Blog #6- Emily Hammett - Chapt 6. Routman

       "If proficient readers typically read extensively on their own, as the research suggests, it would seem prudent, even scientific, to develop this habit in young readers." - Thomas Newkirk

In the opening of Routmans' chapter 6 he opens with this beautiful quote by Newkirk. I LOVE this quote because it speaks volumes to me. When I was in elementary school I vividly remember what my teachers called "Silent Sustained Reading". During SSR, each child got to choose a book of their interest and read for 30 minutes. Although, I wasn't a headstrong reader in my younger grades, I look back and cherish that time. Usually on Fridays our teacher would allow us to go outside to read as long as we were focused all week while reading. That was the most exciting thing for me! It is something I want to implement in my classroom for next year.

There is a quote written by a former student, Brian, where he states, "My advice to anybody who wants to become a better reader is to read more, to read lower books and practice so you can move up to higher levels. If you want to know how to read better, just keep on reading." Brian is absolutely right! Just today I was talking to another teacher on my grade level and I thought how sad is it that our lower students are skilled and drilled all day. These are the students that need the MOST time to read and we are so worried about focusing on skills that we take away their independent reading time. With this being my first year I am constantly reflecting on practices that I think work towards the best interest of my students and practices that I think I could do without for next year. Next year I am determined to let low and high leveled students read, read, and read!

I have had my students keep a reading record in their reading journals, but while I was at a conference I was shown a reading log that I love because the student has to specify whether they read the book at home or school. This makes a big difference, especially with our kids that stay everyday for after school. Also, I want parent signatures back and this new log requires a parent initial.

I enjoy the partner reading guidelines on page 91. Most of the reading sets that I have require the students to read in partners and having guidelines for them to follow while reading helps solve many problems throughout reading groups. The teacher talk on modeling partner reading and evaluating partner reading is very helpful. Sometimes it takes me reading it to realize that this is what I really need to implement in my classroom.

This chapter was very useful to expand my learning of planning and monitoring partner reading!