Independent Reading Strategy Goals for Middle School
Independent reading is an accurate and individualised practice that tin can support the explicit teaching undertaken during the whole group focus at the start of a reading lesson and provide opportunities for reflection at the lesson closure.
When students read independently, they are mindful of the explicit lesson they accept just participated in, and depict on those skills to help them practise, read and understand text. After independent reading they are called on to share how those skills assisted their reading past giving an example or articulating their new knowledge or learning.
Independent reading is a practice which all students tin successfully undertake as it can be differentiated for every student. Texts selected are usually at an piece of cake level, i.e. 95 to 100% decoding accurateness charge per unit. For more than data, come across: Running Records: What is a Running Record
Personal interest and literary texts also supplement contained reading cloth as reading for enjoyment and pleasure is highly engaging and has correlated links to reading achievement (Nodelman and Reimer, 2003; Thomson, Hillman and DeBortoli, 2013). For details, see: Literature: Overview and Evidence Base
Independent reading takes the place of previous activity–based piece of work centres that independent unrelated activities to keep students 'busy' whilst the instructor worked with individual or small groups of students. Whilst these activities may have been 'fun', they often had no relation to the learning intention (Hattie, 2009, p.163).
Conversely, independent reading is a practice that can be directly related to the learning intention and success criteria and can support the practise of new and reinforced strategies and cognition.
Once independent reading time has been established, gradually introduce concurrent small-scale group/individual student work. Discuss the role for students and for the teacher during this time so students know expectations. Brandish the expectations.
Contained reading and EAL/D learners
Contained reading in English and their home language helps EAL/D learners to build language and literacy skills in both languages (Schwinge, 2003). Strong habitation language literacy is a predictor of academic success for EAL/D students (Cummins, et al, 2006; de Courcy, Yue and Furusawa, 2008).
Include dwelling language texts in students' contained reading boxes in the classroom, such every bit:
- home linguistic communication realia
- multilingual library books
- books or stories translated by customs members
- books or stories written by EAL/D learners
- versions of classroom texts summarised in home language.
For communication on text selection for EAL/D learners, see: Literature
For advice on selecting texts in other languages, meet: Languages and Multicultural Education Resources Middle (LMERC)
Whole grade-mini lesson
In this video, the teacher explicitly scaffolds whole class learning on reading through a mini lesson. The learning intention and success criteria are stated and explained and students are guided to use their new learning during the independent reading stage of the lesson.
Implementing independent reading
For independent reading to be successful in your classroom, teach the practice and let time for the practice to exist embedded.
First early in the twelvemonth and be consequent with the implementation so that all students know the expectations.
As it is a pivotal part of every reading lesson, it needs to exist introduced explicitly.
Independent reading involves:
- the teacher modelling what independent reading looks like. This means the teacher reading independently alongside students to model 'how to'
- developing some class protocols or expectations and displaying them on anchor charts/bookmarks (e.g. stay in your seat, read quietly, start to read straight away, read from your book box, savor reading)
- building up the time allotted for Independent reading. Showtime with 5 minutes. Go along a record of sustained and engaged reading times whilst introducing the practice. "Yesterday we read for 5 minutes, today I desire everyone to read for 6 minutes without break". Depending on the year level, independent reading times will vary (e.1000. Foundation classes-10 to 15 minutes, Years 5 and vi-20 to 30 minutes).
- demonstrating to students after independent reading has concluded how they might testify some testify that they were actively thinking and using the strategy outlined in the lesson learning intention equally they read. Teachers tin can:
- model how to employ a Reading Response Volume to describe or write about their new learning note something of interest on a postal service-it note
- stick post-information technology annotation to the relevant folio in the text where that learning occurred
- consider a reading goal and set an example of how the use of that goal assisted successful reading.
This exercise should simply act equally an offshoot to the priority of reading independently. The time taken on this job should just take up to 10 minutes and should be completed independently.
Educatee's role
- stay in your seat
- start to read straight away
- read quietly
- read from your book box
- utilize the learning intention to help me do my reading
- enjoy reading
Teacher's role
- read with a group
- read with a student
- conference with a pupil
- teach students how to read
- talk nigh a book with a pupil or a grouping of students
- take a running record
The final part of the reading lesson provides time for students to bear witness and articulate the thinking they take washed when reading independently. Hither the learning intention and success criteria are revisited and students accept the opportunity to articulate their learning.
