After reading section 2, Why Independent Reading
Matters and the Best Practices to Support It, it made me feel really good about
what is going on in my classroom this year. I spent the end of summer and the
first week of school rereading The Daily 5 and The Café, which are two books
written by sister teachers. They created a framework for teaching reading in
the exact same way Barbara Moss describes how reading should be taught in No More Independent Reading Without
Support.
Moss
describes the importance of teaching students how to choose books as well as
the importance of constantly monitoring what students are reading through
individual conferences. What Moss describes is exactly what we are doing in our
first grade classrooms. In this section, Moss repeats the importance of
foundation lessons, such as teaching book selection. The Daily 5 mimics the
same thing, stating that you must teach and reteach foundation lessons for this
type of model to be successful. I believe from what I have observed so far that
the foundation lessons are as important as teaching students strategies. I also
loved how Moss mentions using genre-specific reading instruction and it being
neglected and we chose to teach reading through genres this year.
Moss
discusses the importance of classroom libraries and the research behind it. I
have a small rant beings my IR is going so well. I will never understand why
classroom libraries haven’t always been the number one priority in schools.
Students need books to read if they are to become readers, better readers, and
life-long learners. I just can’t comprehend why we haven’t chose to invest in
our libraries first. Okay rant over! I love the advice Moss gives about the
importance of having a lot of books that specifically interest your age group.
I have found this to be so true. It can be difficult to find super easy and
very interesting books for first graders. I have found that I Can Read books
are the best for my students in the area of read ability and interest.
I
think providing students with support during Independent reading is the key to reading
success. Moss and the authors of The Daily 5 both believe in the importance of
Independent Reading, but also that it has to be monitored and used to help
students grow in reading. I am excited to continue learning about conferencing
and meeting my students’ individual needs through IR this school year.
I agree with you on creating larger libraries. We read over and over again about the importance of books in children's hands and the impact it has on their reading, yet we struggle to have books that are easily accessed for our students. I understand they are expensive and as much as I try to buy new books I struggle to be able to get enough quality books for my students. I think it is especially important in schools such as ours, where families may not be able to provide books for students at home. Priorities of eating and having clothes are top over buying books for children to read. I wish there was an easy way to have more books for our students.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing how reading workshop is going in my classroom. I have heard great things about what we have implemented and it seems to follow along with what all we are reading in these articles and books. That makes me feel like our reading workshops are doing exactly what we want them to.
I agree with you on needing larger libraries and teaching genre based lessons. This year has allowed me to venture out on this idea. I love the idea of teaching students based on genres because it allows them to gain a deeper understanding of the genre and allows me to introduce authors that they may never had the ability to read. I also believe that having hundreds of books or even thousands would be fabulous and I do not understand why it is not the number one priority of education. If I had a huge amount of books, I could provide my students will the literature that they need to grow as readers. I also wish we had more books in each student's language. This would help parents with helping their children read or learn to read themselves.
ReplyDeleteI love Balanced Literacy centers (Daily 5), reading and writing workshop and so do the students. I feel that the students are being challenged so much and are growing in reading!!!
Rome was not built in a day, and reading behaviors aren't either! You see the value in taking time to teach the foundational skills readers need to be successful. Your connections between the Daily 5 and Miller & Moss texts are great! I'm thrilled that you are seeing your classroom practices validated in these texts, too. As for your rant--preach. Classroom libraries are an important investment, but it will take time to break away from the mindset that instruction comes from textbooks. Keep on with your awesome reading instruction and you will be part of the evidence that can cause this mindset change!!
ReplyDeleteHi Lyndsey,
ReplyDeleteI love the connections you are making between the Daily Five and Cafe' texts and Debbie Miller's No More Independent Reading Without Support. Both texts advocate for intentional support being offered to students through a gradual release of responsibility or as Routman calls it, "Optimal Learning Model" where the teacher starts where students are and uses scaffolding structures such as whole class demonstrations and modeling, shared modeling/demonstrations, small group/guided reading, and then of course, independent application. I also appreciate your validation of focusing on the importance and improvement of our classroom libraries. I couldn't agree more! We need to ensure that our libraries are growing and ever changing in organization in order to meet the needs and interests of our current students. Thank you! Sincerely, Dawn