Miller
section 1
While reading this section I was surprised
how independent reading has been over looked recently. I remember reading all
the time in elementary school and hating it. It wasn’t until college did I learn
about the importance of reading got enjoyment in school. I have my students independent read every day
for at the very least 15 minutes.
Last year the students got to read for ticket to a Greenville
Drive game and this year they are reading to be in a drawing for a football
ticket. Last year I called it my “Baseball
read”. This year I can calling it my “football
read”. However it will end soon so I was
wondering what to call the silent reading time.
In Miller Section 1 they called the independent
reading time DEAR or SSR. I love that
idea!!! DEAR reading allows the student to read any book they want and not be
questioned by the teacher, the student can read for pure enjoyment. DEAR allows includes the time the teacher reads
to herself, which shows the student that it is fun to read and that reading can
be done by everyone. I will use this
term the next time we do independent reading.
Yes, DEAR is a great way to instill reading for pleasure when done in short time frames, which is exactly what you have right now. Hopefully as the future allows we can grow independent reading into longer time frames which will allow for time for conferencing and talking about books. One part of reading for pleasure that I know kids love is being able to tell others or even you all the exciting things they have read and share their own passions in reading! I hope for more IR time in the future!
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the ways that you are motivating your students to want to read. You mentioned how after the Clemson/Carolina incentive is over you want to continue to provide time to your students to read and to read widely. You said you like the DEAR time the author referenced in this first section. I want to remind you that the author said that DEAR time alone does not improve students' independent reading or their achievement. She wrote about how SSR and DEAR time provided students with consistent time daily to read but did not provide students with support for their reading. She advocated a reading workshop model for independent reading where before reading students were provided with a mini-lesson that provided them with a purpose for reading and a strategy to try out in their own independent reading and she talked about how during student independent reading she worked to conference with students about what they were reading and made sure to follow up with reviewing students' responses whether that be in a reading response journal, sticky notes on an anchor chart, or a turn and talk time so that her next lesson was informed by what she learned that her students were doing and needed to know next. Thanks, Dawn