Independent Reading Resources

Independent Reading: The Most Important Part of Your Balanced Literacy Block

Independent reading is one of the most enjoyable components of any effective balanced literacy program and it is the most important part. The goal of all of our reading instruction is to support students' growth as readers. According to the NCTE (National Council of Teacher's of English), "Independent reading is a routine, protected instructional practice that occurs across all grade levels. Effective independent reading practices include time for students to read, access to books that represent a wide range of characters and experiences, and support within a reading community that includes teachers and students. Student choice in text is essential because it motivates, engages, and reaches a wide variety of readers.

The goal of independent reading as an instructional practice is to build habitual readers with conscious reading identities. Independent reading leads to an increased volume of reading. The more one reads, the better one reads. The more one reads, the more knowledge of words and language one acquires. The more one reads, the more fluent one becomes as a reader. The more one reads, the easier it becomes to sustain the mental effort necessary to comprehend complex texts. The more one reads, the more one learns about the people and happenings of our world. This increased volume of reading is essential (Allington, 2014)." https://ncte.org/statement/independent-reading/ Please consider the resources curated for you below on this site to support your students' independent reading.

What is Independent Reading?

“Independent reading is the last step in this gradual release, during which students practice integrating these skills and strategies using self-selected texts that match their reading interests and their abilities.”– page 103 of Who's Doing the Work by Burkins and Yaris

“While independent reading often begins with a few minutes of direct instruction that reinforces a skill or strategy previously learned in another instructional context it is mostly a quiet time during which students engage with texts on their own. During independent reading, teachers sometimes work with small groups. Alternatively, teachers may observe students as they work and circulate to have conversations with them about their reading.”– page 104 of Who's Doing the Work by Burkins and Yaris

What Does Independent Reading Look Like?

"What does independent reading look like? Each reader selects a book from a rich, well-organized collection of books in the classroom. Books are not organized by level in your classroom library but, rather, according to categories such as author, illustrator, theme, series, genre, etc. Students are free to choose any text for independent reading based on their personal interests, though you support learning how to make good choices through individual reading conferences and whole-group minilessons. Students share their thinking through discussion and writing, as you come alongside readers to support thinking through brief conferences." - Fountas and Pinnell

Why is Independent Reading Important?

"Why is independent reading important?

As an instructional context, independent reading:

Offers the opportunity to develop habits, attitudes, and tastes as a reader
Builds students' mileage and stamina as readers
Allows students to exercise full control of the reading process
Provides opportunities to share thinking about books with other readers through discussion and writing about reading
Allows readers to apply independently what they have learned through whole-group minilessons, guided and shared reading lessons, and book clubs." - Fountas and Pinnell

"A key factor of independent reading is choice." – Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell

“Given its place at the end of the gradual release of responsibility, independent reading is the point in the continuum of practice at which students integrate all that they’ve learned about reading and apply it on their own…What’s more, independent reading allows students opportunities to make decisions on their own about how to solve problems that arise in text, which serves to develop, stabilize, and strengthen an integrated reading process.” – page 108 page 104 of Whose Doing the Work by Burkins and Yaris

For a step by step explanation of each component click the picture above to access this graphic. You can also click the link below for a quick reference guide and free template for the Research-Decide-Compliment-Teach conferencing structure. CONFERRING: A Quick Reference Guide to Conferring With Readers

Reading Conferences

One of the most valuable parts of independent reading is the conference. This time is not only an opportunity for the teacher to provide one on one differentiated instruction to the student, but it is also an excellent opportunity for formative assessment that can truly guide and inform the teacher's instruction. In her book, Conferring with Readers, Jennifer Serravallo provides us with an effective model for conducting reading conferences.

In the video clip below, Serravallo models how to conduct a Research-Decide-Compliment-Teach conference with a student.

Strategies and Structures That Support Independent Reading

In their book, No More Independent Reading Without Support Debbie Miller and Barbara Moss make an evidence based case for independent reading having support at the beginning of reading workshop with a mini-lesson, during the reading time with conferencing, and at the end of reading workshop with student reflection and formtive assessment.

"During IR teachers are active and students are learning and growing under the careful and responsive support of their teacher. Miller and Moss have this to say, “…for IR to succeed, the teacher must be an active participant. She cannot sit on the sidelines and just watch what is going on… she must bring all her teaching talents to bear during IR just as during any other instructional activity” (p. 39).

