The best part of this
reading was the standing guard over the bench. It makes me think of the
woman who always cut off the end of her roast before putting it in the oven.
It wasn't until her husband asked why that she called her mom. She
asked her why she always cut off the end of the roast and the mom says her pan
was too small to fit the whole thing.
Miller stepped on some
toes when she gave examples of what to ditch for the sake of quality reading
time. I agree with most of her examples as being time drainers: elaborate calendar
activities, long winded morning announcements, draw-out transitions,
and reading block activities like "endless browsing." (I defend
the AR tests and points though....my bench that I defend.)
I'm sure every educator
agrees that silent reading, on-task reading, authentic reading is important.
Nothing new there, but it's great to recharge our teacher battery and
reiterate what we already know.
It is a balancing act to
be the most effective reading teacher possible.
I loved the guard over the bench vignette too! Miller might have stepped on some toes, but she made you defend what you believe in. Your italicized parts are important too--she's not saying to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but those qualifiers are what waste the time in each of those activities.
ReplyDeleteHi Kim,
ReplyDeleteI agreed with Miller and Moss too about the importance of reflecting and reviewing on our schedules and to critically look and see where we can edit/revise/restructure our time so that we have as much time as possible to focus our students' time and attention on meaningful reading and writing. How will you implement the suggestions provided with your fourth grade schedule/classroom? Any areas that you have identified as areas you can revise to improve the effectiveness of your literacy instruction? Thanks, Dawn