Jaime Steading's Blog Post 2--Miller Section 2: Why Not? What Works?

This chapter focuses on the importance of independent reading and how to best implement it in a classroom.  Miller begins by defining independent reading time as "time students spend reading self-selected texts".  The term "self-selected texts" is what Miller feels is most important and I have to agree.  This is a time for students to just enjoy being with a book.  It's a time for them to get "lost" and not worry about how they are reading or what others may think.  To me, it should be a stress-free time in their day for them to just "be".

According to Miller, IR time builds background knowledge, improves fluency and comprehension, increases achievement, and most importantly to me: motivates.  My students are struggling readers. Many of them are becoming old enough to now know this.  However, I have noticed during our IR time, they seem to flourish.  They are reading what they want to read.  They are not worried if they are reading correctly or not.  I rarely have to struggle with them during this time to get them to read or put forth effort.  It is building their confidence and therefore, building their motivation to read. This week was really affirming for me about the importance of this time.  One of my students is a great word caller, but he really struggles with comprehension.  His motivation and confidence really took a hit during our DRA assessments.  He even had a meltdown during the assessment because he was simply struggling with all of the language and he is a people pleaser.  This week, during IR time, he had been reading for quite a bit of time. Most of the other students had already lost interest and were ready to move on.  My assistant offered him some time on the computer.  He politely responded, "No thanks!  I'm reading!".  Wow!  He chose books over technology.  In the autism realm, this is amazing.

Just reading is not enough.  Miller discusses the importance of a large classroom library with many different types of reading materials to choose from.  She also discusses the importance of the teacher being actively involved and students sharing about what they have read.  These are areas in which I need to improve.  I have a rather large selection of books for my students, but not enough.  I have nonfiction and fiction books, but I need magazines and poetry selections and more nonfiction books on simpler levels.  When teaching multiple grades, it's very difficult to get a good range of books for everyone, but I am working on beefing up my library.  I'm trying to pay attention to things that capture my students' interests and look for those kinds of books while I'm out shopping.  My assistants need training in how to conference with students, since they are in charge of some of the IR time due to our schedule.  Finally, I need to get my students to share what they have read.  This works on communication skills, which is a deficit area for all of my students.  It might also encourage some to branch out and try new books, as some tend to fixate on certain books.

As a class, we are definitely making some strides in our IR time, but we still have some room to grow.  It requires taking baby steps and realizing that it might not all get accomplished this year, but that's okay.  We are headed in the right direction.  Most importantly, I am sold on the importance of this time and it has now become a nonnegotiable time for me and my students.