by Gravity Goldberg and Renee Houser Gravity Goldberg is a 2020 Conference Speaker
Your weekly planner is all mapped out and includes daily time for whole class read alouds, minilessons, small group instruction and independent reading. The promise of a new week makes you smile. “This week I’ll get to it all,” you say to yourself. And then the week begins- unplanned for parent meetings, a fire drill, the student who threw up in class and the fact that you didn’t plan for any of these interruptions means you feel
seriously behind. What’s the first thing you let go from your plans? For most, it is independent reading. We tend to believe that the minutes where we are in front of students talking are the most effective, yet research doesn’t necessarily support this.
We argue that independent reading, when supported by conferring, is actually the most important part of a reader’s day. While there is research to support the power of independent reading in terms of choice, volume, and motivation (https://www2.ncte.org/statement/independent-reading/), when coupled with conferring it also aligns with the research on deliberate practice. It is the daily practice itself that makes independent reading so effective at cultivating a reader’s mindset as well as developing reading skills.
Dr. Ericsson, a prominent psychologist in the field of performance, has published widely and his research reveals several key findings about what sorts of practice lead to expertise. In the following chart we connect some of his findings about deliberate practice to independent reading and conferring.
|
Characteristics of Deliberate Practice |
Connection to Independent Reading/Conferring |
| Most practice should happen independently and not with others. | Independent reading is time spent reading on your own.Conferring supports the solo practice of reading by focusing on the reader not the book. |
| There needs to be clear goals. | Independent reading is a time when students get to know themselves well and can reflect on the goals that can help them continue to grow. Conferring can be a place to set goals with students about the kind of reader they want to be and the kind of reading they want to do. |
| The practice itself needs to adjust for difficulty level. | Across the year during independent reading, students read different genres and for different purposes so they continue to experience opportunities for growth. Conferring helps students adjust by taking on more challenging texts, strategies, and deeper thinking than they could do totally on their own. |
| Learners need immediate feedback and reflection. | Independent reading has a built in process of reflection that readers get better at with experience. Conferring is a time to give student readers feedback about what they are already doing and how it is impacting their reading right now. |
| Learners need a coach for individualized practice with opportunities for repetition and gradual refinement. | Independent reading is not a time to leave students totally on their own without support. Teachers serve as coaches who help students practice the kind of thinking that is helping them make meaning of texts and evolves along with the student reader across the year. |
(Supporting Independent Readers, by Gravity Goldberg and Renee Houser)
We encourage you to keep independent reading time sacred and reflect upon how well you and your student readers are capitalizing on its power. Consider reflecting on the following questions:
- How often are students reading on their own?
- Do students have clear goals about themselves as readers?
- Are students getting supported regularly with instruction that challenges their thinking and process?
- How often are students getting feedback, as they read, about their reading process?
- How are you positioning yourself as a reading coach who gradually does less so students take on more?
References
Ericsson, A. (2016). Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise. New York, NY: Eamon
Dolan.
Goldberg, G. & Houser, R. (2020). Supporting Independent Readers: 25 Answers to the Most
Frequently Asked Questions about Conferring. Portsmouth, NH: Stenhouse.
NCTE Statement on Independent Reading https://www2.ncte.org/statement/independent-reading/
From the start of their collaboration, Gravity Goldberg and Renee Houser have been
deepening their ideas about how teachers personalize instruction for students. In the years since they worked together as staff developers at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, they have each gone on to found organizations focused on supporting the ongoing professional learning of educators – Renee’s on the west coast, Gravity’s on the east coast. The constant in all their work is to model for teachers how to develop classroom communities where the unique individuality of students is at the center of each instructional decision so that classrooms are brimming with the fullest of possibilities that both teachers and students bring to classroom communities. They are the authors of the What Do I Teach Readers Tomorrow? books (Corwin Literacy) and Teachers Toolkit for Independent Reading (Stenhouse).
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