How do you teach the fundamentals of reading when students start the school year with vastly different skills? How do you engage students who are learning at grade level, while continuing to stretch students who are already strong independent readers? Kim Kita’s approach to teaching reading in 1B in these first weeks of school addresses both of these challenges and embodies the best of differentiated instruction and the RDS approach to developmental learning: meeting students where their skills are and recognizing that every class will include a real variety of learning styles.

“I took a book and read just the pictures, then read just the words, and retold the story in my own words. Each time, I asked the students ‘Which way did I choose to read the book?’” Kim explained. “Independent reading or ‘silent sustained reading’ is a learned process. We talked about why we read and what types of behavior you need to demonstrate in order to read independently. We began with a class-generated (with more input from the teacher!) list of what it looks like. Some of our items include:

• I use a whisper voice
• I sit with my own books
• I stay in one spot
• I pick a good fit book
• I build stamina

Kim continues, “We practice these behaviors daily, and on the first day, they lasted for one minute before someone was not able to follow through. So the students left their books, and we had a short class meeting about how our first session went. We revisited the list, had a discussion, and then went back to practicing. We are now up to about 10 minutes before we have to reteach the process. The goal is to reach 30-minute sessions. Later I will introduce how to read in pairs, and it will be a similar process. Very slowly, with much dialogue between teachers and students and practice, practice, practice to become great readers!”