Ludic Reading
- Absorbed reading
- Similar to falling in love
- Fun reading
- Free choice
- Not assigned
- Teacher models
- SSR
Article: "A neuroscientist explains what tech does to the reading brain"
Time Commitment
Both Sustained Silent Reading and Structured Independent Reading require the same time commitment of about 20-25% of the instructional time.
- With a 183-day traditional school calendar, 10 minutes a day equates to 41 days.
- Schools on an alternating block calendar, 20 minutes every other day equates to 21 days of instruction.
Reading Workshop: Five Access Points
- Modeling and Learning Intentions -- establishing the expectations or objectives of the lesson and explains the ways that teachers can model their critical thinking for students as they read
- Close and Scaffolded Reading Instruction -- emphasizes repeated readings, discussion, and critical thinking; requires scaffolded instruction; text-dependent questions, prompts, and cues form the basis of these scaffolds and provide students with the teacher-supported experiences they need to read increasingly complex texts.
- Collaborative Conversations -- peer-led learning experiences require tasks that encourage students to interact and to apply what they have learned through close reading to develop deeper understandings of complex texts.
- Independent Reading Staircase -- apply what they have learned and read increasingly complex texts independently.
- Assessing Students' Understanding -- measure mastery and propel future learning
(Doug Fisher, Rigorous Reading: 5 Access Points for Comprehending Complex Texts)
Typical Lesson Schedule
Unlike SSR, when in a lesson cycle a teacher builds in structured independent reading is important.
- SIR at the beginning of a lesson cycle might serve as a warm-up activity. It would require students to recall previous instruction to practice with self-selected texts (not necessarily a bad thing). As a bell-ringer activity, students may misinterpret SIR as unimportant because the teacher would be completing administrative tasks such as taking attendance.
- SIR at the end of a lesson cycle might serve as a closing activity and provide additional independent practice of the task at hand. Once again, students may assume that the lesson is complete and that SIR is unimportant.
- Perhaps the optimal time to introduce SIR into the lesson cycle is midway. Midway, students would be able to practice strategies and skills with self-selected texts thus increasing the possibility of transfer of knowledge.
Strategies and Skills
- Practice close reading and annotation
- Determine the meaning of unknown words
- Fluency skill drills
- Using nonfiction text features
Three Levels of Questions
Generating questions during reading improves comprehension of students of all ability levels. Level one questions address literal comprehension. Level two questions help students generate questions that make connections among information in different parts of the passage. Level three questions help students make connections between information in the text and what students already know. Three Levels of Questions is the foundation of many other reading strategies.
YouTube Video Introducing the Skill
Reader Response: Dialectical Journals
In it's simplest construct, dialectical journals are double-entry reader responses to texts. The format and requirements vary based upon teacher preference and student needs. Ultimately, dialectical journals provide learners with an opportunity to record their personal thoughts, emotions, ideas, questions, reflections, connections, and new learning on what they hear, view, read, write, discuss and think, and thus, make meaning.
Student Choice
By affixing after-reading tasks onto a Tic-Tac-Toe grid, students are asked to select three tasks in a row to complete after daily structured independent reading. Similar to literacy stations, these self-selected tasks are based upon skills taught earlier and require additional practice.
Literacy Centers
Having a cache of literacy centers ready and available for students to visit after Structured Independent Reading would reinforce prior knowledge and skills. Much like task cards, literacy centers must be designed in a way to foster independent practice.
Quincunx Activity
AKA "Cootie Catcher" or "Fortune Teller"
- Foldable interactive notebook graphic organizer that helps students focus on Key Ideas
- After reading a selected text, students choose one word that either connects or describes the reading. Through a series of stages on a quincunx (fortune teller/cootie catcher) foldable, students spiral down from word, to sentence, to paragraph, and ultimately to deeper understanding.
Jan Perry
Email: JanPerry42@gmail.com
Website: https://coachjanperry.wordpress.com/
Location: San Antonio, TX, USA
Phone: (210) 549-8836
Facebook: facebook.com/coachjanperry
Twitter: @Coach_Jan_Perry
