By Evan Robb @ERobbPrincipal
One sure way to build reading stamina among your students in your school is to have teachers schedule independent reading for twenty-five minutes at least three times a week. This can be part of teacher’s reading-writing block. You can also negotiate with content teachers and invite them to schedule one of the weekly independent reading classes to reduce pressures on your language arts teachers.
Before asking teachers to weave independent reading into their teaching schedule, invite them to read and discuss articles on the power of independent reading of self-selected books. Without the practice that independent reading provides, students’ progress in reading and their ability to comprehend complex texts will be limited. Moreover, when students regularly read self-selected books at school, they develop a love of reading that lasts a lifetime!
Here are four resources to explore with your faculty:
1. “The Six T’s of Effective Elementary Literacy Instruction” by Richard Allington,
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/six-ts-effective-elementary-literacy-instruction
2. “The Class Library and Effective Independent Reading by Challenging Students” by Fullard, Neveitt, and Schaffer
https://www.polk-fl.net/staff/teachers/reading/documents/Read180Day1/Monday3/TheClassLi_Schaffer/TheClassLi_Schaffer.pdf
3. “10 Questions About independent Reading” by Jennifer Serravallo
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/10-questions-about-independent-reading
4. “Every Child, Every Day” by Richard Allington
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar12/vol69/num06/Every-Child,-Every-Day.aspx
By: Evan Robb, Principal Johnson Williams Middle School and author of:
The Principal’s Leadership Sourcebook, Scholastic, 2007.
Follow Evan Robb on Twitter: @ERobbPrincipal
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