Blog Post October
In
Miller’s first section, “Is There Enough Time? And Is Time Enough to Support
Independent Reading?” it really hit me how much wasted time I spend in class
each day. Although, I know I’m not the
only one, this chapter really made me step back and analyze things I need to
work on in my classroom. I feel like
adjusting and making your classroom better is an endless cycle as we constantly
are putting more and more thought into how to better our classrooms to help our
students.
I had to laugh at quite a few parts
during this chapter, because I have already created some of these habits of
unsuccessfully managing my time as a teacher.
Not only do I do some of these things in my classroom, but I remember
many of my teachers doing some of these things too. However, until we grow professionally, you
may be doing these things unintentionally.
There are so many precious minutes that could be spent teaching or in
this case, independently reading, while they are wasted away taking 15 minutes
to pack up at the end of the day, calling students to line up by category, or
taking twenty plus minutes doing a calendar activity.
It’s important to re-adjust your
schedule after reading a professional book like this; I feel that teachers are
also always learning and growing just like our students are. This is something I definitely need to work
on in my own classroom and figure out where I can create more time.
This was a perfect chapter for me to
choose to read because lately I have been thinking about my time management in
classroom and always thinking that there is “never enough time in the day to
get everything done.” I definitely need
to use my time more wisely in order to create more instructional time for my
students.
One point that stuck out to me while
reading was the fact that independent reading and conferencing should be a separate
time from guided reading and rotations.
Independent reading is more valued and more of a learning experience
when it is quiet, and everyone is doing the same thing. That way, you are free to move around the
room and conference with different students, while creating teaching moments
right then and there.
I found this chapter to be an encouragement and eye-opener for my classroom.
It is funny that we often teach the way we were taught so even a new teacher may do things that are not the best use of our time. As you said, it is so important that we continue to grow professionally and that comes from reading and reflecting on professional development then looking for ways to apply the new concepts in our every day lives. It is definitely true that you can't manage independent reading and guiding reading at the same time since true independent reading requires conferencing and more individualized support for your readers. No matter how long you are teaching, it is essential to continue to reflect on your practices and the needs of your students in order to achieve the most growth.
ReplyDeleteBeing a reflective practitioner is indeed an endless cycle. It's my favorite part of teaching--you can renew yourself and your practice based on reflection whenever you like! :-)
ReplyDelete