How will allotting time to read, assessing independent reading, and conferencing with my 5th Grade Language Arts students impact the reading culture?

Seminar Title

How will allotting time to read, assessing independent reading, and conferencing with my 5th Grade Language Arts students impact the reading culture?

Independent Reading

5th Grade

Middle School

Language Arts

Reading

"I don't like to read.""Reading is boring." Being a middle school language arts teacher, these were two statements I heard for many years. Through the implementation of my action research the occurrence of those statements have drastically decreased. After extensively researching various independent reading methods, I found strategies to implement that would show students the love of simply reading and enjoying a novel. The concepts that emerged were: choice, motivation, goals, and accountability. Although I teach middle school language arts, I believe this session would be beneficial for anyone who teaches reading.

The question that is guiding my research is: How will allotting time to read, assessing independent reading, and conferencing with my 5th Grade Language Arts students impact the reading culture? After completing extensive research it was evident that as a language arts teacher I needed to implement numerous strategies for a positive reading culture to develop. Scholarly articles, journals, and books agree that allowing students time and a place to independently read, finding high interest novels for a classroom library, and using an accountability method are keys to success. Allowing students to independently read during the school day is vital. Whether that is on a daily or weekly basis, students need to see that teachers believe it is important enough to include in their lesson plans. The second ingredient for independent reading to flourish is finding high interest novels for a classroom library. This helps to motivate students to read, create goals, feel a part of their academic growth by having choice, and cultivates a desire to read. Finally there are vast amounts of varying accountability methods; teachers need to find an approach that works well with their teaching style. Within the key strategies, reading experts differ in opinions. As a result, I navigated through research and implemented what I believed to be best for the students within the classroom. I have allotted time on a daily basis to independently read and have found that the volume of text has greatly increased. I provided high interest novels within the classroom, which excited students to explore new novels. Also I allowed students to choose which books they want to read, which have increased motivation. Students personalized goals at the beginning of the school year to create a focus for themselves. Finally students were assessed through reader response prompts, book talks, formative assessments, and conferencing. As a result of the implemented strategies, I saw a change in the reading culture. Students greatly increased their reading volume, which is the only research proven way to increase reading ability. Not only are students increasing the amount of independent reading that is occurring, but they are truly building a love for reading.