How might incorporating meaningful independent literacy activities impact the reading achievement of my 2nd grade students?

Seminar Title

How might incorporating meaningful independent literacy activities impact the reading achievement of my 2nd grade students?

Independent Literacy Activities

2nd Grade

Elementary

Reading

Writing

Are your students engaged in meaningful activities while you’re working with small groups in reading? Mine werent. After implementing the Daily 5 for three years and getting an idea for how to set up and manage independent activities, I was ready to change what students were doing while I was providing small-group instruction. I wanted to make sure that the work students were doing was more than just busywork. I am excited about my research because my students have grown as readers from the meaningful independent work they have completed. I believe my research is relevant to anyone looking to make changes to improve their Reading Workshop time. My main goal was to have students work on meaningful activities while I was working with small groups, but I believe my students have also become more engaged in the process. So if you are looking for an opportunity to engage in a discussion about meaningful independent activities, this session is for you!

After 3 years of providing small group instruction during my reading block, I began to reflect on the independent activities I was asking my students to do. What I determined was that not all of the activities being done were meaningful, nor were they necessarily helping my students improve as readers. This need led me to search for activities that would be more than just busy work. A review of the literature suggested several independent activities that could help me to bring about the changes I was seeking. As a result of my literature review, I came to the following question: How might incorporating meaningful independent literacy activities impact the reading achievement of my 2nd grade students? Through my research, I have been able to select different reading activities that have enhanced the meaningfulness of what students do independently while I’m working with small groups. The number and types of activities I have implemented as a part of my AR have proven to be just right, allowing a balance that has kept students engaged and growing as readers throughout the duration of the 60 minute Reading Workshop block. The activities I have chosen to implement are independent reading, responding to reading, inquiry research, discussion groups, and partner work. As a result of implementing these meaningful independent activities along with reading instruction, I have found that the majority of students have grown as readers. In addition, students have shown an increased engagement and enthusiasm for their reading jobs when compared to classes in previous years. I plan to continue using each of the activities during reading workshop, unless I begin to discover a lack of growth in reading or decrease in interest. The next step I plan to take is to look for ways to modify these activities to better reach my lowest readers and students with special needs.