Kelli Donald's Blog Post #6: Routman Chapter 9--Emphasize Shared Reading

I really enjoyed reading Routman's Chapter 9, Emphasize Shared Reading because I often feel in ELA if I am reading to them or we are reading together that we are not utilizing our time the best we can.  I guess I feel that independent reading helps develop them as readers the best.  This chapter reinforced that shared reading is still very much an awesome strategy to use to help develop readers.  I think I have just heard "guided reading" and "small group" so much that I have begun to feel if I am not working in small groups that I am not "teaching with a sense of urgency."   My class loves to read and hear stories, and that passion has driven much of my instruction this year.  We have collectively developed a love for the Magic Tree House series, and my students want to read from those books everyday.  So for some of our ELA time (not necessarily everyday or every week), our class reads from these stories together.  We (3rd grade teachers) have uploaded some of the books on to it'sLearning so the students are able to follow along and participate in the reading.  And they love it.  It's so awesome for students to get excited about reading and a series that they ask to read from the books everyday.  Another bonus to reading the Magic Tree House during our shared reading time is many of the book tie in to our Social Studies content.  It really doesn't get any better than that for a teacher.  Reading this chapter really encouraged me because I know that by reading these books together as a class it is helping to develop their reading achievement just as well as independent reading and small group do.