What do you think?
Rate this book
Trusting Readers: Powerful Practices for Independent Reading
Independent reading is the right of every student. It is an indispensable foundation for solid reading instruction yet, is too often viewed as a luxury. Overly prescriptive, culturally irrelevant curriculum does not provide spaces for students to develop a sense of agency as readers or for teachers to make decisions that reflect the needs of the students in front of them. When teachers trust themselves and trust their students to create reading experiences that matter, they positively impact student growth. Trusting Readers puts the independence back into independent reading-and bolsters that independence with collaboration. Jen and Hannah offer a clear definition of independent reading. Their vision of conferring supports teachers as they support young readers. They help teachers craft reading experiences for students that are centered around their engagement, instructional needs, and identities as readers. Trusting Readers is an essential and accessible guide that provides teachers with the inspiration, information, and tools needed to grow enthusiastic independent readers. Jen and Hannah outline practical steps for teachers to implement independent reading time or to enrich their current practice with multiple entry points whether you've been teaching one year or twenty. In addition, they provide a model for reading conferences that support tailored instructional choices and keep students at the center. In Part 1 of Trusting Readers , Jen and Hannah define independent reading as based on the principles of time, choice, talk, and teacher support. Each chapter keeps student independence and reading identity development at the forefront, while leading teachers through the process of setting up classroom routines that safeguard time and space for independent reading in any environment. Part 2 focuses on conferring during independent reading using The Cycle of Conferring, a framework that teachers can use to help students set meaningful reading goals that not only build their skills, but also support their growth into joyful, purposeful, engaged readers. Dig into Trusting Readers and consider new possibilities for vibrant independent reading to thrive in your classroom in visible and invisible ways. What is the best that could happen when you trust yourself, your students, and the power of independent reading?
184 pages, Paperback
Published May 13, 2021
5 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 13, 2021
A must read for educators wanting to inspire student-centered, curious, joyful literacy communities. Independent reading is the right of every student. Building trusting relationships with our readers is critical to student engagement during independent reading and reading volume is necessary for growth. The book highlights how to create a trusting environment focused on reader identity, curating an inclusive classroom library, and helping students grow through a cycle of conferring.
June 14, 2021
LOTS of good stuff in here, folx! :)
May 16, 2023
One of the most transformative professional learning experiences I've had as an educator was Dr. Alfred Tatum discussing the importance of textual lineages. At the heart of this learning was exploring what books/writings have been especially formative for us, and then creating opportunities for students to build textual lineages of their own.
Though I enjoyed school for the most part, I didn't have many opportunities to connect with literature outside of what my parents shared with me until my 10th-grade African-American History teacher selected Lerone Bennett, Jr.'s Before the Mayflower as our core text. This was the first time a teacher selected a book beyond the traditional canon that affirmed what my parents had always taught me - the history of the descendants of enslaved Africans did not begin in the United States. Though this book was over 400 pages, I was very engaged in reading the text because in that class I experienced what it felt like for a teacher to center my interests and my identity.
As an educator, I sought to build on this experience by providing my students with opportunities to engage with literature that considered their needs, identities, and agency development. The good news is that Trusting Readers will equip you with the tools needed to support your students as independent readers by engaging in intentional discovery that will help to build their textual lineages and impact your students based on a mutually trusting instructional relationship.
Though I enjoyed school for the most part, I didn't have many opportunities to connect with literature outside of what my parents shared with me until my 10th-grade African-American History teacher selected Lerone Bennett, Jr.'s Before the Mayflower as our core text. This was the first time a teacher selected a book beyond the traditional canon that affirmed what my parents had always taught me - the history of the descendants of enslaved Africans did not begin in the United States. Though this book was over 400 pages, I was very engaged in reading the text because in that class I experienced what it felt like for a teacher to center my interests and my identity.
As an educator, I sought to build on this experience by providing my students with opportunities to engage with literature that considered their needs, identities, and agency development. The good news is that Trusting Readers will equip you with the tools needed to support your students as independent readers by engaging in intentional discovery that will help to build their textual lineages and impact your students based on a mutually trusting instructional relationship.
January 5, 2022
Absolutely fascinating look at how to create dedicated and enthusiastic readers. This book had a lot of beautiful examples of how to create and not create readers. I found the critique of leveled reading especially interesting as it affirmed much of how I felt about it (and goes against how my current school does leveled reading). Lots of good stuff; should be a must for all elementary educators and English teachers, and yes, even parents.
January 16, 2022
An excellent resource for literacy teachers and teacher librarians. It includes great tips and tricks for prioritising independent reading within the school day as well as a huge array of questions for developing reader identity, reading culture and engagement with reading. This is a book I’ll return to through the school year.
June 24, 2023
This book promotes the strategy of using the first letter in the word plus looking at the picture to read. This decoding strategy is dangerous. This book is basically readers workshop Lucy Calkins style. Hard pass.
