Runners Gotta Run. Readers Gotta Read.
“Fellas, If You Want to Play the Violin, Don’t Practice the Tuba."
I was swimmer in college. One spring, a couple of us went to our coach to talk about training during the off-season. “Doug,” we asked, “should we run over the summer to stay in shape for swimming in the fall?” Doug shook his head, smiled ruefully, and sighed. “Fellas, if you want to play the violin, don’t practice the tuba.” In short, if you want to swim well, swim.
It seems so simple, doesn’t it? I still follow this common sense advice years later as a runner. If you want to be a better runner, you need to spend a lot of time running. Mileage matters. The same goes for reading. If we want our students to get better at reading, they need to read. A lot. Kathy Collins and I taught a workshop for a group of teachers on research-informed best reading practices, and this was one of the most important ideas we shared (see graphic below).
It’s a point worth considering when it comes to a troubling trend I’ve seen in classrooms over the past couple of years.
What Are Reading Programs Having Kids Practice?
More and more schools and districts are adopting reading programs, especially at the elementary level. These programs are, of course, well intentioned, but they almost all seem to share a common design flaw. There’s often way too much direct instruction and not enough time for kids to practice reading.
I’ve seen reading lessons in second grade that require kids to sit and listen to a teacher for 30+ minutes with only a few chances to read anything independently. It’s like we’re having runners sit on the side of the track and listen to coaches talk about running technique, but we’re not letting them get out there and run.
Strength training and watching videos about running technique can be really helpful. But if you’re not spending a lot of time pounding out the miles, you’re not going to get better at running.
And of course, there can be real value in listening to a lesson or talking about character development or learning about suffixes. But if kids spend most of their reading block engaged in reading-adjacent activities, and they’re not spending lots of time actually reading, how will they ever get better at actual reading?
An Idea to Try: Recalibrate Daily Lessons
If you’re using one of those reading programs, you might like to adjust lessons but might not be sure where to start. Here’s one idea for how to recalibrate. Of course, each program is a bit different, so the following advice is meant to be a general guide, not a one-size-fits-all template. Even more obviously, a lesson for six-year-olds should be very different from one for twelve-year-olds. Still, this might be a good starting place.
Let’s say the reading block is 50 minutes. What if you took this template and then figured out which parts of the program’s lesson you could fit into each part?
Part 1: Initiation and Direct Teaching (5-15 minutes)
In the first minutes of the learning block, build intellectual and emotional interest in the lesson. What is today about, and why should students care? Then give a few minutes of crisp, clean direct instruction. Don’t muddy the waters with lots of back-and-forth discussion or Q&A style “teaching.” Tell students what they need to know to effectively engage in the next part of the learning block.
For example, if kids will be exploring character development, model how they might think about how a character changes based on an event in a story. It’s okay to finish this block of the lesson without everyone being ready. You can scoop them up and give them extra support in the next part of the block.
Part 2: Active Engagement and Practice (30-40 minutes)
Now’s the time for students to get active. It’s time for them to try what you just taught in the lesson. As a teacher your role shifts to coach. You can work with students one-on-one, pull small groups for strategy work, or engage in any number of other supportive strategies.
Most importantly, this is when students get to practice. They need time to read, and since we know all of our students have their own varying unique skills, strengths, interests, and needs, this often a perfect time to offer students choices of texts to read.
Part 3: Reflection and Conclusion (2-5 minutes)
At the end of the learning block, have students engage in a final reflection of some kind. This can help solidify learning and give emotional closure to the learning. Try to end on a high note—celebrating a success and/or looking ahead to where students are going next. This will help set them up for positive energy in the next class.
A Few Final Ideas to Consider
As a runner, every day I write down the miles I run in a journal, and at the end of each week I tally them. This is important information, and it helps keep me on track. So, here’s an idea you might try as a teacher. Each day, write down the number of minutes that your students read independently (not the total time of readings blocks, mind you–the number of minutes that they’re actually reading on their own). At the of the week, tally them. Now set a goal for next week. How can you get more minutes of reading in?
And of course, this isn’t just true about reading. Mathematicians gotta math. Writers gotta write. Whatever you want your students to get better at, make sure they get lots of practice doing that thing. You can remember what my college swim coach told me years ago. “Fellas, if you want to play the violin, don’t practice the tuba.”
To read more reflections about what running can remind us about teaching and learning, click here. You can connect with me on Strava here.
Author
You may also like
Small, Glorious Moments
Run Toward Oncoming Traffic
