Raegan Shaw- Blog Post #2

I find it interesting that it was said that “IR is most effective, yet neglected,” (pg. 13, Miller, Moss).  Part of this reason is the wide range of levels in the classroom (I think because of full-inclusion practices) and also the fact that “the NRP (National Reading Panel) deemed IR ‘experimental’ and said that there was “no way to prove that IR caused improved achievement,” so the NRP did not endorse IR (pg. 15, Miller, Moss).  It’s interesting that Common Core specifically states what students should be reading, yet “does not explicitly state that IR must occur during the school day,” because Common Core seemed to be such a hit lately (pg. 15, Miller, Moss).  What Common Core also does not specify is the amount of actual time spent on IR to be effective.

Although there is no specific time, it has been shown that IR is more effective on improved achievement in reading than things such as phonemic awareness (pg. 15, Miller, Moss).  Now knowing this, I agree with Miller in that we should be balancing required text with choice texts so that students’ interests will peak (pg. 19, Miller, Moss).  My goal is to help students pick levels and genres that are appropriate.  “The Genre Wheel,” on page 20, lists ten different genres where students are to read at least one book from each part of the wheel.  I found this a great strategy for exploring books because students will find it a challenge to complete by reading all of the different types of books, and through that challenge, they may find that they like a certain genre more than they ever knew.  I plan on using this wheel with my students in the near future, simply for that reason.

Struggling readers will benefit from a few books that they read with 99 percent accuracy, to build their confidence and become familiarized with important content and vocabulary (pg. 21, Miller, Moss).  Other readers will benefit more from slightly more challenging books because they broaden their vocabulary and comprehension skills.  When choosing these “harder” books, teacher scaffolding is extremely important.  I found it interesting that on page twenty two (Miller, Moss), it was stated that “the authors argued that the level of text difficulty for fluency practice is inversely related to the amount of student scaffolding provided (Stahl and Heuback 2005).

“Explicit instruction can happen in large- or small- group lessons or during one-to-one conversations between a teacher and student—but it needs to happen early in children’s schooling so that students get lots of practice,” (pg. 23, Miller, Moss).  I found this quote very interesting because I know that the more instruction and scaffolding a student gets, the better, but the latter of this quote makes me realize the extreme importance of the first few years of a child’s literary life and how large of an impact their home life with reading and their school life with reading has on them.  I know that I read all types of things all the time.  As adults, we read all different types of text online and offline, every day; we need to be teaching our students the ‘real-world’ way of looking at reading (pg. 23, Miller, Moss).   We need to teach them the importance of reading all different kinds of texts because fiction books aren’t the only types of texts they will be reading for the rest of their lives, for example.  We need to also be teaching them how to read all of these different kinds of texts, too (pg. 23, Miller, Moss).

I really liked the paragraph on page twenty-four about volume.  The author compared volumizing shampoo to a large volume of texts to read, and it’s so true!  The more you have, the more you appreciate.  Students not only need more books, but they need variety.  Some students will like fiction more and some students will like non-fiction more.  While getting them to read both is important, it is also important that we get them to read lots of different kinds of both fiction and nonfiction.  Also, the students need to have access to all of these.  I need to push my students to look deeper into their school library.  I also need to add on to my ever-growing classroom library.  I feel that most of my classroom library books are fiction and that my area of weakness is non-fiction.  I can already think about a handful of students in my class who prefer informational text over stories and fairytales.  Especially since children read 50 to 60 percent more in classrooms with libraries than without them (pg. 28, Miller, Moss), I need to continuously find and buy books for my room.  I need to make sure that each and every reader who walks into my classroom is well-represented in my classroom and well-supported.  I am aiming to grow my classroom library as soon as possible.

One of my favorite parts of reading, throughout this entire book, is the portion labeled, Differentiate instruction and create accountability through conferring.  I fully agree that teachers need to hold their students accountable for their reading.  Although we scaffold and question and help, we also need to make students aware that they cannot solely depend upon us, simply for the fact that we will not always be there as they read every single thing for every single day left in their lives.  As a new teacher, I am willing to take risks and chances and change my own methods of teaching to better the literary experiences of my students.  Conferences help build student confidence and hold them accountable for their own reading.  Students will know that I will make my rounds in the classroom and that I can only talk to a few of them at a time.  Students will have to read a good bit on their own before we meet again and they need to be able to talk about what they have read with me.  I want to give them the strategies they need to do this on their own and feel confident about it without me holding their hand.

Tying into accountability, text discussions are very important for reading success, as well.  Students need to be able to talk about what they have read and one very useful way that they can do this is through Literature Circles (pg. 36, Miller, Moss).  My hope is to conduct a Literature Circle, before December, in my classroom that is fully functioning where my students know exactly what roles they have and how to play out those roles.  I feel that peer questioning and creativity spark imagination and growth in students.  With technology nowadays, I feel that students often lack creativity.  If they are allowed time to get into these groups and discuss the deeper meaning of a text with their peers, this will spark their long-lost creativity.

In summation, this section of the book has taught me exactly what students need to be doing, in order to succeed in reading and meet their goals.  I definitely am going to start closely monitoring what my students’ interests are and what they are reading.  I plan to make a survey on itsLearning, asking what types of books my students like best, and planning my next novel study based on the pick of the class.  I want so badly for my students to develop the love for learning that I have.  I feel that these students have not yet been exposed to the amazing world of text.  This book has helped me set not only new goals for my students, but new goals for myself as a teacher.  I cannot wait to open my students’ eyes to the wide world of literacy.