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Building an Independent Reading Program
At the NCTE Annual Business Meeting in Pittsburgh last month, members passed the Resolution on Supporting School and Community Libraries, which asserts that "students must be equipped to meet 21st-century challenges with the ability to access, use, and evaluate information competently." Working with library staff, try the following resources on silent reading projects to work with others at your location to prepare student for the demands of literacy in their futures.
At its most basic, silent or independent reading focuses on individual students reading texts they choose. As the new resolution supports, you can collaborate with local library staff to help students find the best options. The following more structured approaches -- from book clubs to reading portfolios -- can provide options for setting up programs at your school:
No matter what form your independent reading program takes, be sure to include reflection on the skills and attitudes that your students bring to their reading, to ask them to make personal connections to the texts, and to tap strategies that expand the reading skills that students bring to the texts that they read.
Check out the Education Policy Collection on Adolescent and Young Adult Literacy for more information on initiatives being studied, debated, and implemented to enhance student achievement in English and the language arts at the middle and senior high levels.
NOTE: Free access to journal articles mentioned in this Inbox is provided
for 21 days. After this free access period expires, articles are available
to journal subscribers only. This Inbox Idea was published 12-06-2005.
Initials in annotations indicate academic level of the resource (E=Elementary,
M=Middle, S=Secondary, C=College, G=General).
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