Blog 3-Chapter 3-Emily Hammett

Chapter 3 by Regie Routman was absolutely incredible. I learned so much just in a couple of pages. I wish that I could have found this book before the beginning of the school year, so that I could have begun the school year implementing these practices.

I haven't shared my deepened love for reading with my students. I have told them that I love to read and the more I read the smarter I get, but I haven't told them that there are some nights when I just cannot put down the book and I am up until 3 in the morning reading in my bed by just the dim light of my cell phone. It is an addiction and I haven't expressed that with my students. Reading makes me feel better and takes me to places I have never been before. It is amazing what reading can do and I want my students to feel that love too! If I share that deepened love hopefully they will want to feel the same way about reading one day.

Something the author mentioned that I have a hard time with is was that she reads more than 1 book at a time. Kudos to her! I cannot focus on more than one book at a time. I get so involved to one book that I would be upset to begin another one and take away the attention from my current favorite. Until I think my students are comprehending the books that they are reading I do not know if I would suggest them to read more than one at a time. I did love her idea of asking students to tell me a book that they are reading now and a book that they plan to read next. This is an awesome idea of students showing interest in reading and being able to share with their classmates. I have just created a "favorites" book basket in my classroom. This is where the students can put books that they think were their favorite and others can easily choose those books. The kids are eating this idea up. I started by adding Charlotte's Web and now 3 more books have been added just over this week.

I loved the idea of the book review. Two weeks ago, I started a Padlet in my classroom where the students can go to write a short summary and "sell" their favorite book. I put the Padlet in ItsLearning so that all of the students can have access to it. This week my plan is to show them some book review so that they have a better understanding of what that may look like. As of Friday no one had posted on to my "What We're Reading" Padlet. I read about the author encouraging book talks and that is something that I want to do more research on before I begin it in my class. I want to be familiar and comfortable with book talks before I implement it.

The idea of no book logs sound amazing to me. It is one last thing that I have to grade and I haven't saw the students best work in these logs. The question that I always ask myself is, "How can I hold them accountable?" As teachers, how do we know if they are really reading at home or if they are just making the stuff on their logs up. Routman's idea of reading records entices me. I like that although it isn't a log it is making the students hold themselves accountable. I think this way the students gain ownership of reading and feel proud of the records that they have created.

Many of Routman's strategies and ideas will be used in my classrooms!

Blog 2-Section Two-Emily Hammett

While reading this chapter a couple of things stood out to me. The most important thing I am realizing is that IR is an important factor to improving reading for my students. Of course, I want the best and the most growth out of my students, so if that can happen by IR then that is what I will do. This section said that if students get the IR time during the day at school they will be more likely to have IR at home. I think that is awesome, but I wonder if the students that make up the population of our school would have a selection of books to read at home. Since this has been a worry of mine for a while, I have been encouraging my students to buy Scholastic books. I show them the catalog and send it home in their Friday folders. I make sure to express how much of a deal they get. Come on, there are some books for $1 and you cannot beat that! So far I have had 3 students order from the Scholastic catalog and I hope to continue to get more students to order.

I NEED A BIGGER AND BETTER LIBRARY! Yes, that is me shouting because it is so important to me. I know after years to come I will have a decent library, but right now it isn't as perfect as  I wish it was. This section said that students need 300-600 books to choose from, That is a lot of books!!! It makes sense that the more books provided, the better of selection for the students. I envy teachers with perfectly organized libraries that have a wide variety of books in them.

I thought it was very interesting to see that lower readers needed to read for only 15 minutes, while higher readers needed to read for 40 minutes during IR. Now I am asking myself what do my lower readers do after their 15 minutes is up while my higher readers still have time left? Something else that I read during this chapter that grabbed my interest was that during IR time the students needed to read easier texts. That goes against everything I have been taught. Throughout the college I was always taught to challenge students with books rather than encourage them to read easier texts. I completely understand their reasoning and wish I would have known sooner.

The genre wheel is something I am going to start in my classroom on Monday morning. I loved this idea. I always find my students reading the same type of books and sticking to those books. My students love Baby Mouse and My Weird School, although I am very glad they are interested in self selecting those books, I would love for them to read all types of genres.

Once again, another good section by Miller and Moss.

Chapter 3 Share Your Reading Life By Routman Blog 6-Kathey Tate

It is great to begin the school year by making your reading life visible to your students as you connect the world reading to the school reading. The students will see the power of reading through your enthusiasm and modeling as you read to them. Excellent teaching is essential but students need time to practice and read extensively. Reading success for students depends on a carefully monitored independent reading program connected to an excellent classroom library. It is important for teachers to tell students why they read. Let your students know that you are a member of a book club, get book recommendations from friends, read more than one book at a time, read what interests me, read every day in many genres, newspapers, magazines, recipes, and information on the internet,
need to read to continue working as a writer, use reading to expand my thinking and record memorable passages in a notebook. Teachers should ask their students what they are passionate about. Then help them find a book about that subject.Teachers can encourage students to have a classroom library at home by showing the importance of the class library at school. My students are excited about taking two books home to read with their parents each night. The parents record the books on a reading log. The students can not wait to get two new books each day. I have noticed that the parents are recording books that the students have at home.

Chapter 5 Organize an outstanding Classroom Library By Routman Blog 5-Kathey Tate

The classroom library should be equipped and organized according to teachers' and students' needs and interests. The classroom library is a literacy necessity. It is integral to successful teaching and learning. Students will become thriving and engaging readers with a well organized classroom library. The most effective reading programs are generally supported by large classroom libraries. Students achieve better on standardized tests according to the better classroom libraries. Books contribute more strongly to reading achievement than computer software. Children read a great deal more when they have easy access to books,  well -designed books, organized, ample classroom libraries that provide the easiest access for students. The classroom library should include lots of books, students' favorite authors, students' favorite book titles, students' interests, and lots of
 non-fiction books. This chapter has given me some great ideas on improving my classroom library.
I like the idea of the top ten book list on page 72.

