Stephanie Henson's November Post- Miller (2013) Section 2: Why Not? What Works?

During my reading of this section I took away one key point - independent reading impacts students becoming better readers and scoring higher on standardized testing.  Although I have my own opinions of standardized tests, these assessments and score reports are often analyzed to develop student profiles.  I actually shared my own "homework" assignment with my Kidwatching focus group and read to them from page 12, "Students who read independently an hour a day scored at the 98th percentile on standardized tests.." First, my focus group was amazed to hear that I, as their teacher, had to go to "class" and complete "homework." Secondly, having them relate to the information was inspiring. I could see them calculating how much they read at home and discussing this among themselves,  One young lady raised her hand and quietly confessed "I don't read at home very much and when I do I just read to myself." Of course I instantly thought that for her to improve she needed to hear her fluency and the type of mistakes she was making. These thoughts led to developing an incentive chart for her to read aloud into the voice recorder of her cell phone (a device she enjoys using). Hopefully, this plan will allow her to read independently but feel that it is important enough for someone to listen to her efforts. As a special education teacher, providing ways my students can feel ownership of their abilities, is the first step to development of these abilities.