When determining a book to read for class, I wanted a book I felt would possible help me with my preparation for my English class next semester. I decided to read Reading No More Independent Reading Without Support by Debbie Miller and Barbara Moss. I have found this book making me examining how I will address independent reading in my class.
I have planned on allowing time for Sustained Silent Reading each day in my English class. I had decided upon giving students 10-15 minutes daily to reading a book of their choosing, while I also read allowing, which would help them see that I also found reading important. After reading some of my book, I can now see that this may not be the avenue in which I would like to pursue. While I want my students to read and read daily, I also want the reading to be meaningful for the students.
In reference to SSR, "We don't have evidence of how they're making meaning of the text, the specific ways they've grown as readers, or what they're struggling with as readers."
"When we "set children loose" day after day after day with no focus or support, it can lead to fake reading and ultimately disengagement whether it's due to lack of purpose or a perceived or actual lack of reading skill."
I found these to two very influential quotes from the book. I have always looked at SSR time to be beneficial by just allowing them time to read. Now looking over how I will conduct SSR time in my class, I find myself trying to work to develop a plan to make SSR as beneficial as possible. I want reading to be more than something the students "have to do" for a given amount of time to appease their teacher, I want this to be a time that students develop as a reader. I am continuing to determine a plan on how to structure the students independent reading time to be most beneficial. I look forward to continued reading of the book by Miller and Moss to build my understanding of how to implement this crucial part of my students learning experience.
You have some exciting new adventures this year! As you explore more about ways to provide a more structured, planed independent reading time that goes beyond SRR, I hope you will see readers who become more engaged and better at comprehension and motivation. I know you will encourage them to enjoy your class!
ReplyDeleteI find myself in the same boat with regards to SSR. It seems to me that the authentic readers will use this time to read independently while the fake readers will use the time to do anything but read. This has been a real struggle for me year after year. I tried reading logs and reading journals too but I didn't find them very effective either. I look forward to hearing more from this book.
ReplyDeleteJessica, you are doing some good thinking about how to make your reading time the most beneficial for your readers! It sounds like you're noticing that a difference between SSR and independent reading lies in the instruction--through conferences with students (individually or in groups), the teacher can provide that missing, meaningful component of teaching!
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