Vargas October Blog

October 2015

Section 2 Why not? What works?

The more I read on the more I’m learning that it isn't enough to simply allow students to IR (Independently Read) without some type of guidance from the teacher. The author states that in order for IR to succeed the teacher must be and active participant. The teacher can’t just sit and watch or grade papers (Moss, p.39). I learned that in order for IR to be effective the teacher has to structure, guide, teach and interact the IR time.

This section also explained how important it is for the students to be able to have some choice in what they read. It’s obvious that a child will be more likely to want to read if they are reading about something they like. Just like as an adult would not purchase a book on something they are not interested we should not expect the students to enjoy reading a book on a topic they have no interest in. The author explains that letting students have choice in their reading will motivate them to read even when it is not required (Moss, p.19).

Part of giving students choice in reading requires teachers to have an extensive classroom library. I learned that children read 50 to 60 percent more in classrooms with libraries than without them (Morrow 20003; Neuman 1999; Kim 2003). Something else that I thought was interesting and relates to our school is that high-income students have access to four thousand times the number of books of low-income students (Nueman 1999). For this reason I think it’s important to provide our students with a variety of books especially because many of our students may not have access to books outside our school.

Last, I learned that students need to talk about what they read. It is now clear that we cannot just allow our student to IR without some type of reflection. Students have to reflect on their readings with others.  They can do this by sharing during peer discussions or they can participate in Instructional Conversations where the teacher prompts students’ thinking by connecting their personal knowledge to what they read. In conclusion, I have taken a lot of great ideas about how to use IR time effectively and that it’s not going to work well if you simply tell the students to read silently without structure and guidance.