Relection to podcast

The podcast, Creating a home reading program, the R4 reading program created by educators Michelle J. Kelly and Nicki Clausen-Grace explains how teachers can promote independent reading to make students better readers. R4 stands for read, relax, reflect and respond. At home, students need to find a quiet place to read each night and log the minutes in a reading log. Parents initial the log to confirm that the reading was done. The reflect and respond portion of this program defines it from other programs; it develops students critical thinking skills. Students are given a list of reflection topics called prompts once a week. Students choose a prompt and reflect on what they have read in a journal. The response should be one half to a whole page but can be modified according to student ability and level. The teacher works with students to achieve high quality responses by modeling and reviewing examples. To keep students motivated and interested in reading, the teacher must validate students’ work by commenting in journal entries. Many students look forward to teacher comments and respond positively by reading more. This program requires the cooperation of teachers, parents, and students to successfully achieve reading goals.

I have personally experienced a similar type of reading program with my children. My children were committed to reading and keeping a log that I had to initial every night. On the last night of reading, they were to answer some questions on the reading material and draw a picture that describes the story. I did not know at that time that this was the reflecting and responding portion of the program. The teachers always had a comment or two in the reading journal. They responded to every journal entry to show my children that they were interested in what they wrote. My children were so proud if there was a sticker in the journal and could not wait to show me. This motivated my children to read more and eventually become independent readers.

Many schools use this program or something similar to help students’ literacy and comprehension. It encourages students of all reading levels to develop an interest in reading while validating their efforts. The key to the success of this program is to have parental involvement. The parents need to be aware and supportive of this by establishing a routine time for reading each night. The parents’ initials in the reading log also shows the student that they care and are interested in what they are reading.