Independent reading starts with a mini-lesson. The teacher provides students with explicit instruction about reading, comprehending, or text selection.
The teacher engages with individuals and small groups for a conference. Students engage in reading self-selected books. This allows the teacher to gather information to help drive upcoming mini-lessons and to provide a moment of teaching that the student needs right at that moment with that text in order to grow as a reader.
Independent reading ends with reflection. This includes goal-setting, as well. Students are provided with different ways to track and respond to their reading in order to see their own growth over time. Miller and Moss say, “This is really all about student ownership of learning.”
Assessment is involved. Students’ reflections are not busy work. They help students see their own progress, but teachers can make teaching decisions after analyzing students’ responses (and their conference notes!) to find out how well students can:
- ask important questions
- explain their understandings
- set appropriate reading goals
- think deeply about a topic." - What Works? Independent Reading Works!

To hear a summary of the strategies in this text, click the picture above.

Creating a Classroom Library

Building An Effective Classroom Library

Our independent reading time is only effective if our students have access to a wide variety of texts in the classroom library. It is important for the teacher's classroom library to be an inviting place that welcomes students to choose books that are organized by topic, genre, and authors so students can easily find books that are of interest to them. Take a look at the presentation by clicking the picture to the left or the link below to learn more about effective classroom libraries. Classroom Libraries

Take a look at the Classroom Library Checklist at the link below to see what areas your classroom library is strong in and what areas you can target for growth. Classroom Library Checklist We know that it is also important to provide access to both print and digital book options. Our district has access to SORA/Overdrive and EPIC digital libraries and students can access Destiny to reserve a book in the school's library.

Take a look at the website by clicking the picture to the left from Reading Rockets to learn more about organizing an effective classroom library. Click the link below to read Reading Rocket's website to read their tips for an effective classroom library. Creating A Classroom Library

Supporting Independent Reading to increase Stamina, Fluency, & Joy

In her professional development text, titled Book Love educator and author, Penny Kittle advocates for students' independent reading time. In her text and workshops she says the most important practice we can do in our classrooms is to support independent reading and by doing so, we will increase stamina, fluency, and joy. See her list of research-based practices to support independent reading in our classrooms:

Time

Students need time to read in class in order to create a habit of reading and set the stage for homework reading, and teachers need reading time to confer individually with students about their choices, stamina, engagement, and goals. Students need time to discuss choices with classmates, time to analyze their progress, and time to practice fluency & comprehension strategies under the direction of the teacher.

Choice

Students need to make choices in reading that reflect their interests because interest drives engagement. Teachers should encourage wide reading in all genres as well as students who pursue an author or genre study. Allow students to reread favorite books and to abandon a book that no longer interests them.

Response

Teacher conferences are the primary tool for assessing progress, encouraging goalsetting and reflection, and analyzing student needs. Students will reflect on reading in writing (themed notebooks & writing notebooks), facilitate discussions in small groups, join blogs or reading sites for discussions outside of class, and respond regularly to other readers in the room.

Vision

Daily book talks present a wide range of voices, styles of text, categories of interest, etc. and are essential for helping students develop their own ‘to read next’ lists. We must commit to helping students define themselves as readers who like…

Take A "Shelfie"

Sharing Books With Students That Have Impacted You

One strategy to really help cultivate a student's identity as a reader is to provide opportunities for student to share their favorite books. You can model this practice for them by sharing favorite texts that have made an impact on you as a reader. See an example of a digital flyer I created using the smore website that share my favorite books.

Mrs. Mitchell's ShelfiesMrs. Mitchell's Shelfies My Digital Bookshelf of Favorite Reads

Get to Know Your Readers

In order to be able to recommend books to your students, you need to learn all you can about who they are as readers. One helpful tool to consider is a Reading Memories Inventory. Click the link below to access to use with your students.Reading Memories Inventory As you are getting to know your students as readers and sharing with them who you are as a reader, consider sharing some of these short excerpts from famous authors about their experiences as readers from Scholastic's Open a World of Possible. Click the link below to access the text Open A World of Possible . Check out the #sharepossible link below to hear what teachers, parents, literacy experts, celebrities, and children are saying about the pleasure and power of reading. Add your voice and inspire others. Scholastic World of Possible #SharePossible

Let's Rethink

Reading Logs

Educator and Furman graduate, Katherine Hale Adams shared in a presentation several years ago that a snow day provided her with a new way to make students' reading lives more authentic and shareable, beyond just a pencil/paper reading log. When her students were e-learning at home, she created a padlet page for students to share what they were reading with each other. Click the link below or the picture on the left to view what they shared. Snow Days Bring Us Together Hale's idea took off and educators across the country, including many in our district began using padlet and/or other forms of digital media for students to create and share what they are reading with each other. See an example from Nerdy Book Club in the link below. High Tech Student to Student Book Recommendations