Section 2 Why Not? What Works? By Debbie Miller-Blog 4 Kathey Tate

Independent Reading is an essential practice as one that develops background knowledge, improves fluency and comprehension, heightens motivation, increases reading achievement, and helps students broaden their vocabulary. Practices that are critical for effective independent reading are classroom time to read, to choose what they read, explicit instruction about what, why, and how readers read, to read a lot: a large number of books and variety of texts, access to text, teacher monitoring, assessment, and support during independent reading, and to talk about what they read. The teacher must be an active participant. The teacher cannot sit on the sidelines and just watch what is going on, sit reading, or grading papers. The teacher must structure, guide, teach, interact with, monitor and hold students accountable for time spent reading independently and silently. I really like the way it is explained in this section. This will help all teachers understand the purpose of independent reading and the correct way to implement it in the classroom.

Section 1 Not This: Is There Enough Time? By Debbie Miller - Blog 3 Kathey Tate

  Children learn to read by reading but not without instructional support. I agree with this statement. I have seen students who can read but they need guidance to receive more understanding from certain texts. Children need to read to become thoughtful, strategic, and proficient readers. Reading will help children learn more about themselves, other people, and the world around them. When the children read, they learn that reading is something they can do that empowers control on their lives.
Teachers must remember that students need time to practice reading, make their reading practice productive, and they need the tools to provide them with instruction. Independent reading practice framed by instruction needs to happen everyday. The teacher should allow the students to have their hands and minds on great books. The teacher can confer with the students about reading and themselves as readers. It would be just the teacher, students, and the books. This sounds GREAT to me!!!! This would help me show the students what behaviors they need to practice as they read. It would give me opportunities to monitor and give feedback on how the students are using the behaviors. The structured opportunities for the students to read will help them make meaning of the text, and help the students choose the right books for reading.

Kim Anderson Blog post 3 -Share You Reading Life

The first week of school is my favorite. It is when I get to know the students and when they get to know me. The first week is all about building community. One thing I truly believe is that in order for a teacher to get the best from their students is by allowing the students to get to know you as a person and to see you as a "human being". One way that I do that each year is I introduce my students to some of the books I loved as a child. We read one per day that first week and discuss when it was copy written, (because some of them are out of print and they can't believe how old they are) and we discuss why I like it. I tell them that each book holds certain memories for me from my childhood and they love it! I talk to them about how I was not a reader until much later in school and how I wish someone had introduced me to books much earlier in life. We talk about how it is my duty as a teacher to try my best to introduce them to books that will cause them to become life long readers. I  talk to them about books that I have read and even books that my children have read. I tell them about my family and a challenge that happens in my family.  My uncle gives us a challenge each year. We always start the new year by reading the book "One Word that will change your life " by Jon Gordan. It was a healing tool that we decided to do as a family after my brother died. Then we have a book challenge. We choose a number and challenge ourselves each year. My book goal this year was 30 books. At first the kids seem unimpressed with the number, but after I show them the size of the books I am reading and planning on reading they seem to suddenly change their minds. We discuss the fact that I love books. Real books. That I don't like reading books on the Ipad or Kindle and that nothing feels better than having a "real" book in your hands. When I am reading something that I can read at school, I like to read when my students are reading. It is not always possible but I have been known to kick up my feet and read with them from time to time. I love reading aloud to them. Not just books for them but my own books if I feel like they can relate to it. If there is a passage that I find uplifting I will tell them about it and read it to them. I tell them about my library at home and how I enjoy rereading some books over and over again because they have a "feel good" effect on me. They just generally make me happy. We talk about how they can build their own libraries at home. I impress the importance of Scholastic orders and how they always have books for $1. I have never kept a reading record of my own but the thought intrigues me. I often highlight favorite quotes or verses from books that I want to remember and often jot them down in my journal of favorite quotes but have never actually kept a reading record. All in all I would say my students have a pretty clear idea of how much I love reading. I am still on the hunt to find that just right book for each of my students that will turn them into the avid, book loving, reader I am today.

Chapter 10 Examine Guided Reading by Routman Blog 2-Kathey Tate

Guided reading is defined as meeting with a small group of students and guiding and supporting them through a manageable text. The students are grouped with other students of a similar reading level and supported to use effected reading strategies. Discussion and activities are used before, during, and after as the students talk about, think about, and read through the text. The teacher guides one or more students through the reading process. The teacher works with the students through choosing books, making sense of the text, decoding and defining words, reading fluently, monitoring one's comprehension, and determining the author's purpose. The teacher will build on students' strengths and will demonstrate whatever is necessary to move the child toward independence in guided reading. The teacher will have informal reading conferences which will assess the child's progress, teach the child what he most needs to know, set goals with the child, and move him forward in the reading process. The heart of guided reading is in small-group guided reading. Small-group guided reading should not be the only instruction provided in the classroom. The text is provided by the teacher with just enough challenge so the learner is able to do most of the reading and problem solving on his/her own by integrating strategies. These strategies have been demonstrated by way of teacher explanation, modeling, and shared experiences. These demonstrations have taken place as reading aloud, interactive reading, shared reading, shared reading aloud, shared writing, and reading conferences. The students can also receive guided practice through partner reading, reciprocal teaching, reading one-on-one with a teacher or tutor, and shared reading. Teachers must be cautious about how they group children. Teachers should create opportunities for flexible grouping.

Lisa Littleton Blog Post 3 Reading Essentials Chapter 3 Share Your Reading Life Reggie Routman

Reading Chapter 3 was an eye opener for me.  I do tell my students why I read.  I think it is important for my students to know why I read.  How can I expect my students to love to read if I don’t model and encourage a love for reading?  For me, reading is a stress reliever, it gives me comfort, it makes me think, and it answers questions and takes me to faraway places. 

Telling my students what I read hasn’t crossed my mind.  They need to know I read a variety of text, too.  Routman suggests that we let our students in on the fact that we often know what we will read next and that we should encourage our students to be thinking ahead about their own reading choices.  “What is your “now” book?” and “What is your “next” book?” are great questions to promote thinking about reading choices.

