Independent Reading Workshop:

“With Literacy for All”

Pathways to Independence in Secondary Classrooms

Presenter: Jeanne Sesky

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A Place Called School, John Goodlad

“Less than 2 percent of each high school day was being spent on actual reading. In spite of research that supports independent reading time as a critical component in effective literacy programs… it affords “clocking up reading mileage”, many administrators and teachers have difficulty creating effective independent reading programs.

Two Kinds of Silent Reading

S.S.R. vs.

Independent Reading

S.S.R.• Time is negotiated around other events• Not the main structure of a reading program• 10-15 minutes• Irregular/Not Daily• Low-Priority• Students randomly choose books at any reading

level• No strategy instruction• Minimal response expected• No teacher check-in• No authentic assessment

Independent Reading• Time is carefully planned• A main structure of reading program• 30-45 minutes• Strategies • Daily/Weekly routine built into schedule • Select books based on interest/reading level • Engage/Apply reading strategies• Rich/Deep response expected• Teacher acts as model• Small-Group/Individual conferencing• Teacher monitors growth through informal

reading assessments

Types of Readers

“I Can’t” Readers

“I Don’t Know How” Readers

“I’d Rather” Readers

“I Don’t Care” Readers

MotivateI sit in the classroom with nothing to do,I don’t want to read,Then you say, “It’s all up to you.”I think to myself, “She must be crazy;I can read and write,But I’m too d--- lazy.”Then it happens--and I take a book off the shelf.If I fail this class,I’m failing myself.

“I Can’t” Readers

• need help finding a book

• need help starting

• need help sticking to it

• need choices offered

• need constant monitoring

“I Don’t Know How” Readers

• may get started and have a book (act like a student)

• see no value in reading• reading doesn’t make sense

to them• escape into other activities

“I’d Rather” Readers

• would rather do something else

• can read, but choose not to• need to find a reason to read• have a variety of strategies in

place• disengaged

“I Don’t Care!” Readers

• The most difficult to reach “non-reader”• Have well-built walls of disengagement• Are often avid, at/above grade-level

readers• They do not “buy in” to traditional school

settings• Respond best to extended/challenging

activities

“True readers and writers are ‘self-winding’ and

choose to read and write well beyond the care and

guidance of the school system.”

-- Margaret Mooney, 1991

What Takes Readers off the Path?

• Lack of interest or motivation• Insufficient/inappropriate resources• Standards/testing• Absence of support• Inability to break the language barrier• Insufficient background knowledge• Lack of reading strategies• Insufficient reading experience• Inappropriate teacher intervention

Margaret Meek, Learning to Read:

“But no exercise, however well ordered, will have the same

effect of a genuine reading task that encourages the reader to

learn what he wants to know as a result of his own initiative.”

Lifelong learners are adept at making their own reading choices.

The International Association for the

Evaluation of Educational Achievement reports

that “the most important factor in development of

literacy is access to books.”

EnjoymentHow do you know what

is enjoyable and interesting to your students?

What do you do to find out what they are interested in?

Suggestions:

• Interviews • Surveys• Sentence Completions• Quick Polls• Listen to them• Talk to them• Book order

forms/Amazon

GenresHow are your books

arranged in your classrooms?

Are they displayed for appearance?

Are they organized by

genre/theme? Are they clearly labeled?

To encourage choice,

have plenty of fiction and non-fiction:

• Poems• Magazines• Short stories• Picture books• Novels• Information books• Brochures

Use Crates & Bins to separate titles, genres, themes…

http://reviews.ebay.com/Organizing-a-Classroom-Library-by-Genre-for-teachers_W0QQugidZ10000000001884395

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GenresNon-Fiction

How to BooksScienceHistory

ArtsHumor

Self-HelpComicsPoetry

Fiction

FantasyMysteryHumor

Historical FictionScience fiction

RomanceAdventure

Books for GirlsBooks for Boys

Ideas for Environment• Time of reading in instructional sequence• Seating arrangement: bean bags, pillows, solo

seating, small-group seating, library access/passes• Lighting• Noise (white noise)• Audio Books: Recorded Books, Listening Library,

Scholastic• Accountability: supportive tone, Status of the Class TIP: Ask your kids, “What gets in the way of reading?”

