Independent Reading

P-12Loddon Mallee Region

Session Outline

• Literacy Frameworks

• Research

• Reading Behaviours

• Text Selection

• Formative Assessment

• Home/school Partnerships

LITERACY ELEMENTS

• Read Aloud

• Shared Reading

• Guided Reading

• Independent Reading

SPEAKING &

LISTENING

OBSERVATION

&

ASSESSMENT

• Write Aloud

• Shared Writing

• Guided Writing

• Independent Writing

5

GRADUAL RELEASE OF RESPONSIBILITY

MODELLING

The teacher

demonstrates and

explains the literacy

focus being taught.

This is achieved by

thinking aloud the

mental processes and

modelling the reading,

writing, speaking and

listening

The student

participates by

actively attending to

the demonstrations

SHARING

The teacher continues

to demonstrate the

literacy focus,

encouraging students

to contribute ideas

and information

Students contribute

ideas and begin to

practise the use of the

literacy focus in

whole class situations

GUIDING

The teacher provides

scaffolds for students

to use the literacy

focus. Teacher

provides feedback

Students work with

help from the teacher

and peers to practise

the use of the literacy

focus

APPLYING

The teacher offers

support and

encouragement when

necessary

The student works

independently to

apply the use of

literacy focus

Role of the

teacher

Role of the

student

Pearson & Gallagher

DE

GR

EE

OF

CO

NT

RO

L

Know

Want to Know

Learned

Individually brainstorm;

– What you know about Independent Reading

– What you want to know about Independent Reading

INDEPENDENT READING Description

Independent reading is central to successful

reading development.

Students select and read engaging and interesting

material daily, independently and individually.

Students need to be engaged by the text, discuss the text

and explain their understanding of the text.

INDEPENDENT READING Classroom Indicators- Instruction

Time must be scheduled daily for independent reading to occur.

A structured take home reading program for all primary students is

expected.

For secondary students, a structured reading program is essential

in addition to library borrowing.

Students:

• promote books to others

• practise reading at home each night: home/school partnership is

fostered

• practise what has been taught in whole class, small group and

individual reading

• reflect on and articulate their reading goals

INDEPENDENT READING Classroom Indicators- Instruction (continued)

Teachers:

• select particular students to confer with, guide and teach at point

of need

• support students to develop and monitor their own reading goals

• promote reading of quality literature and texts

• discuss and enjoy texts with individual students, observing what

they know and can do

• provide guidance with text choice

• monitor choice to ensure a broad range of successful and

enjoyable reading experiences

INDEPENDENT READING Classroom Indication- Resources

• Classroom environments foster enjoyment and appreciation of reading

• A range of high quality literature is accessible in classrooms and central libraries

• Wide range of interest and difficulty levels

• School library is closely linked to classroom reading programs

• Partner reading arranged with peers and adults

• Well organised take home and library programs

RESEARCH

VARIATION IN AMOUNT OF INDEPENDENT READING

Anderson.R,Wilson,P.,and Fielding, L. Reading Research Quarterly, Vol.3,1988. Growth in reading and how children spend their time outside school.

Skill instruction is not enough. In fact

when reading takes a back seat to skill

instruction, one has to ask the age old

question about the cart and the horse.

To develop the ability to read fluently

requires the opportunity to read- a

simple rule of thumb.

R. Allington: “if they don‟t read much, how they ever gonna get good”

“The average higher-achieving students

read three times as much each week as

their lower-achieving classmates, not

including out-of-school reading.”(Richard Allington, 2006)

DISCUSSION

What are the implications of this research for you?

What do you

know about this

reader?Where might

you take this

reader?

Video clip

DI SNOWBALL

2009

We need to know…

• What is the level of text complexity students can read independently and show competency with?

• What are the range of texts students can read independently and show competency with?

• What is the amount of reading students are engaged in (easy, instructional and challenging?)

Proficient Readers• Know what they need to comprehend from a text

• Are aware of the purpose for their reading and direct attention to the parts of the text they most need to comprehend

for that purpose.

• Are able to assume different ‘stances’ toward a text. For example, a child can read a book from the point of view of

different characters, of a book reviewer, or of a writer seeking new techniques for his or her own work.

• Identify difficulties they have in comprehending at the word, sentence and whole text levels. They are flexible in their

use of tactics to revise their thinking and solve different types of comprehension problems.

• Can ‘think aloud’ about their reading process. They are aware and articulate the surface and deep structure strategies

they use to identify words, read fluently, and create solutions to reading problems.

• Can identify confusing ideas, themes, and/or surface elements (words, sentence or text structures, graphs, tables,

etc.) and suggest a variety of means to solve the problems they encounter.

• Are independent, flexible and adaptive:

– They show independence by using surface and deep structure strategies to solve reading problems and

enhance understanding on their own.

– They demonstrate flexibility by using particular strategies such as determining importance to a greater or lesser

degree depending on the demands of the text.

– They are adaptive in their ability to ‘turn up (or turn down) the volume’ of a particular strategy, or use all the

comprehension strategies in concert.

• Use text management strategies. They pause, reread, skim, scan, consider the meaning of the

text, and reflect on their understanding with other readers of the text, and reflect on their

understanding.”