I agree with Routman that as teachers we need to examine what we do as a reader and make our thinking and practices visible to our students.  Students admire their teachers and want to imitate them.  When we make reading explicit to our students, their reading lives expand in many directions.  We need to explain how to choose a book to read.  Recommendations from friends are a source for deciding what I read.  When my students share information about the book they are reading or have read, I would like for them to recommend or not recommend their book to their partner.  I think this would be a good starting place for book recommendations.

Keeping a reading record is a great way to begin to keep track of my own reading.  I would like to start a record for our class readings.  Keeping this record would let me know which genre I need to add to the class readings and teach my students a way they too can keep their own record. 

Chapter 8 Teach Comprehension Blog 1-Kathey Tate

I enjoyed reading this chapter. This chapter gave several key points to teaching comprehension.
It is important to start with comprehension in mind if we are to end up with comprehension. Teachers need to begin teaching comprehension by thinking about the texts students are reading as well as the texts we want them to be able to read and write. Teachers may teach skills and strategies but it is important to provide students with the necessary support for creating, understanding, and enjoying worthwhile texts. We need to introduce students to challenging and interesting texts to create critical thinkers, inquirers, and problem solvers as they are becoming readers. Readers can use many strategies to become proficient readers. These strategies are making connections with the text, monitoring their reading for meaning, determining what's most important, visualizing the story in their mind, asking questions of the author, making inferences, and to synthesize ideas. Students need time for independent reading which will enable them to use and practice these strategies for comprehension.

Lisa Littleton Blog Post 2 No More Independent Reading Without Support Section 2 Why Not ? What Works? Why Independent Reading Matters and the Best Practices to Support It Barbara Moss

In Section 2 of No More Independent Reading Without Support, Moss gives us a clear definition of independent reading.  Independent reading is time students spend reading self-selected texts.  I think students who have a choice in their reading want to read more.  While DEAR or SSR may have been a step in the right direction for independent reading, it was not done consistently, students did not have instructional support or the self-selected option as with IR.

Research has proven that independent reading increases academic achievement.  Hundreds of correlational studies have found that the best readers read the most and poor readers read the least.  To grow as an independent reader, students need explicit instruction about what, why, and how readers read, classroom time to read, access to a wide variety of texts, choice in what they read and to able to talk about what they have read.

It is so easy to pass out books to our students for their book bags.  But this is not an effective practice for becoming an independent reader.  Moss states, “Kids who read self-selected rather than teacher-selected books read more.”  Letting kids choose what to read motivates them to read even when it is not required.  This year I have noticed that my students want to read more.  The books they are reading are self-selected books. 

I also agree that it is very important that student have experience reading a variety of texts.  For them to find things they want to read, they need access to lots of books. Not all students have access to books outside the classroom, therefore classroom libraries with topics that kids want to read about are essential.

I read more as an adult than I ever did as a child.  We did not have class libraries when I was in elementary school.  I remember reading the Dick and Jane books from the reading series.  My favorite teacher was my third grade teacher, Elizabeth Arthur.  She was the first teacher I remember taking time to read to her students.  I love reading to my students.   I want my students to remember me as the teacher who read to them and taught them effective practices that helped them become independent readers.

Lisa Littleton Blog Post 1 No More Independent Reading Without Support Section 1 NOT THIS Is There Enough Time? And Is Time Enough to Support Independent Reading? Debbie Miller

For the word ‘time” to be a short word, it often seems like a monster.  Scheduling does not get easier with experience. Where do we find the minutes? Miller suggests modifying practices in our day will help find time.  Not only is time important but we should provide opportunities for our students to practice independent reading on a daily basis.

We started using Reader’s workshop this year in kindergarten.  We have time for independent reading in our daily schedule.  Miller states “Children learn to read by reading…but not without instructional support.” I think that kindergarten is off to great start using the reader’s workshop.  We have taught how take care of books, the concepts of print and how to read a book by its pictures.  Our students are given a choice about what they read instead of us (the teachers) choosing for them.  Through the independent reading time, the children have shown growth.  Now that they are building stamina, we will have time to conference and offer feedback that helps them become better readers. 

I agree with Miller statements, “That it is our job to do everything we can to equip children with the tools they need to stay engaged and motivated when we are not there and the more opportunities we can give children to read, the better.”  I think we can instill a love for reading in our students by providing opportunities to practice reading independently.

Melissa Pruitt’s Blog Post 3: Organize and Outstanding Classroom Library

I have always dreamed of having an outstanding library. I see all the benefits of surrounding our students with many books on a variety of levels and topics. Routman stated that the most effective reading programs are generally supported by large classroom libraries and that classroom libraries and books improve reading achievement. This makes perfect sense. I have seen the excitement in my students when they get to choose a book and read independently. I have noticed the gains my students   made in reading the last several years when I decided to carve out time from the scripted program we use to just give the students time to read books that they choose.   

                Unfortunately my dream of having that outstanding classroom library has yet to become a reality. I do have a selection of books on all different levels but I don’t have the near the number of books that are needed. I teach in a special education classroom so my students span from kindergarten to 5^th grade. My library needs books from pre-primer to 5^th grade levels. I also need books from all different genres. At this point my library is mostly made up of fiction books. I have added some non-fiction books the last few years and have noticed that many of my students flock to those. I want to add books from popular books series since my students often ask me about those. I like the idea of having the students fill out a survey that would provide me information on the kinds of books they want in our class library.

Expanding my classroom library is very important to me but unfortunately the amount of money needed is standing in my way. I wish books for classroom libraries were provided in the special education classrooms. Routman said that access to interesting books is especially critical for struggling readers. This is so true! I have seen my struggling readers eager to read books on their level in my class that they would be embarrassed to read in front of peers in the regular classroom. Adding to my class library will continue to be a priority for me but I can’t afford to make the dream a reality as quickly as I’d like.                        

