The last part of Section 3 of No More Independent Reading Without Support by Debbie Miller and Barbara Moss outline how to get the most out of independent reading. They use acronym PACE to help us guide our instruction (Miller 47):
Purpose- What are the learning goals? What are they working towards?
Authenticity- Does this work actually happen outside the classroom?
Choice-Are students able to choose what to read, where to read, and/or with whom to read it?
Explicit Instruction-How will I model what I want them to practice?
I think these guidelines are great no matter what subject area you teach. Since moving to sixth grade, I believe I have focused mostly on the first three and have neglected the last one. I didn’t want to teach “down” to my students. Debbie Miller reminds me,” Children don’t necessarily come to us knowing how readers make meaning, how to talk about texts in meaningful ways, or the conversational moves they can make to take the conversation deeper.” (Miller 51). Research shows that children need multiple exposures to a topic before mastery. I need to spend more time thinking about explicit instruction and how I can make it more meaningful for my students.
Miller continues to offer advice on setting up Independent Reading by offering tactics to keep things “hopping.” Her advice includes getting books into students’ hands, organizing the books, starting with small chunks of times, monitoring , using a catch, reflecting, and more. The tactic that leaped out at me is conferring. “Conferring is differentiation at its finest.” I know in my teacher soul that differentiation is THE BEST THING for my students. I do confer but I am terrible at documenting it. Miller encourages me by stating the conferring helps to , ”ensure that no child falls through the cracks and all children grow.” (Miller 60). Ouch- I needed that reminder.
I enjoyed reading this practical book. Despite its small size, it is a heavy hitter- packed with research and teacher-tested strategies. I, so, so WISH I could have read it when I made the transition from the basal to reader’s workshop. I would’ve saved me time, heartache, and headache!
ME TOO DANIELLE!!!!! I am so bad about writing down what I spoke to students about. I am so involved in talking with them and don't have the time to take notes about it. It takes precious time away from seeing another student!!! I thought I was the only teacher who was slack on this!! I needed the "OUCH " reminder as well!! SIGH!!!
ReplyDeleteTotally with you both on this. I need the "OUCH" too.
DeleteHi Danielle,
ReplyDeleteLike you I really appreciate the PACE acronym Miller and Moss provide for us in their text to guide our instruction with our students. I have focused on the purpose and choice primarily but need to focus more on the authenticity and the explicit instruction as well. I appreciate how you have reflected on which areas you can improve upon and realized the explicit instruction/modeling is where you want to target your growth. I agree with you 100% that differentiation is what is best for students and through considering where we we can offer students multiple opportunities for our students to practice the strategies and skills help us to provide effective instruction in many formats such as a whole group mini-lesson, guided reading groups, one on one conferencing, etc. Thank you for always taking time to reflect on what works and what could be better. That's how we grow!