Ideas about Reading

  How to Provide Less Structure for Independent Reading Developing independent readers means nurturing the conditions for passion and independent thinking to flourish. By  Hoa P. Nguyen May 17, 2021 Maria Carluccio / The iSpot When we limit independent reading to a small range of topics, genres, and reading levels, and routinely assign rote accountability tasks like daily reading logs, we inadvertently send a signal that reading isn't meant to be a joyful, inspiring, self-directed, and even revelatory activity. “Independent reading is not about a number of minutes or the level of the book. It is not a program,” write literacy experts and middle and high school teachers, Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst in  Literacy Today . “It is about creating independent thinkers who think with compassion, logic, and curiosity, and without manipulation from others. They think—and from those thoughts, they become more than they were. They become independent.” Paired with regular guided ...

  I love sentence stems for many reasons, not the least of which is their ability to function as cognitive ‘training wheels’ for developing minds. As in  journal response prompts to respond to a text , the stems below are created to help students better understand what they’re reading. Because the focus is on critical thinking and critical reading rather than mere ‘talking,’ I left out more obvious stems like ‘I agree…’ or ‘I disagree…’ or ‘I like…’ or ‘I dislike…’ because–well, because opinions are useful primarily in discussing affections and preferences but less useful in critical thinking and critical reading. That’s not to say that they don’t serve a purpose but rather that they’re not to mention obvious and are a fairly natural reflex for even early readers who will either like or dislike or love or be bored by texts. This implies, of course, that the point of reading is recreational. While it certainly can and generally should be enjoyable, there are as many reasons to ...