"During independent reading, students usually choose their own books and work at their own pace as they read and respond to books....[Teachers] continue to monitor students, but they provide much less guidance at this level." (Tompkins, p. 23)
This is kind of the culmination of years of teaching literacy. As teachers, what we're hoping is that by this time students have positive associations with reading and are excited to choose their own books and become independent readers. I thought this quote was important because it reminds us that we need to create an environment in our classrooms that promotes excitement about reading, because eventually students will be on their own and we want them to choose to be readers outside the classroom. This will increase their literacy and academic achievement, as well as their personal enjoyment.
How do we monitor students when they're reading--how much is too much monitoring/micro-managing? What if you have kids who just aren't motivated to read during independent reading time?
It is hard to deal with unmotivated students and I am no expert. But, I think the key is accessing their interests and finding literature that might be interesting to them. The times when I didn't want to read in school were the times when I really didn't like the book we were reading. Maybe the teacher needs to be somewhat flexible about the books he or she assigns to her students.
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