Read, Read, Read!
Carol Brewer
Dec 01, 2008
Do your students like to read? Do they get interested in a book and not want to put it down? Are you giving them time to practice reading? These might be easy questions to answer but difficult to properly implement. It is all about Self Selected Reading. This is the time of the day that students are reading books of their choice, as well as on their reading level. They are practicing reading, just as they need to practice anything to improve. These reading materials may be from a newspaper, a novel, a magazine, or anything else that might be of interest for the reader. The strength of the Self Selected Reading time is the conference between the teacher and the student. This is a time when the teacher sits with the student and talks about what has been read. It is a great time to model, teach, or reinforce what is being taught in whole group as well as small group instruction. For example, the teacher is emphasizing Compare and Contrast during whole group instruction time. During Conferencing time, the same type Compare and Contrast questions might be used. The Reading Assignments Flipchart, available for K-5 and 6-12, is a great resource for these type questions. The following dialogue might be used:
Teacher: Tell me what you have been reading.
Student: This is a book about a boy who has different names for different objects.
Teacher: Can you give me an example?
Student: On page 35 he called a pen a Frindle.
Teacher: He called a pen a what? That is so funny; you have got to read that page for me!
Student reads the page fluently.
Teacher: Nice job; I like how you read with such fluency! How does Nick compare to one of your friends?
Student: I can see Jamie doing something like that, because he is always trying to be the "class clown".
Notice how the teacher inspires the student to read through interest instead of demand. The typical conference has the teacher tell the student to read a page, and then ask questions about the story. The exemplary conference has the teacher asking questions that focus on a reading comprehension strategy. Other questions to ask during conferencing are Author's Purpose and Genre questions. Ongoing strategy questions, such as predicting, visualizing and summarizing questions are also important for comprehension. These questions are also included in the Reading Assignments Flipchart.
Remember, students need time to Read, Read, Read! Conferencing with students can strengthen this reading practice.
Additional Self Selected Conferencing information is included in the Comprehensive Literacy Training.