Articulated learning example
(e.g. When I got to the word 'dale' on this page I did not know what it meant. I tried to think of synonyms that would make sense and would fit with the motion picture. I came up with 'mountain' first of all because of the pic. Afterwards, I checked with my iPad and found out it meant valley; the chip between the hills. Now I can go dorsum and reread information technology and understand what it ways).
Students besides requite the teacher feedback on whether they take accomplished the success criteria. This data is useful for motivating students and allows the teacher to build on, modify or revise the learning intention in future lessons.
EAL/D students need to read books with engaging content that they can empathise. If the text is as well hard (the student knows less than 95 per cent of the vocabulary and grammar) then they will non be able to read the text independently. Older students will spend also much fourth dimension looking upward the meaning of words in the dictionary which volition detract from the reading (and enjoyment) of the text. It may exist more appropriate for EAL/D students to re-read a text they previously found challenging to build confidence and fluency. All the same, it is of import to model specific strategies that EAL/D students may utilize in independent reading when they meet unfamiliar vocabulary, phrases or judgement structures.
To support EAL/D learners to read independently:
- teach and model how students can infer the significant of new words based on the context, reading ahead, and other clues in the text
- establish a protocol where students record some unknown and/or interesting words to discuss with the teacher during a reading conference
- decide with students how and when they should apply dictionaries or other resources in independent reading. Teach the procedure for looking up words in an English language or bilingual lexicon if appropriate. Some options are:
- Earlier reading: students skim the text to identify new words. They bank check the meanings in a dictionary and note these downwards ready for independent reading
- During reading: when students encounter a new discussion, they make an educated guess nearly the meaning
- After reading: students look up a dictionary to confirm the accurateness of their inferences about new words they encountered during reading.
- teach and model some responses to independent reading that do not rely heavily on language, for example using drawing, storyboards, or graphic organisers
- teach and model using habitation languages to back up independent reading. By cartoon on their home languages, EAL/D students tin think more than deeply well-nigh their reading and brand connections between existing and new knowledge. Some examples are:
- finding home language equivalents or translations for cardinal ideas in the text
- summarising what they have read, orally or in writing
- talking to a same language peer about what they learnt from reading.
The benefits of independent reading apply whether students are reading in English or in their home language (Scwhinge, 2003).
Practising independent reading at dwelling house, whether in their abode linguistic communication or English, helps students learn language and literacy skills. Parents can engage in their children's reading by:
- listening to their children read in English language even if the parent does not understand English. The child tin and then translate or gloss the text in the domicile linguistic communication. Both parent and child can discuss the book in their dwelling language
- telling stories to their kid in their home linguistic communication or English
- keeping a collection of books at dwelling, in the dwelling house language and English. These could be from the local library or owned by the family
- translating English books to the home language for the domicile or classroom library if they have the skills to
- reading books with their child in the dwelling house language or English, and talking about the books
- encouraging their child to read independently at home, and to talk over what they are reading.
To encourage parent engagement, see: Speak to your child in the language yous know all-time
For bilingual resources, see: Languages and Multicultural Teaching Resource Centre (LMERC)
Text option
'Enriching the print environments in classrooms has been shown to upshot in more reading' (Krashen, 2004, p. 58).
The pick of texts for independent reading tin exist drawn from a large repertoire depending on a educatee's reading level and involvement such equally:
For assist, see: 
Recommended independent reading texts for educatee volume boxes-Foundation to Yr 6 (docx - 467.11kb)
Independent texts are usually housed in student book boxes or book bags. Each student is responsible for their own volume box, however, it is up to the teacher to ensure that texts are changed regularly to promote interest and engagement.
Theory to exercise
When reading independently students are exposed to new words in meaningful contexts.
The benefits of independent reading are wide and well researched:
- Stanovitch (1986) argues that reading is an of import contributor to many linguistic communication and cognitive skills, particularly vocabulary.
- Cognition of vocabulary directly correlates to higher levels of achievement (Fisher, Frey and Hattie, 2016) and contributes to comprehension (Konza, 2010).
- Students who read daily for extended periods of time, see more new words, recycle known words and automatically recognise more loftier frequency words. De Courcy, Dooley, Jackson, Miller and Rushton (2012) argue that "students may need to encounter a new word upwards to 15 times to acquire information technology as function of their expressive vocabulary" (p. vi).
