It is ALL about Choice

            It is very surprising to me that we as educators have been told the importance of Independent Reading, yet most of the teachers I know in the Middle School don’t see much value in this time.  We have even been shown studies that show the difference that Independent Reading time has on students.  According to Miller and Moss in the book No More Independent Reading Without Support, "Literally hundreds of correlational studies find that the best readers read the most and that poor readers read the least."  Why are we not helping those poor readers by given them time in class to read and read whatever they choose?  I know as a classroom teacher it is hard to drop the standards you are teaching and let students just read without any restrictions, but think about the students that do not have any books at home to read.  If we don’t put books in these students’ hands, where will they get the opportunity to improve their reading.  We’ve got to teach students what our expectations are during this independent reading time.  For me it is not a time to catch up on emails, grade papers etc.  It is a time for me to stop with all the paperwork of teaching and pick up a book to read.  I am trying to be an example for my students.  Sometimes I pick up articles, books for this class, a novel for students or even my own personal book to read.  I want them to see me actually enjoying reading and even reading to learn.  I think this is where some educators drop the ball.  If your students don’t ever see you reading, why do you expect them to read?

            Another topic that surprises me is that educators feel the need to pick what students are reading.  I do not like when I am given something to read that is not interesting or even applicable to what I am teaching.  I can’t for the life of me understand why some educators think that we need to have all students reading this genre of books.  According to the authors, "In the Revised Publishers Criteria for the Common Core State Standards"(Coleman and Pimentel 2012), the authors state that students should have "daily opportunities to read texts of their choice on their own during and outside of the school day."  The entire reason to put books into the hands of our precious students is to have them read and to enjoy what they are reading so they will read more and become more proficient readers.  I know there is a time and place for reading materials chosen by their teacher, but I am only talking about independent reading.  The only other issue that I have with independent reading is the amount of books in some of our classrooms.  I am guilty of not having enough books, but I am currently working on this and our administrators are in the process of acquiring more books for our classrooms.  I am so glad that we have a former reading coach on our administration staff that sees the value of independent reading.  I just hope that she can help some of our younger teachers and even some more seasoned teachers see the value that independent reading can have on our students.