Chelsea's Reflection (Ch.12, On Solid Ground)

Chapter 12-Independent Reading: A Time for Practice was an interesting chapter. The first paragraph about Jasmin made me giggle a little. It was so cute to read that he was kind of upset that he couldn't read on his own, but he had to listen to someone else read to him. He knew that Pat could read, but he couldn't so he wanted that time to read on his own or to practice reading. I think that kids really do come up with the darnest things. Jasmin looked at independent reading time as a time for him to practice reading a book, but when Pat was reading the book to the class he did not like it at all. Amazing! Well, this chapter mainly focuses on how Sharon has her independent reading sessions with her students. As a teacher, I want to give my students time for independent reading. I think it is good to let a child pick out a book to read that is of their interest for however many minutes. I like that Sharon doesn't just send all the kids to read and does whatever work needs to be done at that time because it would look like she is just giving the students something to do so she can have time to herself. I like that during the independent reading time is when Sharon is holding conferences and other things with a student or a group of students. It's amazing that she is able to control a group of younger elementary students who are consistent in reading for a whole 50 minutes or in two 25 minute sessions. From what I've seen, I only see kids reading about 15 minutes a day. What Sharon does is train her students how to engage in their reading. She makes sure that all the students have enough books to read and strategies to try out. They need to be interested in what they are doing so that their attention does not get lost. I also like how Sharon lets her students spread out into different quiet areas around the classroom on their second independent reading session. It seems like it would be harder to manage them while they are reading, but I think with a little bit of practice and time the students will know what is expected of them and not fool around while reading in their quiet areas. Another chapter well worth reading...