Promoting Independent Reading in the Classroom

One of my goals as a future educator is to promote a lifetime of reading in my students.  A crucial aspect of this goal is to ensure that students are actively motivated to read their own selected material. Whether for pleasure, study, or insight, reading what is interesting to the individual child assists in their development as a reader. Independent reading is known to have several benefits including developing positive attitudes toward reading, expanding student’s vocabulary, promotion of knowledge, and automatic development (Spiegel 1981).  The importance of independent reading is nearly universally recognized.  However, how do we incorporate independent reading into our classrooms?  Chapter 12 of the Graves text gives some excellent pointers on just how to do that:

1.      Providing Time to Read

While in the classroom, it is suggested that students should be actively reading 30-40 minutes each day, with 10-15 minutes being devoted to independent reading and the rest to guided reading.  However, it is important to note that the amount of time spent reading is not as important as ensuring that there is time regularly set aside for pleasure reading in the classroom.  

2.      Providing a Rich Array of Reading Material, the Incentive to Read, and a Place to Read

As a teacher, regularly talking about in sharing books with the class is important in modeling behavior.  A well-stocked library will help ensure that there are enough books that are of interest to everyone in the classroom.  Providing students information on how to check books out of the school library as well as the public library will help students to advantage of the resources available. Make sure the environment of your classroom is appropriate for reading when independent reading times open up.

3.      Assisting Students in Selecting Material

When matching students with texts, be sure to take in account not only interests, but also skill level.  Introducing students to different genres of text and providing examples of a few age-appropriate texts that fall within each genre will help peak students’ interests.

4.      Encouraging Outside Reading

While reading inside the classroom is important, there is only limited school time.  Real readers are developed outside of school.  Encouraging parent participation in take home books or keeping track of reading logs are all strategies to ensure that students are not only reading in the classroom, but outside of the classroom.