Are Your Students Ensured

Enough Time to Practice Reading?

by

Patrick McAvoy

January 23, 2017

(Jane, Virj, Ayana, & Tiffany, 2012)

The ability to read, is the most important underlying skill a person can have, and is

“necessary for a happy, productive and successful life” (Hoss, n.d.). Possessing strong literacy

skills enables people to interact, learn, engage in the world around us, and ultimately increase

chances to “succeed in today’s knowledge-based economy” (Alliance, 2017).

Imagine more than six out of every ten students struggling to read in their classrooms.

Unfortunately, “in the United States, fourteen percent of the adult population, a

staggering thirty-two million adults, cannot read” (The national, 2017). Even in our schools,

student performance indicates that many students are struggling to read. For example, in 2016,

“sixty-five percent of all U.S. fourth graders scored ‘below proficient’, which means that they

are not reading at grade level” (The national, 2017). Imagine more than six out of every ten

students struggling to read in their classrooms. The statistic is about the same for eighth grade

students across the country as well (The national, 2017). According to the Annie E. Casey

Foundation, an organization committed to “building a brighter future for children, families, and

communities” (The annie, n.d.), “if this trend continues, the country will not have enough skilled

workers for an increasingly competitive global economy by the end of this decade” (Annie E.

Casey, 2014).

In the pursuit to improve literacy in our schools, it’s important to remember that reading

is a skill. It’s also important to consider how much practice it takes to master a skill, or at least

develop skills to a level of proficiency. There are also a lot of theories pertaining to the amount

of time people must commit to skill development. It has been stated that “anybody who has

achieved mastery of their craft” “has had 10,000 hours of practice time. That works out to 20

hours a week for about 10 years” (4 phases, n.d.). That’s a lot of time dedicated to the

development of a skill.

Some of the great musical artists and athletes of the twentieth century have commented

on an appropriate amount of practice time for successful skill development. Nathan Milstein,

virtuoso violinist recommended no more than 1 ½ hours of practice per day, and Jascha Heifitz,

another virtuosic violinist recommended an average of three hours per day. These were the

recommendations of two extremely talented musicians, who were equally devoted to practicing

and increasing their skill level. Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympic swimmer of all

time, practiced for six hours per day, and it was said that Michael Jordan, retired professional

basketball player, became known as the “first person to get to the gym and the last one to leave”

(Scheidies, n.d.) during his tenure as a professional athlete.

Although the examples above represent the habits of professionals, even young student

athletes and musicians easily spend upwards to ten hours per week developing their athletic and

musical skills. It is also likely that several of those same fourth graders could easily be on the

baseball or softball field for several hours a week, and some of the more talented young

musicians could add up quite a bit of time spent perfecting their skills through diligent practice.

If we know that daily practice is a necessary part of any skill development, then shouldn’t we

ensure that students have just as must emphasis on practicing their reading skills daily as well?

If we know that daily practice is a necessary part of any skill development, then shouldn’t

we ensure that students have just as must emphasis on practicing their reading skills daily as

well? In the report generated by Renaissance Learning, with Accelerated Reader 360 software,

reading habits were analyzed for “9.9 million K-12 students at 30,863 schools during the 2015-

2016 school year” (Meyer, 2016). According to the report from Renaissance Learning, “the

majority of students spend fewer than fifteen minutes per day reading, but increasing their daily reading

time to thirty minutes can improve comprehension and boost student achievement” (Meyer, 2016). “The

report found that fifty-four percent of students read for less than fifteen minutes per day” (Meyer, 2016),

and are exposed to 1.5 million words by the time they reach the twelfth grade. However, the data also

provided that eighteen percent of the students were “exposed to approximately 13.7 million words

throughout their K–12 schooling” (Meyer, 2016), by reading thirty minutes per day, just an additional

fifteen minutes more than the average. Probably most significant in the report, it was determined that

“students who struggle initially but then begin to dedicate significant time to reading with high

understanding can experience accelerated growth during the school year, and thus start to narrow

achievement gaps" (Meyer, 2016).

It’s difficult to ensure a regular schedule of daily reading takes place at home, and it’s important

to consider the social and economic factors that can have an impact on the characteristics of school

families. One factor to consider, is different parenting practices can “impede children’s intellectual

and behavioral development” (Morsy & Rothstein, 2015). Also “single parenthood” and

“irregular work schedules” (Morsy & Rothstein, 2015) can have an impact on how much

attention parents can devote to academic development in the home setting.

It’s difficult to ensure a regular schedule of daily reading takes place at home

With the information that we know about student reading scores, below level proficiency,

impacting factors for decreased parental support at home, and the potential of growth with

regular practice, it appears that schools could adopt a program to meet the needs of students, and

promote engaging in additional reading practice during the school day. D.E.A.R. (Drop

Everything and Read) is an example of a classroom program that allows for time to be set aside

for teachers and students to Drop Everything and Read. “The goal of D.E.A.R. is to encourage

independent silent reading for extended periods of time on a daily or weekly basis” (Drop

everything, n.d.). Students choose their reading material, and the time is never sacrificed, setting

the tone that the reading time is both “essential and worthy of protection” (Miller, 2017). “Part of

a reader's development is allowing them to explore reading and learn self-regulation and self-

monitoring” (Miller, 2017). With there being some flexibility in developing a school schedule,

schools should consider the potential impact of maximizing silent reading time through a

program such as D.E.A.R. I like the idea of having everyone in the school participating in

D.E.A.R. at the same time, but that may not work for some schools. It is more important that the

opportunity and time is provided. We need to give our students as much support as possible to

build on their reading skills. Sample elementary schedules have been provided in figures 1-4 to

show different scheduling scenarios and how D.E.A.R. can fit into the school day.

engaging in additional reading practice during the school day…… is both

“essential and worthy of protection”

Again, similar to the training schedule of an athlete, it must be a daily event. A coach

would never expect his “runners to run once a week and see times and skills improve. The

experience of running daily is what builds their skills” (Miller, 2017). The same is true for

building reading skills. The students need the time. Are your students ensured enough time to

practice reading?