For more than details, see:Rationale and Theory to Practice
Fluency is another important chemical element supported through independent reading. When readers reread familiar texts or texts where the decoding requirement is minimalised, greater attending can be placed on building meaning (Konza, 2016). Student book boxes or book bags should reflect this requirement.
Fluency continues to develop as a reader engages with texts of expanding vocabulary and sophisticated concepts. Therefore, independent reading is a practice that continues to support readers throughout their learning.
Every bit readers read texts fluently in independent reading, they:
- demonstrate authentic decoding skills (letters, sounds, words)
- maintain a steady rate for optimum agreement (e.g. also slow and the information will be forgotten, as well fast and comprehension may non have fourth dimension to develop)
- develop prosody which supports comprehension (e.g. expression, rhythm and phrasing).
For more than details, see: Fluency
Moreover, independent reading provides time for students to practise their reading goals. Students actually practise their reading goals by reading, not by activity-based tasks. Goals are determined as a result of explicit feedback from the teacher to each of their students.
Through goal setting students can "assimilate the language used by the teacher into their own self-talk", which in plough contributes to their cocky-efficacy as learners (Fisher, Frey and Hattie, 2016, p. 101). Contained reading is a practice which supports students to develop and practise those goals while reading texts that are piece of cake to decode, are familiar, or provide high levels of engagement.
By participating in contained reading, students tin can
- practise decoding and comprehension strategies
- practise and reinforce vocabulary (new, known and loftier-frequency words)
- exercise reading for fluency (rate and prosody)
- determine the author's purpose
- recall critically near texts
- bask reading for extended periods of time.
References
Cummins, J., Bismilla, V., Cohen, Southward., Giampapa, F., & Leoni, 50. (2006). Timelines and Lifelines: Rethinking Literacy Education in Multilingual Classrooms. Orbit, 36(1), 22–26.
De Courcy, M., Dooley, K., Jackson, R., Miller, J., Rushton, K. (2012). Teaching EAL/D learners in Australian classrooms, PETAA Paper 183, Primary Educational activity Association Australia.
De Courcy, 1000., Yue, H., & Furusawa, J. (2008). Children's Experiences of Multiple Script Literacy. In A. Mahboob & C. Lipovski (Eds.), Studies in practical linguistics and language learning (pp. 244–270). Newcastle upon Tine: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Knuckles, Northward.K. and Pearson, P.D. (2002). Effective reading practices for developing comprehension, In A.E. Farstrup & S.J. Samuels (Eds.), What Research has to say about reading instruction (3rd Ed) (pp.205-242). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Fisher, D., Frey, N. and Hattie, J. (2016). Visible learning for Literacy: Implementing practices that piece of work best to accelerate student learning. Grand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Guthrie, J.T. & Wigfield, A. (2000) 'Engagement and Motivation in Reading'. In Yard. L. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, New Bailiwick of jersey.
Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London and New York: Routledge
Konza, D. (Baronial 2010). Understanding the Reading Process. Research into Practice: Literacy is anybody's business, Government of South Australia: Literacy Secretariat
Konza, D. (2016). Understanding the reading process: The big six, In J. Scull and B. Raban (Eds.), Growing upwards literate: Australian literacy research for practice (pp.149 - 176). Hong Kong: Eleanor Curtain Publishing.
Krashen, South.D. (2004). The Power of Reading: Insights from the Enquiry (second Ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Nodelman, P. & Reimer, One thousand. (2003). The pleasures of children's literature. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Schwinge, D. (2003). Enabling biliteracy: Using the continua of biliteracy to analyse curricular adaptations and elaborations. In N. H. Hornberger (Ed.), Continua of Biliteracy: An Ecological Framework for Educational Policy, Enquiry, and Practice in Multilingual Settings (pp. 278–295). Clevedon: Multilingual Matter.
Stanovitch, K.Due east. (1986). The Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences for private differences in the acquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly: 21 (pp. 360-407).
Thomson, S., Hillman, Chiliad. & De Bortoli, L. (2013). A teacher's guide to PISA reading literacy. Camberwell, Vic: ACER.
Source: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/readingviewing/Pages/teachingpracindependent.aspx