Independent Reading
1/25/2019
As I mentioned in my last blog, I recently read an article from The International Literacy Association that confirmed my philosophy of best reading practices, practices that thankfully PNA embraces and that teachers implement in each of the classrooms through the workshop model. The article, "Creating Passionate Readers Through Independent Reading," reaffirmed the importance of several key factors of the literacy environment in schools: student choice; creating time for, nurturing, and instructing through independent reading; and growing stamina. In a previous blog, I focused on student choice, and I will focus on independent reading in this post. So what exactly does independent reading look like in the classroom? In a literacy leadership brief, "the ILA identifies the components of independent reading.
Independent reading has many benefits, which do include "competence, confidence and joy." I see this daily as students read through large stacks of books and then share them with classmates. Furthermore, independent reading provides students with the opportunity to practice independently implementing the skills and strategies they have learned. This lets me see who is applying the strategies independently and who still needs additional support to do so. It also allows me to meet with students individually and in small groups, which in turn allows me to focus on the skills that each child personally needs to continue developing as a reader. It also helps students grow their reading stamina and build lifelong reading habits. What does this look like in the kindergarten classroom? It looks like our daily reading workshop, which incorporates each component on the list above. It begins with students meeting on the carpet for the mini-lesson, in which I provide explicit instruction about what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to be a reader as well as specific strategies that readers use when reading. The strategies cover everything from using picture support to figuring out challenging words to bringing books to life and talking about them. During the mini-lesson, I model the strategy and then students have the opportunity to practice it with me and each other. I always end the mini-lesson with a mission, my call-to-action for students to use what we have just learned during their independent (which we call private) and partner reading time. During private and partner reading time, students choose a comfy spot in our classroom to read. While they read, I meet with groups of students and check in with individual students. I might provide encouragement, additional specific, explicit instruction, or initiate a conversation about what they are reading, which strategies they are using, and what their next steps as a reader might be (i.e. their goal). During this time, students who are not meeting with me read by themselves or with a classmate, implementing the strategies they have learned to read their books, bring them to life, and have conversations about them. In this way, the specific needs of each child are met each day, all while our little readers have the opportunity to develop lifelong reading skills and a love of reading. It is truly a magical time in our day, one that both the students and I look forward to.
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Saania AliMs. Ali graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelors of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies. She specializes in Early Childhood Education, ESL, and Special Education. Her hobbies include traveling, reading, and painting! Archives
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