Sample Elementary Schedules

Figure 1

Figure 2

Class Schedule 1 (D.E.A.R. – 15’) 5A Class Schedule (D.E.A.R. – 15’)

8:00-8:10 Morning Announcements

8:15-8:45 Morning Activities

8:50-10:15 Reading Block

10:17-10:47 Lunch

10:47-11:00 Restroom Break

11:00-11:15 Read Aloud / Social Studies

11:15-11:45 Science

11:48-12:28 Activity

12:30-12:40 Snack

12:40-1:00 Recess

1:00-1:40 Math

1:40-1:55 DEAR Time, Handwriting

1:55-2:05 Get ready to go home/Dismissal

(Class schedule, n.d.)

8:00-8:15 Breakfast in class.

8:15-9:00 Physical Education

9:00-10:30 Math Block

10:30-12:00 Reading Block

12:00-12:15 DEAR time

12:15-12:50 Lunch

12:50-1:15 Social Studies

1:15-2:00 Enrichment and or Orchestra

2::00-2:30 Writing

2:30-3:15 Science

(5A class schedule, 2016)

Figure 3

Figure 4

Class Schedule 2 (D.E.A.R. – 30’) Class Schedule 3 (D.E.A.R. – 30’)

8:15-8:45 Morning Review Work

8:45-8:50 Restroom Break

8:50-9:20 Phonics

9:20-9:50 ELA Focus Lesson/Writing

9:50-10:15 Literacy Centers

10:15-10:30 Snack

10:30-10:55 Literacy Centers

10:55-11:45 Activity

11:45-12:25 Intro to Math

12:25-12:55 Lunch

12:55-1:30 Math Instruction & Centers

1:30-2:00 Recess/Restroom Break

2:00-2:30 D.E.A.R. Time

2:30-3:10 Skills Remediation

3:10-3:15 Pack Up/Dismissal

(Class schedule 2, n.d.)

7:45- 8:10 Morning Work

8:15-9:25 Language Arts/ Reading

9:30-10:05 PE

10:10-10:45 Reading/ Groups

10:50-11:20 Reading Intervention/ DEAR

11:25-11:48 Lunch

11:50-12:00 Read Aloud

12:00-12:15 Calendar

12:15-1:40 Math

1:45-1:55 Snack

1:55-2:05 Recess

2:10-2:40 Science/ Social Studies

2:40-2:50 Clean up/ Pack up

2:55 Dismiss

Library- Wednesday 2:15-2:45

Computer Lab- Thursday 12:30-1:00

Music - Friday 8:15-8:45

(Class schedule 3, n.d.)

References

4 phases of developing any skill: Practice, progress, peaks and plateaus. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://theskooloflife.com/wordpress/4-phases-of-developing-any-skill-practice-progress-

peaks-and-plateaus/

5A class schedule 2016-2017 (2016). Retrieved from

http://clardy.episd.org/Directory/5th_grade/5a_zamarripa__david/5a_class_schedule_201

6-2017/

Alliance for excellent education. (2017). Retrieved from http://all4ed.org/state-data/georgia/

Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2014). Low Reading Scores Show Majority of U.S. Children Not

Prepared for Future Success. Retrieved from http://www.aecf.org/blog/low-reading-

scores-show- majority-of-us-children-not-prepared-for-future-s/

Class schedule 1. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.edline.net/pages/Meadowlane_Elementary_School/Faculty_Staff/ESE/Class_

Schedule

Class schedule 2. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://phe.desotocountyschools.org/?PageName=TeacherPage&Page=13&StaffID=19102

5

Class schedule 3. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.dpeseagles.com/?PageName=TeacherPage&Page=13&StaffID=384110

Drop everything and read. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.learnnc.org/reference/Drop+Everything+and+Read

Hoss, V. (n.d.). Importance of reading skills. Retrieved from

http://oureverydaylife.com/importance-reading-skills-14778.html

Jane, Virj, Ayana, & Tiffany. (2012). Iep and literacy. https://language-and-literacy-

2012.wikispaces.com/iep+and+literacy

Meyer, L. (2016). Report: Increasing student reading time improves comprehension. Retrieved

from https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/11/17/report-increasing-student-reading-time-

improves-comprehension.aspx?m=1

Miller, C. (2017). Sustained silent reading in the classroom. Retrieved from

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/reading/ReadingCoach/ReadingCoach005.shtml

Morsy, L. & Rothstein, R. (2015). Five social disadvantages that depress student performance.

Retrieved from http://www.epi.org/publication/five-social-disadvantages-that-depress-

student-performance-why-schools-alone-cant-close-achievement-gaps/

Scheidies, N. (n.d.). How to be like mike: 21 life lessons from Michael Jordan.

Retrieved from http://www.incomediary.com/how-to-be-like-mike-20-life-lessons-from-

michael-jordan

The annie e. casey foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.aecf.org/

The national children’s book and literacy alliance. (2017). Retrieved from

http://thencbla.org/literacy-resources/statistics/