I choose to read No More Independent Reading Without Support by Debbie Miller and Barbara Moss mostly because I am familiar with their work and agree with much of it. This book is part of a series called “Not this, but that” and outlines instructional practices that are commonplace but don’t work. This book is tackling finding time for real, authentic reading not just SSR/DEAR type reading.
This book starts out with a hook that plagues teachers all over the planet- the issue of TIME. I love how they started off with this particular issue (I personally have read almost an entire professional book wondering that very question- how am I supposed to make time for this!) They begin by busting up many things that clutter our instructional days from calendar time to morning announcements. Many of these things are so ingrained into our school’s culture that we believe to make room for something else is heresy. BUT- this made me look at my measly hour with my students again. I teach 6th-grade social studies. How could I add more time for reading while I teach ancient civilizations and world cultures. As I pictured my daily agenda to ponder what I could cut, Debbie Miller’s words floated in my brain. “When children read extensively, they learn about themselves, other people, and the world.” (Miller, 1). Isn’t that the ultimate goal of studying world history? I usually read aloud a few times a week but Debbie is so insistent that I wanted to make it a daily habit. So I decided to boot out my daily geography “starter.” My. Kids. Love. It.
Miller also believes that children need more than just exposure to texts, “They need a teacher to show them what behaviors they need to practice as they read” (Miller 8). Our sentence, phrase, word protocol was a big hit with them last week. It helped them to pay attention to the reading and writing as well as adding to our learning about ancient Mesopotamia. (We are reading The Golden Bull by Marjorie Cowley). We even used it as a share strategy to sum up their learning as they left the room.
This book has challenged my assumptions already and I am excited about the next section on why independent reading matters and the best ways to support it. I hope to learn more ways to transform my students into lifelong readers.
I love this blog...it caught my attention because of the word TIME. Wow what a word that it to a teacher. There never seems to be enough time to teach what we know our students need. This helped me realize that they can learn just by using some time to read and that I won't be doing them and injustice by letting them take some control. I feel better just knowing that I am not the only one who feels this way. I will be trying the "starter" as well. Thank you for a great Blog!
ReplyDeleteI am not reading this book, but you make it sound like it would have been a good choice. It is awesome that you are already implementing things you are discovering early on in the book...and having success with it!
ReplyDeleteThis book is short but packed with the good stuff! I am interested in trying the other books in the series...Teach This, Not That!
DeleteDanielle, I would love to share with some teacher friends about how you are using these tools in your content area course. Not only are you able to support your learners more effectively, you are modeling learning as you try new ideas!
ReplyDeleteDanielle, this is one of my favorite parts of this text because as educators we are always pushed for time and the first complaint I hear from educators when working to improve literacy practices is "We don't have enough time for....(insert whatever practice we are discussing). Miller makes a great point that we need to look at what "benches we are guarding" in our curriculum to free up time for what is most meaningful and effective for students. Many times those are the routines that we have always done such as a twenty minute morning work packet that I realized my third year of teaching had to go if I was going to implement writing workshop effectively. We never have enough time so we have to continuously reflect on how we are using what we have.
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