Map Your RoomLocations:• Small-group instruction• Independent seating• Direction of desks• Audio-SupportConsider how you will organize your libraryConsider how and when students may

check out books.Consider how you will train students to use

movement.

Letting GoIndependent reading

is a unique and challenging

approach to reading instruction.

Teachers often struggle to let go of control in terms of book selection and

assessment.

Release of Responsibility encourages students to…

• Consider their time• Begin to make choices• Learn when to abandon a

book• Learn to find books

according to: genre, author, topic, themes

• Find out that they can control their reading

Release of Responsibility

Supports for Independence

• Read Alouds

• Shared Reading

• Guided Reading

“I believe that an assessment measure for effectiveness of these supports is whether those approaches led to engaged readers who display independence.”

-- Janet Allen, Yellow Brick Roads

Let Me See

Guiding students towards appropriate choices…

• Book Pass• Book Blurbs• Book Talkswww.scholastic.com/librarians/ab/booktalks.htm

• Book Reviewshttp://nancykeane.com/booktalks/reviews.htm

• Book Boards/Postings

Comprehension Strategy Posters

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Asking questions and looking for answers - before I read

as I read after I read.

I wonder... I was confused when...

How could that be? Why do you think? Who... What... Where... When...

© Readinglady.com

How could that be?

Choosing the “Just Right” Book

The Five Finger Rule

Tell your students that if they are not sure if the book is

"just right" or not then they can use the Five Finger Rule

to help them decide.

1. Open to a page of the book.2. Begin reading.3. Each time you come to a word you don’t

know, hold up 1 finger.4. After you finish reading the page, check to see how many fingers you are holding

up.

Too Easy: 0 - 1 fingers

Just Right: 2 - 3 fingers

Too Hard: 4 - 5 fingers

OutcomesCognitive

Reading enduranceWord knowledgeWorld knowledgeReading fluency

Content knowledgeComprehension

Writing ability

Affect

MotivationConnectedness

CommunitySense of self

Self-directednessEmpathy

Mental control

Engaging ReadersEnvironment

• High affect for reading• Distraction-free• Comfortable• Personal• Supportive

– Audio books– Conferencing

• Interactive• Structures to Increase

Independence• Welcoming display

Choice

• Topics of interest• Self-inquiry• Genre• Author knowledge• Connections• Access• Level of Involvement• Authentic context

Why Authentic Assessment?

Summative Assessment

No turning back…

• STAR• SRI• Reading Counts• A/R

… less diagnostic information

Authentic Assessment

Informs my instruction…

• Reading Logs• Reading journals• Informal Inventories• Running Records• Conferencing• Writing• Performance Tasks

Word Walls

Word Walls are not just for little kids!

They work to focus your instruction and to act as a reminder of which academic and content vocabulary you are holding students accountable to learning

ExampleA-B

accountability

acrid

asymmetrical

bilateral

Using Language Frames as a Scaffold

Solid repetition, using the same language frames and practicing the highlighting technique provides for authentic practice of careful reading strategies that can be transferred into the students' reading of other materials and also provides a scaffold for those students who are not yet in full production stages of their English acquisition.

Language Frames to use while modeling lesson:

• I see ___________________.

• This makes me think _______________________.

• I'm still wondering_______________________?

Why Support ELD?This kind of explicit instruction permits ELLs the

kind of structure and guided practice needed to build solid understandings of how to interpret different kinds of texts that will be given to them to read in an array of contexts. If the ELL can comprehend the message a text is trying to convey and they use questioning, inferring and observing to do this, it will help build their reading skills, which in turn will help with their acquisition of English itself.

Ways to Support Oral Language Development

• Sentence Frames/Sentence Starters• Book-Talk Time, Book Blurbs, Read Alouds• Time to read other students’ responses• Paired-Reading• Audio Books• Consider readability/age

appropriateness/cultural diversity; also, lexiles, ZPD, or reading levels

Wellness Check Up• High-level of student engagement• Sense of shared community • Plethora of reading material• Students know what’s expected• Students know how they are accountable• Students show strategies/independence without

supports• Assessments reveal increasing comprehension,

vocabulary acquisition, and writing skills• Students WANT to read!!!