacy approach with 30-60 minutes a day spent on independently reading.  I strongly believe in it and truly believe that teachers CAN find the time to incorporate it into their daily schedule.

However, I do feel like I struggle with how to use the independent reading time to maximize the students’ growth in reading.  “First, let’s find the minutes.  And then let’s figure out how to use them well.”  In my current role, it is very easy to find the minutes seeing as how I pull students for a reading intervention program.  But, like I mentioned earlier, even as a second grade teacher that taught all the subjects, I definitely found the time for independent reading.  Using those minutes well is where I feel like I need more guidance (and hopefully, this class will provide that!). 

I know that some teachers out there have a dislike for independent reading time.  As mentioned in the article, some teachers are not fond of it because they see it as a time for students to read with no teaching/instruction going on.  I fully understand that there is a huge amount of instruction that can occur when a teacher is able to conference with a student independently.  One of my hopes for this class is to acquire some new strategies to help students individually with their reading.  I really want to “make the most” of our independent reading time!