Extended Reading and Metacognitive Logs : Key Components to Enhancing Reading Comprehension and Fluency

EXTENDED READING Definition– Extended reading is wide-ranging, independent reading in any content area class that supports and supplements subject area knowledge and offers students some choice over reading selections.

Why? Extended Reading Addresses the Achievement Gap: The only thing that is guaranteed not to improve the reading of struggling students is not reading. Less-skilled readers are given fewer opportunities to read, and read more text that is too difficult for them than “better readers.” Extended Reading gives all students time every day to read at their independent reading level. When teachers organize regular class trips to the library and actively help all students find books to read, the students who have the least often gain the most.

Can You Read Two Million Words Per Year? Of course, just read 30 minutes a day! 30 minutes of daily reading x7 days per week 210 minutes of weekly reading x40 weeks per school year 8,400 minutes of yearly reading x250 average reading speed in words per minute (low estimate) = 2,100,000 words!

Extended Reading Builds Vocabulary The average amount of time spent reading for all grades is 7.1 minutes a day in public schools around the nation. On average, reading just 25 minutes a day, readers encounter 20,000 new words a year. From that they learn about 3,000! Compare that to teaching 10 words a week for 40 weeks – students will be exposed to 400 new words – even if they learn 90%, that is only 360 new words a year!

Vocabulary in Children’s Literature Children’s books have 50% more infrequently used words than does adult prime time television and the conversation of college graduates! For students to be exposed to and learn words with low frequency such as “display, exposure, equate” and “invariably,” they must read!

Where Do I Get Resources for Extended Reading? Ask your librarians. Check your classroom library shelves. Ask for donations from students and their families. Ask your PTSA and principal for funding. Use your Write Time Cards. Use your Read All About It by Jim Trelease. Use Critical Reading Series books. Use high-interest newspaper/magazine articles.

Metacognitive Logs Reflecting on the “HOW” of reading, instead of on the “WHAT” of reading Can be used to Reinforce Extended or Sustained Silent Reading

The Metacognitive Conversation When students and teachers talk together about their thinking as they read, they construct a metacognitive conversation.

This makes the invisible thinking processes visible – helping students to read strategically, utilizing such skills as predicting, visualizing, clarifying, questioning, and connecting.

When to Use the Metacognitive Log After reading for a period of time, students can choose one of the metacognitive sentence starters in order to examine HOW they read their text. ( Download the “Metacognitive Reading Log-1” document) Logs can be a paragraph, a half-page or more, depending on the circumstances

This reflection increases reading comprehension, because it helps the student to engage more deeply in the text Comprehension is further reinforced when students talk with others about their thinking and reading processes

Metacognitive Sentence Starters While I was reading: I got confused when… I was distracted by… I started to think about… I got stuck when… The time went quickly because… A word/some words I didn’t know were… I stopped because… I lost track of everything except… I figured out that… I first thought…but then I realized… Create your own …

Final Project for Lesson Ask students to complete one of the metacognitive reading log sheets after they have finished a period of silent reading (Download the “Metacognitive Reading Log-1” and “Metacognitive Reading Log-2” documents) Write a professional reflection on how the process has impacted you as well as your students (Download “Teacher Reflection” document) Submit reflection and copies of 2-3 student metacognitive logs