Houck Educational Services

Literacy Unleashed

self-selection

#10 Independent Reading

by
Lifelong reading

A Non-Negotiable Component of Comprehensive Literacy Instruction

The goal of daily independent reading of student self-selected text is to foster wise readers who are self-motivated, self-directed, engaged readers that are critical thinkers, problem solvers, and meaning makers who LOVE to read and choose to read!!!!!

“Children need at least thirty minutes a day to read books they can read, preferably, of their choosing.” (Lucy Calkins, 2001)

What is independent reading?

Independent Reading is the culminating event of the gradual release of responsibility in a literacy classroom. After the teacher explicitly teaches and models skills and strategies for the class, she provides lots of opportunity for students to practice these skills and strategies while reading and discussing instructional level texts with their peers. Students apply this learning while reading texts of their own choosing during their independent reading time. Independent Reading provides time for students to practice and for teachers to talk to students about their reading development.

During independent reading, students

  • Use their book bin as a toolkit to read for enjoyment and to apply the learning from class
  • Read texts they chose and are interested in reading
  • Read texts within their independent through instructional range
  • May occasionally read challenging texts that they are very interested in
  • Respond to their reading digitally or in writing
Lifelong reading

Why is independent reading so critically essential?

Reading has the power to move us to action, to take us to amazing places, to walk in the shoes of others, to learn what has happened in the past, the present and the future. Reading is powerful. Classrooms that value Independent Reading provide opportunities for students to truly engage in texts they want to read for prolonged periods of time and can create a positive, lifelong habit.

Anything we do well requires practice. The more we practice, the more skillful we become. When teachers honor this important time, students realize that reading has great value. Independent reading allows students to make choices, read what they like and develop stamina.

Benefits of independent reading

  • Improved Reading Achievement—the  more you practice, the better you become.
  • Fluency and Automaticity—the ability to decode text automatically while reading comes with practice. Automaticity frees the brain to be able to critically think and make meaning.
  • Increased Vocabulary—the best way to develop a rich vocabulary  is to read.
  • Greater Background Knowledge—the more you read, the more you learn about the world.
  • Increased Motivation, Interest and Engagement—the power of choosing your own reading resources and having the time to enjoy those choices as you develop as a reader brings confidence.

How do students become wise readers?

They READ. They read a lot, every day, books they choose and want to read, as well as texts provided by teachers and parents. They also practice the skills and strategies explicitly taught, modeled, and practiced in their classroom and talk to their teacher and peers about the texts they read.

How do teachers become wise reading teachers?

“I often wonder why people ask for research to support independent reading. Does anybody go to the basketball coach and ask her to provide research to support why players are running plays and practicing shots? Does anyone ask the band director why his musicians are playing their instruments during band class?” (Donalyn Miller, 2015)

We know our partners in the process and provide supports and scaffolds to foster their love of reading by:

  • Establishing a non-negotiable 20-30 minute time every day
  • Build the stamina to read and increase it to 30 minutes
  • Teaching a process for choosing “just right” books
  • Organizing your classroom library to support student self-selection
  • Teaching students strategies for effective self-selection
  • Partnering with students to develop criteria for building and maintaining Book Bins
  • Developing record keeping systems so students know the genres and types of texts they have been reading
  • Conferring regularly with students
  • Using ongoing conferring data review to reflect on instruction and make decisions.

RESOURCES

The International Reading Association’s Position Paper: Leisure Reading: A Joint Statement of the International Reading Association, the Canada Children’s Book Centre, and The National Council of Teachers of English. Available in PDF.

Miller, D. and Moss, B. (2013). No more independent reading without support. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

Moss, B., & Young, T. (2010). Creating lifelong readers through independent reading. Newark, DE: International Reading Association

This article is #10 in the twelve-part series, “Getting My Classroom Ready for Balanced Literacy Instruction: Classroom Culture and Environment.”

#6 Student Self-Selection Strategies

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Self Selection

Our classroom libraries are the heart of our literacy classroom. We need to select a wide variety of texts and organize them so that students can use strategies to select appropriate texts for their book bins. These texts are the tools for reading up to thirty minutes every day. Students choose a variety of texts for their book bins based on their interests and to practice their learning. Self-selection is an important part of shifting the ownership of literacy learning from the teacher to the student.

Selecting one’s own books and reading them in school is not a luxury. It is the wellspring of student literacy and literary appreciation. (Stairs & Burgos, 2010)

Appropriate Texts

What texts are appropriate for independent reading?

A text is a good fit or “just right” if:

  • The student self selected it based on interest, motivation, and ability
  • It meets their purpose for reading
  • It is within their reading level
  • It is within the range of their independent to challenge level IF there is prior knowledge and interest to persevere
  • The majority of words and concepts can be read or analyze successfully
  • Provides opportunity to practice skills and strategies to make meaning and comprehend
self selection

The common terms used in most classrooms are “just right” or “good fit” books. What makes a book just right or a good fit for independent reading? For years, we ensured that students were reading texts at their independent level, texts they could read and comprehend easily and on their own, during independent reading time. New research, along with the rigor of the common core, advises broadening that thinking. Students need to know their reading range: their independent or comfortable level, their instructional level that requires a little bit of grappling and application of strategic thinking, and their challenge level. Students need to consider more than the level of the text when deciding their personal reading range. They need to reflect on what makes the text hard. Are they interested in the book enough to be motivated to read a little slower and more carefully in order to understand all of the content? At what point do they feel frustrated and want to give up when they read? These are all questions to discuss with students when teachers confer.

Self-Selection Strategies

What strategies help students choose wisely?

The good old “5 finger” or Goldilocks rule works for emergent and early readers whose text is short, but it is not robust enough for students reading chapter books and novels. It also doesn’t provide enough criteria for informational text selection.

Daily 5 I Pick

The Daily 5 offers a great strategy for many readers called “I PICK.” Students learn to consider their purpose for reading, their knowledge of the topic, the level of comprehension and understanding they have for the book, and their knowledge of the vocabulary they encounter while reviewing the book.

For high-end readers, BOOKMATCH offers comprehensive consideration of text length, complexity, organization, prior and background knowledge needs, genre and text structure. It is important that students know their reading level range and have a strategy and process to think through their selections. Whatever strategy you choose to use in your classroom, be sure to explicitly teach and model its use and post the strategy in your classroom library area.

Find out more about the Daily 5: buy the book!

RESOURCES

Boushey & Moser (2014) The Daily Five. 2nd Edition. Stenhouse

Wedwick, L., & Wutz, J.A (2008). Bookmatch: How to scaffold student book selection for independent reading. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Wedwick, L., & Wutz, J.A. (2006). Thinking outside the book box: Using Bookmatch to develop independent book selection. Voices from the Middle, 14 (1), 20–29.

Video Clip: The Two Sisters Discuss Good Fit Books

Video Clip: How to Choose a Good Fit Book

This article is #6 in the twelve-part series, “Getting My Classroom Ready for Balanced Literacy Instruction: Classroom Culture and Environment.”