Hawkins: Routman, Shared Reading

I love incorporating shared reading in all subjects.  Moving into a 3^rd grade classroom this year, I was unsure if shared reading with students sitting on the carpet was appropriate with students at this age.  But my students still love gathering at the carpet to listen to a book being read to them.  Shared reading does allow all students to listen to books being read without the worry and discouragement of reading out loud or the embarrassment of not pronouncing works correctly.   This is especially helpful for my low reader.  Shared reading also allows students to participate in the question/answer process without fear of not learning what the meaning of what the author is writing about.

During share readings, the teacher can include and demonstrate many of the following:

-fluency (phrasing, appropriate intonation).

-The author’s craft (figures of speech, leads, endings).

-How to figure out vocabulary (phonics plus meaning).

-Character motivation and behavior (how characters change).

-Confirming (predictions, difficult vocabulary).

-How to read nonfiction.

How texts work.

Summarizing.                                     Making connections.

Predicting.                                          Inferring.

Asking questions.                               Learning new information.

Enjoying reading.

The book models how to appropriately conduct a shared reading lesson.   I do most of the things explained in this text while I am using shared reading in a lesson.  The one thing that I need to incorporate more into my shared reading is turn and partner talk.   I forget about doing this aspect of shared reading every time that I read a book to the whole class.   I do frequently stop and ask many questions while reading a book to the group because I want to make sure that each student understands what a word or phrase means.   This chapter provides a reminder of strategies that I need to be using with students everyday with shared reading. 

Melissa Hawkins Blog #2 Chapter 3 Share Your Reading Life Routman

The first statement of this chapter states that teachers should explain to students why they read.   I have never thought about explaining to students why we read.   It makes sense to tell students the importance of why we read and ask them questions about why they think they should spend so much time reading.  But as I read on, this chapter states that I should share my love of reading with my students and explain to them about my home library.  But I must admit that I do not have a home library and I do not love to read.  These past few years, I have had to read text books for my classes and I have not had extra time for pleasure reading.  But I do enjoy reading and I do have several favorite books that I can share with my students.  One thought that occurred to me was the fact that most of my students do not have access to books at home and have not been exposed to excessive amounts of literature. 

I love the teaching tips at the end of this chapter that provides unique ways to create more excitement among my students to develop a love of reading.  Having students recommend books to friends may help build enthusiasm for books that they might not ever receive from me.  Asking students to share favorite books and creating a “top-ten” book list for the classroom is a great idea for students to visibly see and remember titles of books when they go to the library or are ordering from the Scholastic Reading Club. 

I have received encouragement from reading this chapter to be more diligent about reading books of my choosing and I will share more of what I am reading with my students.

Melissa Hawkins Blog #1 Is There Enough Time? Miller and Moss

Finding time to read in my super busy day is a very difficult thing to do.  As I observe my students reading independently for a selected period of time, I do wonder if they were truly reading their books or just sitting there staring at the pages.    They seem to be engaged for the time allotted but I do not know if they comprehend what they are reading.   This first chapter from Miller and Moss brought to my attention that just reading for a certain amount of time may not be the best thing for students without providing instruction on what reading to comprehend information must include.  I should be modeling the behavior students should be imitating that leads to good readers.  After reading this chapter, I have implemented the practice of conferencing with my students to give feedback to help them understand the process of understanding what they read. 

While reading this chapter, I became aware of the fact that by guiding my students I can help them become aware of any reading difficulties that they may have.  My struggling readers need guidance to become better readings and to build their confidence as a good reader.  I do agree with the authors that we could reevaluate our day and the time that we spend on things that may not be that necessary to the development of a quality education for our students. 

Michaela Welker - Post #4 - Routman Chapter 8

November – Blog Post #4

Routman (2003), Ch. 8:  Teach Comprehension

After completing the chapter, “Teach Comprehension”, I realized my reading instruction was slightly misguided. In my Reading Workshop, I found that I taught comprehension strategies much like the other teachers mentioned in the chapter – I teach strategies independent of each other and I focus on just that strategy for a length of time. Unlike my model of teaching, the chapter suggests teaching reading strategies with a more authentic approach. As the chapter stated, when you read, it’s almost impossible make meaning from a text by simply using one strategy. When you read, you use multiple strategies to try and construct meaning.

I learned from the reading that I needed to pay more attention to how I develop meaning as I read. From there, I can develop mini-lessons and think aloud these strategies to my students during a read-aloud. I don’t just have to focus on one strategy, but instead, let teaching be natural and voice strategies as I come to them. It’s important as developed readers, to take notice of these strategies and employ them while we read. They (strategies) are tools we can use that help create understanding. We also need to teach students how to identify when there is a break down in understanding. Sometimes, students don’t know that they didn’t understand what they read and focus primarily on “reading” the words.

After reading this chapter, I really had to think hard about how to structure my reading workshop. In all honesty, I was a bit confused when I read it because I feel like I need to see it in action. My take on it is that I need to read a text aloud, a text that students are interested in, and pause when I come to a strategy that I use as a reader and demonstrate my thought process to the class. Students are then supposed to practice this strategy and strategies discussed prior to the lesson in their own reading. During this time, I conference with students or pull small groups and coach students to become strong, independent readers, who can monitor their own understanding.

Overall, I found this chapter to be really helpful. I felt this chapter really opened my eyes to the flaws in my reading lessons and it gives me an opportunity to grow as an educator. I really hope to focus on this area and access more resources to help me better meet the needs of my students.

