At the beginning of the school year, I decided to try to incorporate as much as I possibly could into my senior self-contained math and career preparation classes to prepare my students for life after high school. Once these six young men complete high school in May, they will need to be ready to handle life, but without a high school diploma. Everyday, we watch CNN Student News and discuss events going on in the world. We practice basic math skills such as adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. I use math word problems involving money to help them understand basic money concepts and how to correctly use a calculator. We also study vocabulary associated with finding and securing employment and the math involved with wages, salaries, medical insurance, paycheck deductions, etc. I also want them to read, so I implemented SSR, however it is not working quite like I wanted it to. This is the main reason I selected the book "No More Independent Reading Without Support." Within reading the first chapter of the book, I discovered why it was not working.
"They had Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) time at the end of the day, but there was no instructional focus for this time - kids would grab a book and read until the timer sounded. And teachers just tried to keep them on task."
"Independent reading in silence without the kind of support described in this book means these children suffer in silence."
Bingo! As the old saying goes, this "hit the nail on the head."
The main reason I want to set aside time to read is to help my students increase their level of comprehension. They are already struggling readers as most of them are on about a 2nd or 3rd grade level. Any increase in comprehension will help them in the future and they will be better prepared for the "real world." The text cites that one study "found that in-school IR led to gains that were better than national averages in reading rates and a 43 percent average increase in the proportion of ideas recalled, representing a substantial increase in comprehension over the school year."
The first step to growing as independent readers is to find time in the day to allow students to read. For me, that is easy. I have set aside a certain amount of time in my lesson plans for students to read. The text states, "If our goal is for students to read independently, then we have to make it a practice that happens during classroom time." I know that most, if not all, of my senior boys are not readers outside of class so finding time during class to read is a priority. This is why I decided to implement reading in a math class.
The second step to growing as independent readers is to allow students to choose what they read. Again, easy. I think of myself as a reader when it comes to this: I enjoy reading when I enjoy the topic and I loathe reading when I do not enjoy the topic. So, I took my students to the library and allowed them time to select a book. I am certain that some of them had never done that before in high school as I watched them roam around the library. According to the text, "the research says that IR is most effective when students choose their own reading materials." I want this to be something that helps my students, but at the same time, I want them to enjoy reading. For this reason, self-selected texts are a must.
So far, I know what I am doing right, but as I look ahead and skim over the next pages, I now see what I am doing wrong. Stay tuned to my next blog....
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI really like the fact that you're taking the time to expose your students to real-world experiences in the classroom. Your students will benefit from this greatly.
Also, your decision to set aside time for your students to read is awesome. As teachers, sometimes we get caught up with teaching the content, and we fail to do what's going to benefit our students the most. For example, we know that in order for one to become a better reader, he or she must read often. Keep up the good work!
I am so glad to see that you are incorporating reading into every aspect of their day!! As always our goals for these students, being my previous babies, is to prepare them to be as successful as possible once they finish school. The more reading skills and practice they have the better!!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that you are always eager to model learning, to search, stretch and grow in your classroom, as a community of learners. Moving from the old SSR and DEAR philosophies toward more of the Reading Workshop plan for engaging Independent Reading.
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail on the head yourself--the secret to success in independent reading is the instructional support the teacher provides! Yes, it's important to read, but this reading must be accompanied by quality teaching! It sounds like your two steps of time and choice are already making differences in your classroom reading. Yay! (And as for what you're doing "wrong," there is no such thing. Once we know better, we do better. We're all knowing more and more each day!)
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