Carolyn Shackelford, Routman Chp. 6 Plan for and Monitor Independent Reading

Routman starts this chapter with an illustration of a school she visited and compared two classrooms. She did this to show how the amount of time students were given to read independently affected how they did on standardized tests, with the students who read more achieving higher scores. I agree with her statement that it's not just about the amount of time given for independent reading, but the accompanying components of mini-lessons, an excellent classroom library, conferencing and goal setting. I could also relate to her concerns that struggling readers need even more time to read, but often receive less. She reminds us that "We teachers are the only ones who can make this increase in reading happen and put an end to the substandard instruction that many of our low-performing students receive."

Routman encourages us, as teachers, to read as well during this independent reading time once we have established routines and gotten to know our students at the beginning of the year. I love the idea of  being able to set that example, but struggle with the notion of taking that time for myself when I could be conferencing or working with students one-on-one. 

This chapter also gives some great information to apply at the beginning of the year, when you are setting up your independent reading time procedures and components. I have worked hard this year to implement more conferencing time, but I would also like to focus on working in more share time. I have often observed it happening naturally between students as they head back to their seats after reading. I need to find a way to encourage all of my students to do this.

Finally, I really liked her final suggestion at the end of the chapter on how to show your students the difference between fluency and reading words accurately, is not enough. Bringing in a difficult text that you can read, but not understand and modeling how that is different from reading a book that is "just right" for you. What a great modeling lesson for the beginning of the year!