Julie Niedrach Blog Post #3 Share Your Reading Life - Reading Essentials

     Sharing my reading life with my students is something I've never thought about doing.  As much as I love to discuss and share books with the students, I never thought to bring up a discussion of what I have been reading with them.  That is a wonderful strategy to get the students interested in reading!  This chapter gave me some ideas that I can use to get my students interested in finding the right books to read.
     First, I liked the idea of creating a "top-ten" or "best seller" book list, based on what students are presently reading.  It stirs interest in them from their peers, and it can be displayed in the classroom to remind them of books they want to read.    Secondly, creating a better class library would help give students more choices for reading.  Getting books for my classroom is always challenging.  I go to the book sales each year and get a few, but I still don't have enough variety of genres to choose from.  That will continue to be an ongoing project of mine.  I have the students for short classes throughout the day, so some days we read together in a content area, and some days we read just for improvement, (but I tell them we will read for fun).
    Lastly, I've always had the students keep a reading log of what they read daily, and have the parents or other teachers sign their logs.  After reading Routman's idea of the reading record,  I'm going to give that a try.  Routman states that "when students keep their own reading records, they stop worrying about book levels, and the number of pages and minutes they read."  "It becomes less of a chore for them."
     This chapter ended with "Demonstrating Your Pleasure in Reading,"  Some of my favorite lessons are reading a book out loud to my class for enjoyment.  My students don't get many opportunities to be read to, so this is one way to share a small amount of my "reading life" with them!    According to Routman, this is a way to instill the love of reading in students, and create life-long readers.  What could be a better reward than that?  
  
     

Lisa Edge-Blog Post 3: Chpt 6 & 7 Routman

The first thing I highlighted was “Any reading program that substantially increases the amount of reading students do will impact their reading achievement.” That is a powerful statement. Successful readers need more than instruction, they need to spend a lot of time with authentic reading material. They need to time to practice the strategies they have learned. They need time to make connections.

I firmly believe in independent reading and have had teachers in other grade levels wonder how that can be done in kindergarten. It’s amazing what even the youngest beginning readers can do with they are actively engaged with the text. Independent reading often begins as “reading the pictures.” Student may retell familiar stories, and the most exciting part for me is when they start noticing the sight words they have learned on the pages of their favorite book. What I don’t understand is how the teacher can also read while the students are reading. Maybe that is something that can only be done in upper grades. Maybe later in the year, teachers could join in independent reading on Fridays. The section on partner reading also gave me so ideas that might work during my guided reading time. Maybe for a portion of the guided reading block, I can have the more fluent group partner reading with the struggling group so I can assess and instruct the middle group. I think I’ll try this one a week and see if it works. If not, I’ll regroup and try again.

Chapter 7 delves into assessments. I feel that is an area where I need more work. The “Questions to probe for student understanding” on page 103, and the framework for an informal conference on page 104 are helpful checklists that I can use to create a rubric. I think this will help me to focus on specific skills and strategies the reader is using, so I can create individual goals.

                These chapters have challenged me to reflect on independent reading in my classroom. I already have the structure in place, but now I have more specific ideas about how to maximize student learning during this time. While I have done informal assessments during independent reading, I have not tried informal reading conferences. That’s my take-away from these chapters. I will create a framework for informal conference and give it a try. 

Sami Singleton Blog Post 3: Routman (2003), Ch. 5: Organize an Outstanding Classroom Library

As a resource teacher I have a small classroom library. We do not have much time for independent reading in our short class time. If I ever go back to teaching self-contained I will take into consideration the different ways in which I can organize my classroom library. I did find several ideas in this chapter very exciting like the mention of the importance of nonfiction books and the idea of making a top ten list in the classroom.

With the new state standards and the ACT Aspire testing it is very important to incorporate nonfiction into the classroom. I have always loved having nonfiction books for my students because it allows them to learn about real life things. This is a great way to incorporate science or social studies into their independent reading time.  It is especially important for ESOL students because it can help provide background information and vocabulary knowledge that they might be lacking.

I love the idea of making book talk “hot” in the classroom. I think it is a great idea for students to get involved and share their favorite books. I loved the top ten book list the students made. I think this gets students more interested and involved in reading. They are now included into the reading process. Rather than just reading a book and answering questions about, they are now able to share their thoughts on the books. In the book the teacher noticed that the students started wanting the other kids to read their favorite book. This creates a learning community and allows kids to connect with each other. I love the idea of having a top ten book list that the students work together to create.

This chapter really outlines a lot of good ideas for reading. These ideas bring the students opinions and thoughts into account which helps excite them about reading. This was my favorite chapter I have read so far. 

Sami Singleton Blog Post 2- Routman (2003), Ch. 4: Teach with a Sense of Urgency

I have always had the mindset that I need to teach with a sense of urgency. I think this is because my students are already far behind their peers. I have a short time to work with them and there is twice the amount of work I want to achieve with them. I want to be able to close that gap between them and their peers, but I only have a very short amount of time to do that. This makes every minute I have with them very important.

The book mentions that some students go to a pull out program that only help with phonics and skill and drill activities. We are lucky that our resource pull out program incorporates stories and vocabulary words to help our struggling students with language and not just phonics. The book also mentions several things that I am already doing in my classroom. I only have the students for 50 minutes but I make sure to ask every child several interactive questions about the stories we read. I make sure to not only ask detail questions because it is very important for students to think beyond those types of questions. I want my students to really think about what we read and to build off of those ideas or concepts we learned.

As I said earlier every minute in my 50 minute class is very important. The book mentioned that some poverty stricken schools do not hold high expectations for their students. I am proud to say that Arcadia does not operate that way. We hold very high expectations for our students and our students enjoy that. In my classroom my students love to learn new things and are very proud when they have mastered a skill we have been working on. It is very important to keep high expectations and to teach to your greatest ability. 

Sami Singleton Blog Post 1= Miller (2013), Not This: Is There Enough Time? And Is Time Enough to Support Independent Reading?

As a resource teacher this chapter does not really apply to me. I have to teach certain programs for the short 50 minutes I have my students. However, I taught a self-contained class 3 years ago and it does apply to that type of classroom setting. At this school we had a program called 100 book challenge. The students have to read 30 minutes every day and write down 2 books they read. Other teachers used this time to grade papers or catch up on lesson plans. I had Kindergarteners through 5^th grade with all different kinds of disabilities. I had students on all levels of learning so teaching things as a whole class was not an option. I worked 100 book challenge into a station of reading. During this time I did a reading group using the LLI program and my assistant also did a reading group using the LLI program. Another group was either working on reading comprehension passages or studying/ completing work if they were taking the regular education Social Studies class. The fourth group consisted of students reading the leveled books in the 100 book challenge bins. I quickly found that many of my students were “fake” reading. I then made the students in 3^nd-5^th grade write about each book they read. They had to use complete sentences and try to spell things correctly. I changed what they were writing about weekly and it usually went along with a specific state standard. This way I could tell that they had read the book but it also worked on their writing.

