Quote: "Students need daily opportunities for independent reading in order to learn words, and they need to read books at their independent reading levels. If the books are too easy or too hard, students learn very few new words."
Comment: I liked this quote because it states a simple truth that absolutely needs to be applied. We as teachers can't expect our students to learn unless we are continually stretching and testing their limits. In life we don't stay at a constant rate but rather we continue to progress and grow. I like the subject of independent reading becasue in elementary school i felt like this was a time when i could sit and read without my teacher bothering me. Turns out she was just going her job!
Question: What do we do about students who are not dedicated to independent reading?
This is a dilemma I've thought about as well, in fact I think I asked the same question in my first or second blog post. We can't force students who aren't dedicated to independent reading to become dedicated, I think it has to come from intrinsic motivation, or reluctant students will just learn to hate it. I think we do all that we can to present independent reading as a fun and exciting time, and then step back and put them in charge of their learning. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force them to drink. That's what I think anyway.
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