Sharon Doyle - Blogpost #2: Miller, Why Independent Reading Matters and the Best Practices to Support it.

     Moss reminds us of some obvious things that we as teachers in our discussions see as important to the reading process and couples it with a challenge to our practices that are sometimes contradictory to those very ideals couched under the premise of the concept of independent reading. The research is mixed, but one thing is clear, students who read, read better. Moss provides a strong research based support of the idea of independent reading both in and out of school.  A major premise for not scheduling blocks of time for independent reading inside the school day include management issues, lack of appropriate materials, and wide level differences requiring different support and scaffolding.  Each of these reasons are certainly valid and every teacher strains daily to balance what they know to be best practice against that which is simply too difficult to execute given school parameters or our willingness to take the time to see a process through to a measurable end. 

     Of greatest interest to me was the table of teacher behaviors that lead to student success in IR.  Personally, until I began reading about reading, I never considered the teacher behaviors as that important to the success of their students as long as they were teaching by accepted and prescribed methods.  As a child, I entered school as a reader and handled non-fiction as easily as a bedtime story.   I was well into teaching before I genuinely realized that good readers approach reading in a very different manner than struggling readers and that I as a teacher had to point this out to them if I hoped to assist them with their learning.  What can we do to assist a struggling reader?  We must diagnose their issues and teach them.  Explicit lessons in book selection (choice not told), modeling of reading strategies (think alouds), providing feedback (I noticed…), conferences (checking in), accountability (comprehension checks), and group discussions all contribute to readers becoming aware of their reading and provides them with a plan of attack.

      Good readers read.  Good readers formulate mental pictures that bring meaning and context to their reading.  Good readers ask themselves questions as they read.  Good readers know that not all genres can be read or approached in the same manner.  Good readers read what they want to read and often skim those not as interesting.  Good readers read punctuation.  Good readers vary their speed of reading based on the needs of the text.  Oh, did I say this already – Good readers read – let’s give them some time dedicated to their own self-selected reading interests and let them teach us about what they have read.