The one thing that I did not do with their independent reading time is conference with my students.  One reason for this was because my assistant and I were both running our own LLI groups at the time so we would not have been able to conference during that time. Honestly, I am not sure how I would have found the time to conference with each student every day. Maybe I could have conference with one or two students during their morning work time. They could have missed morning work that day and followed along with other students when we went over it later.  However, that means they would be conferencing with me about books they had read the day before. My students often had a very short memory and I am not sure the conferences would have been beneficial if we had them a day later at a time where they were not currently reading. At the end of the day we had our writing time while my assistant was working with the kindergarteners. During this time I held a conference with each kid on their writing so this is a time I would not have wanted to miss. It was also mandated by the school because writing was our focus for the year.  I am not sure where I would have found the time to conference with my students on reading.

I like the idea of having reading conferences because I saw the importance of the writing conferences I did with my students. It really helps you see the individual strengths and weaknesses of each child. It also gives the student an input on their own learning. I think that it would be great if all regular classrooms could implement time in the day for reading conferences. 

Melissa Pruitt’s Blog post 2: Share your Reading Life

Reading is and always has been one of my favorite pastimes. As a child I enjoyed spending time in my school library searching for that perfect book. I got so excited each and every time we received a Scholastic book order. The list of books and authors I enjoyed were many. Books continue to bring me joy. I could spend countless hours in Barnes and Noble and new books continue to stir excitement inside me.

After reading Routman’s section entitled Share your Reading Life, I realize that I never truly share the details of my reading life with my students. Yes, many of my students know that reading was my favorite subject and that Charlotte’s Web was my favorite childhood novel. Still I wonder if they understand why I continue to read. Routman stated that many students will not see and feel the power of reading without our enthusiasm and modeling. Routman suggests that we share why we love to read, what we are reading, how we choose what we read and lists of our favorite books and authors with our students. Routman also emphasizes the importance of having a personal library. Working in a high poverty school I realize that most of the students will never have access to personal libraries at home. I need to do my best to compensate for that by providing them with a variety of books on their levels at school. As a special education teacher I also understand that reading is a daily struggle for my students. What came easy to me is a challenge for them.  I have to remind myself of how difficult it must be to learn to love something that never comes easy. Routman reminded me that even students with disabilities can become proficient readers if their interest in a subject is great enough. Nothing is more rewarding then witnessing a student that has struggled and worked hard finally begin to find the joy in books!! I need to do a better job guiding all my students to books they can read that will spark their interest and love for reading. 

Melissa Pruitt’s Blog Post 1: Is There Enough Time? And Is Time Enough to Support Independent Reading?

In Section I of Debbie Miller’s No More Independent Reading Without Support she writes that when children read extensively, they learn about themselves, other people, and the world. She states that for children to develop the habits and identity of thoughtful, strategic, proficient readers, they need practice and, to make their practice productive, they need the tools that we can provide through instruction.

 Working as a special education classroom my time with my students is limited to 50 short minutes per day. Because students with disabilities require specialized instruction, we are tied to research based programs. Although I know this instruction is essential for them as students with disabilities, I also realize that the reading material within these programs is not always material that they are eagerly waiting to read. The fifth day within the scripted program is set aside for individual assessments to assess specific reading skills, reading fluency and story retelling from the week’s lessons. During this time the students generally would complete several small assignments that don’t appear very meaningful, while waiting for their individual assessment. I made the choice several years ago that on this day within the program my students would spend their time with books. I discovered that this is the time my students are waiting for all week long! On this day, I get to see all my struggling readers enjoy their time with a book. I have worked with many of my students year after year and watched them grow as readers over time. I am reminded on this day that even our most struggling readers can learn to find joy in books. Reading this passage leaves me hopeful that all of our students will be provided the time along with focused instruction to read independently every day. I believe that students at all levels will benefit!   

  

        

Katherine Malmquist, Post 3: Routman, Teach with a Sense of Urgency

I chose this chapter because I was interested in how they described teaching with a sense of urgency.  Yes, we know that we do not have much time with our students, and that is especially true when you are a related arts teacher.  Instead of seeing my students every day, I see them once a week and sometimes if there is a school holiday/workday or if we have a special event I may not see some students during that week.   This means when I see my students I need to be extra diligent and intentional with my teaching. 

On page 52, the author talks about including interactive reading.  This is a very important part of my library class time because there are many things that I want to teach our students, but I also want to expose them to literature while they are in my classroom.  When the lesson allows, I need to do more turn and share with your neighbor so that everyone has a chance to share their ideas, and the ideas shared on page 53 are also great exit questions to help guide the instruction for the next week.  This will help make the learning more authentic, especially when they are sharing questions they may have (nonfiction turn and talk options). 

My favorite quote from the chapter is, “Kids never let me down, no matter where I teach.  If I expect them to achieve and I take the time… they always succeed” (62). 

Katherine Malmquist, Post 2: Routman, ,Share Your Reading Life

This year, Mr. Rollins has been asking us to share what we are reading.   This is very hard for me because I read such a variety of books, and I ask myself, “is this something I want to share that I’m reading?”  However, on the bright side of things, as an elementary school librarian it makes a lot of sense that I am reading elementary literature.  So I read a lot, but I do not keep my own reading log.  After reading this chapter, and reflecting on my reading habits, I could tell you that there are certain genres I read a lot of while barely even looking at other genres.  

I love that the author says, “When teachers begin to keep their own reading records, they stop worrying about book levels and the number of pages and number of minutes students read each day.  That carries over to students, who also stop focusing on how many pages they’ve read” (35).   Keeping a reading log and sharing it with students can also demonstrate that it is okay to read a variety of level of books.  The key is to make it something that is easy to update and inform, while not turning it into a chore.  Having my own reading log is something I will work on because I have always looked at is as a chore instead of something to inform my reading habits.  It is also where I struggled in school because I made up my reading logs at the end of the week because I knew I had read but not how many pages in each book. 

