Student Accountability During Independent Reading

I run a reader's workshop in my classroom, and at the midpoint in the school year, my students are reading independently for about 40 minutes a day.  Because I am conducting small groups and individual conferences, I don't have the time to be constantly monitoring whether or not my students are actually reading. And you know we always have a few that appear to be reading but really aren't.... How can I get ALL of my students to take their independent reading time seriously?

Enter the Independent Reading Report. It's a quick checklist that my students use to self evaluate their work during independent reading time. Every Friday, my students complete this half-sheet to reflect on their reading work for the week.

Students score themselves on three areas: Reading the Whole Time, Writing 2-3 Sticky Notes per Day, and Completing their Reading Logs (don't get me started on my opinion of reading logs... but I'm required to use them, so it is what it is...). They rate themselves on a three-point scale. One week I tried to use a 4-point scale, but how can you Exceed Expectations for completing your reading log?

Then, I take about 10 minutes on Friday to go through all my students' reports and I score them as well. Sometimes I'll check in with a few to look at their sticky notes and reading logs again, just to be sure.

You should see my kids run to their mailboxes at the end of the day to see how I scored them and see if our scores matched. I've even had a student approach me, show me her sticky notes for the week, and make me change my score :) And for those kiddos who maybe earned a 1 or a 2 for a certain area, they are motivated to work harder next week to get to the 3. Do I have students who overrate themselves? Yes, a few. But for the most part, they are very in tune with their efforts for the week.

My district's copy center can copy these on two-ply carbon paper, so I send the top copy home and keep the second copy. Then at report card time or for parent teacher conferences, I have lots of data that supports each student's classroom performance.

Want to use this in your classroom? Click HERE to grab this for free!

What else do you do to support your independent readers?

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Independent Reading Routines: The Reading Spot

I'm struggling to stay above water at my new school and in my new grade level (YES! Many changes around here, but we'll have to save that story for another day!), but I just HAD to put my school work on hold for a few minutes to share this nugget of AWESOMENESS with you!

My new school is a Teacher's College Reading and Writing Workshop lab school. I am amazed by the amount of trainings and resources we have at our fingertips, and I am beyond excited to jump into the deep end of that pool! But coming from a Daily 5 mindset, there are a few new routines I need to wrap my head around.

I've been meeting with my instructional coach, and we've been discussing establishing routines for independent reading time. Yesterday she suggested that my students choose a "reading spot" and sit that spot for the whole month.

My first thought was, WHAT?! When I did Daily 5, my students chose a new spot for Read to Self every day. Wouldn't I be taking away student choice and ownership?? Besides, everyone needs a change of scenery every now and then. What if they didn't want to sit in that spot the next day? Also I don't have enough reading pillows and carpet squares for everyone to have one. So how will I make the use of those fun reading materials fair?

But, I went along with her suggestion despite my reservations. She's an expert after all, right?

Well, it didn't take me more that 3 minutes of my instructional coach teaching my mini lesson to realize that this idea is GENIUS!

Think about where you read/work at home. I'm usually parked in the same spot on the couch in my living room when I'm reading. Do I find a new spot every time I sit down to read? Usually not... unless one of my kids is being distracting!

We picked students' names at random, they grabbed a reading pillow or carpet square if desired and available, and then chose their spots. I wrote down everyone's spot, even down to what color pillow they will be using. This will be especially helpful if there is a sub in my room and someone tries to pull a fast one :) We practiced several times setting up and cleaning up. My students were able to get ready for reading and clean up in less than 45 seconds for each transition!

There was no arguing over the pillows. There was no racing to sit by certain people. There wasn't any wandering around the room, wondering where to sit. No more wasting time "getting started right away."

They got their book boxes and pillow/carpet square, went to their spots, and got down to business.

In less than 45 seconds.

FORTY-FIVE SECONDS!

We were focused on reading during independent reading time. Not trying to hide behind a bookshelf for the 37th time and then me having to talk to the student like it's the first time I've had to tell them that.

I did tell my students that if there was a day that they wanted to sit in their desks instead of their spots, that's fine. So their options are their reading spot or their desks. That's it.

I wrote down the names of the last three students that chose spots. They will go first next month. Each month we will choose a new reading spot.

Semi-permanent reading spots are here to STAY in my classroom! What do you think? Will you give it a try?

For more Reader's Workshop ideas, check out my Pinterest board!

Follow Hippo Hooray for Second Grade's board Reader's Workshop on Pinterest.

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