Reading Accountability Partners

Allie Thrower, literacy coach at Jesse Bobo published this piece on her classroom practice with Reading Accountability Partners last year with Edutopia. Reading Accountability Partners was something she came up with when she taught fifth grade at Bobo and saw some of her students' struggling with maintaining motivation to read. She said the peer component with reading really worked. "We saw so much growth when we began to implement and from there, this love of reading spread like wildfire in our classroom and into their HOMES!! What my students and I found was that the more we made reading a social activity, the more they fell in love with the act of reading and literature. " Check out Allie's article at the link below to try this in your classroom. https://www.edutopia.org/article/ditching-reading-logs

After reading Allie's edutopia article, the ladies with the TLC Ninja podcast invited heron their podcast to talk a bit more about her process with implementing reading accountability partners. You can listen to it at the link below or the video to the right if you're curious to know how it all kind of played out! It's a 15 min. podcast so it's a quick listen. Allie Thrower Threw Out Her Reading Logs

TLCN 092 Allie Thrower Threw Out Her Reading LogsAllie Thrower threw out her reading logs, and now her students love reading. Yours can, too!

Supporting Student Choice

Book Talks – Introduce new books through very brief book talks as you add them to your classroom library collection. Your short introduction may include talking about the writer, illustrator, and genre; providing a brief "teaser" of the plot or interesting facts; and showing a few particularly engaging illustrations.
Reading Minilessons – Short minilessons on the topic of choosing "just-right" books for independent reading can be valuable for your whole class at the beginning of the year. These minilessons, which are provided for you in The Reading Minilessons Book, can help children learn and apply techniques for choosing books, such as reading a little of a book at the beginning and in the middle and then asking themselves, Am I interested in the topic or the kind of story? Did I understand it? Were there too many difficult words? Can I read it smoothly?
Independent Reading Time – Students choose the books they want to read. They then read silently or, for emergent readers, very softly. Students also write and draw about their reading in a reader's notebook.
Conferring with Individual Students – The goal of conferring is to listen to a student's responses to a book and to promote further thinking. During the conference, you may listen to a student read, teach for specific strategic actions, talk about an entry the student made in a reader's notebook, and more. The conference enables you to understand how a reader is processing a text and provide customized instruction that will help the individual student refine and extend his reading competencies.

Opportunities for independent reading in the classroom:

Self-select books to read from the classroom library
Revisit books read during Interactive Read-Aloud
Revisit books read during Shared Reading
Reread books read during Guided Reading
Read interactive writing, shared writing, and poems displayed in the room

Independent reading offers the opportunity for students to develop tastes as readers and to read a large number of self-selected books on their own. It is as students read, enjoy, and interact with texts that they choose that they will become lifelong readers." - Fountas and Pinnell

Independent Reading - Whose Doing the Work?

In their professional development text, Who's Doing the Work Burkins and Yaris provide a framework for independent reading that allows for students to become more engaged in the meaning making work during independent reading, putting teachers in the role of facilitator and supporter. To view the PLC presentation of this chapter on Independent Reading click the link below or the picture to the left. Independent Reading - Who's Doing the Work?

How To Get Kids in the Reading Zone

One of my favorite resources for helping teachers structure their independent reading blocks effectively is The Reading Zone by Nancie Atwell. Click on the link below or the picture to the left. The Reading Zone by Nancie Atwell

Whooo's Reading: Independent Reading Support with Online Reading Responses

Several of our teachers in our district are using Whooo's Reading, a reading website with a clear mission: to help students think more critically about whatever they read through open-ended rather than multiple-choice reading quizzes. In reviewing this resource, Common Sense. org provided this review: "On the teacher side of Whooo's Reading, things are very simple. Log in, create a class roster, and then monitor student reading progress (students enter the books they're reading; there are no pre-loaded e-books here), quiz responses, and writing. The teacher dashboard offers clear information about what students are reading and how they're thinking, including the quality of their written responses to quizzes, practice questions, and reviews. If teachers want, they can send feedback to students and award coins for the work they do.

Students enter in whatever book they're reading (like Harry Potter) vs. being assigned readings. This is a big differentiator for Whooo's Reading, which is trying to build passionate readers. Students can also see what other students are reading through the class shelf, and get suggestions on new books to read. Students can answer questions, write reviews about books they have been reading, or take quizzes to assess comprehension. Students can either type in their responses or speak their responses using built-in voice recognition. This is a standout feature, making the program more accessible to students with limited typing skills or certain learning limitations; it works very well."

According to Common Sense Education, "Whooo's Reading definitely supports student reading comprehension and writing development. Though it's no substitute for teacher-guided, book-specific conversations, assignments, and feedback, it could be a valuable component of a differentiated independent reading program. For younger students in particular, Whooo's Reading encourages students to read more and to thoughtfully reflect on what they read. It goes beyond the typical surface-level questions of multiple choice and pushes students to examine what they read more deeply. "

If you are interested, click the picture on the left or the link below to check out a free account. Whooo's Reading

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