At the end of the chapter, the author also talks about respecting parents’ busy lives.  That asking for a signature verifying a student has read their requirements for the evening takes the responsibility from the child and puts it on the parents, which may causes extra work and added stress.  Routman also says, “I much prefer that students assume the responsibility and share their reading accomplishments with their families in a relaxed, enjoyable manner” (36).  Reading is a joy for me, and that is what I want students to experience. 

Katherine Malmquist, August Post 1: Section 2: Why Not? What Works?

In section two, Miller states, “IR is an essential practice, one that develops background knowledge, improves fluency and comprehension, heightens motivation, increases reading achievement, and helps students broaden their vocabulary” (12).   This statement caught my attention because one of the biggest challenges our students face is their lack of exposure to the real world.  They are familiar with what their parents are able to share with them but often they are unfamiliar with experiences that are a mile away from the school.  Or they experience the “real world” through television shows, which often are not age appropriate.  Elevators and escalators are part of my “normal life”, yet I have worked with students living in rural areas who were amazed and even scared when they went to the Haywood Mall because they had never seen or ridden either one before.  This is helpful in explaining the importance of modeling reading behaviors as well because we have to teach readers what to do if they do not know the words.  It is not going to help the student to be able to read the word escalator if they have absolutely no clue as to what an escalator does.  By making the students accountable for what they are reading and learning, we are able to see them take ownership of what they might not know and then learn from it. 

The two biggest worries I have when my students are choosing books are:

1.       Will the students be able to read the book in its entirely or are they going to tire of the book before  they are able to finish the book? 

The author talks about the amount of time that we should be spending on IR with our students, and   “that different time allocations should be provided for students at different stages of     development“(18).  The reading stamina is what I worry about with my students when we are choosing library books.  It’s a constant struggle for me because I want my students to challenge themselves and read some of the longer books, but I don’t want them to be unsuccessful if they don’t want/can’t finish a book that they have chosen.   Yes, this is why we start small and let them work their way to longer books, but they usually find the longer books more appealing. 

2.    Are the students able to comprehend the material they are reading, even if it is on their “reading level”?  A second question would be, is the material appropriate for their age level?

On page 22, the authors quote other studies and say, “the word reading level and comprehension level of a given student do not always align”.  I want to challenge all students to read books that will make them grow as a reader, but I also know that there are some concepts introduced in the story that they may not understand.  This is where it’s important to know what books are available in the library and what materials have been purchased. 

As the media specialist, it is very important that I am choosing quality materials that will support a variety of reading levels.  I need to find high interest materials in a variety of formats and genres.  It is in my experience that we have a lot of students who are interested in nonfiction, and we need to encourage this growth as well as encourage them to read other genres.  We are very lucky that in the past ten years the format of nonfiction materials has changed, and they have become more child friendly.  I think that these changes have gone a long way in making non-fiction more attractive to our students, and we are able to take their interest into the classroom to help them grow as readers. 

From the reading, I took that it is important to have time for the students to read independently but that we must use that time to help foster their growth as readers.  I thought that the section was contradicting in areas because it seems like they said we should do this in one area, but then they changed their mind and said we should do it differently in another.  

Melissa Anderson Blog #3 Chapter 3 Share Your Reading Life

         I chose to read chapter 3 of Reading Essentials: Share your reading life. In this chapter, Routman explains that it is important to let your students know what you are reading and why you chose to read it. I tend to agree with him. If students here and see teachers reading for pleasure and reading to gain new knowledge they will learn that reading is not only important as a child, but is also important as an adult. I like the idea of actually showing students and talking about what I am reading. This could lead to opportunities in the future for students to share with me and their peers what they are reading.
         I also feel that explaining to my students how I choose a new book is a great idea. Choosing something new to read is sometimes very challenging, especially for students with little experience with different kinds of books. Telling the students that some of my book choices come from my friends can lead to students sharing with each other possible book options that they might enjoy. I think this opens up an awesome opportunity for communicating about books in the classroom.
        As with all the professional reading and classes that I am required to take, I want to figure out how this applies to me and my personal classroom. Being a music teacher, I don’t often talk about books with my students. Perhaps I should open up this conversation in my classroom. These children should know that you don’t just have to teach math, English, social studies, and science to love reading. I also think that perhaps I could apply this to what I am singing. I could take a minute at the beginning of class and tell the students what pieces of music I am personally working on and why I chose that piece of music. It could lead to excellent conversations about music!

Keri Lyles-Post 3: Share your Reading Life

     As I began reading Reading Essentials I flipped through the first 2 chapters and noticed the quote at the beginning of chapter 2: "The modeling by people that we love is what changes us" (p.11).  Those are powerful words that really stuck out to me!  How true is that!?  I am the person I am today because of people I love and the years I have spent trying to do things like them because I love them.  That's exactly how I want things to happen in my classroom.  I want my students to want to model their behaviors after me because they love me.  Such great responsibility, but a great reminder of why I became a teacher!
    Now, on to the importance of sharing my reading life with my students.  I have always believed it was important that my students understand that I am a reader and I read because I enjoy it (most of the time)!  I love sharing what I'm reading with them!
     I would really like to revamp my "reading log" system-especially after reading this chapter!  I have often struggled with the effectiveness of reading logs as homework.  How many parents simply sign it without knowing that their child has read?  How many kids write nonsense in the summary section because they don't care about it?  How often do I actually read all that they write in their log?  After asking myself these questions-I see that I may need to change my methods!  Routman expressed that she doesn't believe reading logs should be assigned because they pass responsibility from the child to the parent and I think that I agree with her-even though I've never thought about it that way before!  I loved her suggestion of having a reading record.  I really would like to create a reading record for myself because I would love to have a log of all the books that I have read!  I think this would be an excellent replacement of reading logs!  I could have the students keep a reading record for each month, as Routman did.  I think it would be empowering to have the kids look back at a record of every book they read throughout the entire school year.  I'm going to try them out!  I have high hopes for them!

