[LIT] lit Digest, Vol 24, Issue 24

[Krista Marvin]

I think it depends on your skill at guiding students to appropriate  
books as to how beneficial independent reading time can be. I have  
heard that students need 90 min. of reading instruction a day to  
catch up with their at level peers but I didn't realize that that  
applied to independent reading as well. The international reading  
association published an article in which the NAEP did a study that  
showed independent reading did not show to be as beneficial to 7th  
and 8th grade students as it did to 4th grade students. 4th graders  
who read independently showed great gains in reading ability but it  
did not transfer to the 7th and 8th grade population. That's just one  
study though and I think a lot of it has to do with how the teacher  
structures the independent reading time and can keep the students  
engaged in sustained reading. It can also  be beneficial to require  
students to write a response and share these responses with their peers.
Krista
On Oct 27, 2007, at 5:27 PM, Kristin Mitchell wrote:

> Do your administrators
> support independent reading time??
>
> sarah
>
> Sarah,
>
> I'm teaching 6th and my administration not only supports me, but  
> helped me build MORE independent reading time into my schedule.   
> There is research out there (I have no idea where, though, my coach  
> broght it to me) that says kids need 90 minutes of ind. reading a day!
>
> If you've got lit circles and you've got kids recommending books to  
> each other, you've got a good thing going on!  Good luck to you!
>
> Kristin/6th/CO
>
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