Keene E and Zimmerman, S (2007: 64 - 65)

Di Snowball 2009

• Text Selection- Level, Forms, Environment,

Engagement

• Formative Assessment- Conferences,

Journals, Reflection

• Home Partnership

TEXT SELECTION

Level, Forms, Environment, Engagement

Easy Text (95%+ accuracy)

Engagement

(Choice & Environment)

JUST RIGHT TEXT

Text Level: Independent Reading

Forms

Comics

Magazines

Novels

Newspapers

Digital Texts

Poetry

Familiar Texts

Author Studies

Forms

Environment

Students in classrooms containing

literature collections read 50% more

than students in classrooms

without.

However, to be enticing, a classroom

library must be well designed .

Faye Bolton “Classroom Libraries 2009‟

Research by Bissett

• Focal area in the classroom;

• Partitioned, private and quiet;

• Carpeted and have comfortable seating, such as bean bags, rocking

chairs and couches;

• Five to six books per student;

• Stocked with books that provided a variety of text types and degrees of

challenge

• Room nearby for five or six students to read;

• Consists of two types of shelving (regular and open - faced book

shelves);

• Literature oriented displays and props (to promote re-enactments and re-

readings);

• Organised into categories, such as author, poet, text type and topic.

Morrow and Weinstein „Increasing children's use of literature through program and physical design changes. Elementary School Journal, 83, 131-137.

„

VIDEO

What ideas can you take back to your school/classroom?

ENGAGEMENT- What takes readers ‘off track’?

• 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

• InteractionDon Holdaway

BRAINSTORM

In table groups, choose one area that takes „readers off

track‟ and brainstorm ways to support them.

How to promote Independent ReadingDon Holdaway

• Environment

• Time

• Choice

• Response

• Groups

• Support

• Management routines

• Motivation- incentives, talks, author visits, „literature gossips‟

• Parental involvement

• Student evaluation

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Reading Conference, Reading Journals, Reflection Time

Reading Conference- Conversations

• Focused

• Usually follows a predictable structure

• Reading goals developed and monitored

• Both teacher and student share responsibility for

conversation but student has responsibility of reading

• Take place where students read their text (not

teacher‟s desk)

• Scheduled regularly

• Shift the learning

• Generally recorded

• Used to drive instructional teaching

OBSERVATION- Video

• Teacher

• Student

Reading Goals

• Student friendly language

• Often derive from reading conference and guided

reading

• Achievable

• Immersion- students should be constantly sharing and

reflecting on these goals in order to build language and

metacognition

• Meaningful

• Relevant

• Short and sharp

• Personalised

Reading Journals

• A reading response journal is a notebook that students

use expressly for talking, thinking and writing about

what they read.

• In their journals, students share feelings, reactions and

ask questions about element, including characters, the

setting, symbols, plot and themes of the books they are

reading.

• Response journals can help teachers assess students'

comprehension and critical thinking abilities.

• Should not take over the allocated time for reading.

• Evidence of the reading conference is often in the

journal, including the student‟s reading goals.

Education World

Adapted from Regie Routman

Unknown Word I infer it means I used… Example Sentence

A Running Record is a record of reading behaviors that readers make as they are

reading. Running Records were developed by Dr. Marie Clay, as a way for

teachers to quickly and easily assess their students' reading behaviors "on the

run", so to speak.

• monitor ongoing student

progress in reading,

• find out which particular skills

and strategies students are

using, or not using,

• focus on specific needs of

individual children,

• group children with similar

needs for reading instruction,

• choose books at an

appropriate level for your

students.

Reflection Time

Reflection time follows

each reading and writing

workshop. Students

question, analyse and

discuss their own and

others‟ learning.

Something new for me…

In my head I was…

I found it helpful to…

I was challenged by…

HOME /SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP

• National Assessment of Educational Progress results,

for example, show that the percentage of children who

say they read for fun almost every day dropped from

43% at grade 4 to 19% at grade 8 (Rich, 2007).

• Research tells us that children whose families

encourage at-home literacy activities have higher

phonemic awareness and decoding skills (Burgess,

1999), higher reading achievement in the elementary

grades (Cooter et al., 1999), and advanced oral

language development (Sénéchal, LeFevre, &

Thomas, 1998).

Instructing parents to simply, "Read to your child" or

"Encourage your child to read at home" may be a

start, but it is not enough.

• Parent information nights; reading & comprehension

skills

• Keep reading simple and short

• Show parents evidence of success and statistics

• Personalise reading to individual student

• Provide options for different reading stages

• Provide texts, booklists, websites for ideas

• Teach parents about „book choice‟

• Invite parents into the classroom

Early Childhood Lower/Middle PS Middle & Later Years

•Read books to child

•Read books together

•Talk to your child about the story

•Repeated readings of favourites

•Encourage reading along even if

it‟s memorisation

•Discuss and ask questions about

the text

•Provide a range of text types

•Model reading in front of child

•Provide time and space for child to

read daily

•Read stories to child

•Listen to child read

•Support problem solving

•Discuss and ask questions about

the text

•Provide range of text types

•Model reading in front of child

•Provide time and space for child to

read daily

•Read for a range of purposes-

recipes, shopping lists, signs

•Model reading e.g. daily

newspaper

•Talk about newspaper articles

•Visit and subscribe to libraries etc

•Provide range of text types

•Buy books as presents

•Multimedia/multimodal texts

Know

Want to know

Learned

• What have you learned?

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