Keri Lyles-Post 2- Section One NOT THIS

    I appreciated the discussion of current research in this chapter.  I am thankful for people who conduct studies that help make teaching even better, and after reading this I am reminded that I need to make sure to take the time to stay current on what's happening in the educational research world.
    There were many parts of this chapter that stood out to me, but Moss's discussion of how students "need explicit instruction about what, why and how readers read" really stood out.  My first year (maybe 2) I don't think I understood that my students needed help knowing how to choose a book or how a reader should look when reading.  I took for granted that they knew those things before 4th grade, but I learned that was not the case.  I found that my students chose books that they were unable to read and they desperately needed help to become better at knowing what they enjoyed reading before they could become better readers.  I think it is important for teachers to "model book selection strategies that include picking books of appropriate difficulty, ... , and selecting books from different genres" (p. 19-20).  I now know that I will always need to begin my year with mini-lessons about choice.  I love Moss's suggestion of using a genre wheel to help students who cannot seem to decide what they enjoy reading.  I think I may try that out this year with a few kids!  It could be very helpful!
    As a teacher of students who are mostly ELLs I found the end of the chapter to be highly applicable to my classroom.  I think independent reading time (used correctly) is just good teaching and will be beneficial for ALL students; however, research has shown that ELLs "need more: help in selecting books, time for reading in and out of school, during reading support, instruction focused on reading strategies, opportunities for small group discussions" (p. 38).  I need to make sure that I am providing all of those things in my classroom in order to help my students reach their reading potential!

Keri Lyles-Post 1- Section One NOT THIS

     While reading section one of No More Independent Reading Without Support  I found myself agreeing with most everything Miller had to offer on the topic of independent reading.  I agree that it is vitally important to the success of my children as readers (and learners as a whole).  I do struggle with finding time for independent reading along with our guided reading groups.  Emily and I were discussing this earlier this week.  We want to use best practices in our classrooms, but what happens when there are so many best practices that you can't fit them all in?  I think that's where I am right now-finding out which best practices are the best for me?
     I know I want to incorporate more independent reading-where my students are free to choose what they read and I am able to listen to them read and talk with them about their book and their reading throughout the week.  I thought the list of things that Miller described from her observations of  reading blocks were very interesting because many of them did waste time-like worksheets and word searches.  Miller and I agree that the basal is not the way to help our students become lifelong readers (who enjoy it!)!  My takeaway from the chapter is this: "The more opportunities we can give children to read, the better" (p.9).  Now, I've just got to find the time (maybe by helping us get faster at transitions, or perhaps doing guided reading groups 3 days a week instead of 5) to give my kids even more opportunities to read!

Summer Southerlin Blog Post 3 September, Teach with a Sence of Urgency Routman

The take away I had from this chapter is to not let any moment pass by when you could teach, evaluate, talk, or listen to a student. Each minute we have in a school day is precious and we should never let a minute pass by where students are not engaged in learning. It is important for us teachers to be aware of our students needs so we can take any and every opportunity to not only evaluate and facilitate their needs but build a relationship with them.
I have admitted many times that reading is not my "thing." I like teaching math and science because those are my interest. As I have been taking this class and reading these chapters, reading has become more and more my "thing" every day. I literally become excited to try new things and watch my students grow right before my eyes. I realized through reading this chapter that I already do a lot of things mentioned in the book. For example, I am a big advocate of modeling in front of the students, then having the students join you, then letting the students work in pairs or a group, and last having them try it out independently. I have seen this work not only in reading and writing, but in math as well. Children need to see and hear the behaviors, thoughts, and actions of a real reader. As I read more into this chapter and came towards the end where it discusses students thinking about their reading and talking about it with one another, I could not help but to think back at our session on Tuesday. I went to the session connecting comprehension, and she basically taught us exactly what Routman said. It is important for students to not only read the text, but to think about it and talk about it. Routman calls this interactive reading. It explains how it allows the students to think about what they've read and the reading process. It also gives them an opportunity to talk, which is great for ELL students. I truly enjoy and learn a lot about my students when I simply have them discuss something with a partner. Within a minute of listening to them talk, I can evaluate whether or not they understand the text. It amazes me how students can already connect situations in books to their own lives. I can not wait to hear and see what my students say to one another after I model thinking aloud about books and discussing books with partner. I know they will begin to dig deeper and deeper into the meanings of books.

Lucile Kershaw Blog #3 Chapter 3 Share Your Reading Life Regie Routman Reading Essentials

     It is very important to let students know how much you value reading by sharing what you are currently reading.  Sharing your passion for reading will inspire children and motivate them to read since they admire their teachers and like to emulate them.  I know how excited my students get when I share things from books I am reading.  Their eyes swell up when I tell them that I have books in every room of my house.  I also tell them that I am addicted to reading, and I cannot go to the mall without stopping by a bookstore and buying books. When teachers talk about their favorite books and authors, it widens the students' knowledge of different authors.  Students also need to experience a  variety of genres so that they do not read the same types of books all of the time.  We are going to start keeping a genre list.  Students not only need to know that we read, but how we read by modeling. I want my students to develop a habit of reading for pleasure and not reading because they have to.  We should teach children how to love books so thy will immerse themselves in books and develop a love for reading.  Research shows that when this happens, students will score better on tests. When the teacher's enthusiasm about books expand, the students' interests in books will also expand.
According to the article, if the teacher is an avid reader, then, it will be easy to model.  I like the idea of creating a "favorite author" area with books and information about the author.  We are already keeping a writing notebook, however, I would like to revamp them to include students' favorite passages and quotes.  My students have started recommending books to each other, especially, if it is a book about something that we are studying.  Children value the opinions of their classmates, so selling books to each other is very effective.  We have been keeping reading logs, however, I am continuing to read and research keeping and maintaining a reading record starting with myself.