August 14, 2021
As a stay-at-home mother of four, I am not the target audience for this book so cannot attest to its practicality or usefulness in a classroom setting. But as a layperson in the nonprofessional role of caregiver and pseudo-homeschool teacher, I can tell you that this is a remarkable book and is worthwhile reading for anyone with a vested interest in a child’s success and wellbeing. Trusting Readers is a professional manifesto and a how-to manual that calls for a movement away from teacher-led reading instruction (and teaching to solely to curriculum) in favor of letting students lead the way toward their own literacy growth via independent reading with teacher guidance and support.
In this impactful book, the authors argue for prioritizing regular and frequent independent reading time throughout the school-day and week. Students should be trusted as agentive participants and leaders in the process. They should be given freedom to choose what they read from a large selection of varied material, both fiction and non-fiction, with a wide range of subjects and themes and a variety of levels. Meanwhile, teachers engage in kidwatching in order to take note of the students’ interests and level of engagement. Then, through a process of conferring with each student individually (or in pairs or groups), teachers work with the child to define, develop, and grow their reading identity; to come up with a what-if question for future reading that builds on the student’s reading identity and encourages its expansion; and to create plans and strategies for sharing their reading and growth with their peers and the classroom community. This methodology allows each student to define their preferences, feel accepted for who they are, and work on literacy growth that is unique and individualized to the child. Teachers trust themselves to listen and provide feedback on strengths, skills, strategies, and pathways to growth as they get to know each child and respond to their individual needs.
Trusting Readers goes on to describe how the independent reading plan can be supported through classroom read-alouds, inquiries, modeling, and other kinds of group instruction according to needs that become evident through conferring. The authors provide detailed descriptions, examples, charts, case studies, and suggestions for each step in the process and address the ways that the plan can be applied to different kinds of students in terms of meeting them where they are and helping them move forward. Students participate not only in their own reading plans and work but in the creation of classroom help guides and the classroom library itself. Meanwhile, teachers are encouraged to examine and overcome their individual biases toward different reading levels, types of books, home situations, or race/class implications and to avoid labels and level groupings in order to more effectively interact with individual students and achieve equality and acceptance for each child’s reading identity and pathway to learning. In trusting readers to lead the way, students take agentive ownership of their entire literacy experience. The process supports their identity as readers and allows them to continue their growth outside of the classroom, thereby paving the way to a lifelong love of reading.
Trusting Readers is written clearly and concisely and gives an abundance of guidance for practical use in the classroom. While this approach may take practice to achieve maximum effectiveness, the authors provide a multitude of ideas, suggestions, and tools for both implementing and continuing the process. Online resources provide the requisite format for record-keeping.
A couple of my own children struggled with reading and had difficulty keeping up with class requirements and assignments. I can’t help but wonder if they might have had a more positive experience in the classroom with teachers that embraced their individual reading identities and supported their unique paths to literacy growth. When used effectively, the process of trusting each reader to independently lead the way leaves no child behind. Trusting Readers delineates state-of-the-art methodology for supporting every single student’s individualized reading work and path to literacy success. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
In this impactful book, the authors argue for prioritizing regular and frequent independent reading time throughout the school-day and week. Students should be trusted as agentive participants and leaders in the process. They should be given freedom to choose what they read from a large selection of varied material, both fiction and non-fiction, with a wide range of subjects and themes and a variety of levels. Meanwhile, teachers engage in kidwatching in order to take note of the students’ interests and level of engagement. Then, through a process of conferring with each student individually (or in pairs or groups), teachers work with the child to define, develop, and grow their reading identity; to come up with a what-if question for future reading that builds on the student’s reading identity and encourages its expansion; and to create plans and strategies for sharing their reading and growth with their peers and the classroom community. This methodology allows each student to define their preferences, feel accepted for who they are, and work on literacy growth that is unique and individualized to the child. Teachers trust themselves to listen and provide feedback on strengths, skills, strategies, and pathways to growth as they get to know each child and respond to their individual needs.
Trusting Readers goes on to describe how the independent reading plan can be supported through classroom read-alouds, inquiries, modeling, and other kinds of group instruction according to needs that become evident through conferring. The authors provide detailed descriptions, examples, charts, case studies, and suggestions for each step in the process and address the ways that the plan can be applied to different kinds of students in terms of meeting them where they are and helping them move forward. Students participate not only in their own reading plans and work but in the creation of classroom help guides and the classroom library itself. Meanwhile, teachers are encouraged to examine and overcome their individual biases toward different reading levels, types of books, home situations, or race/class implications and to avoid labels and level groupings in order to more effectively interact with individual students and achieve equality and acceptance for each child’s reading identity and pathway to learning. In trusting readers to lead the way, students take agentive ownership of their entire literacy experience. The process supports their identity as readers and allows them to continue their growth outside of the classroom, thereby paving the way to a lifelong love of reading.
Trusting Readers is written clearly and concisely and gives an abundance of guidance for practical use in the classroom. While this approach may take practice to achieve maximum effectiveness, the authors provide a multitude of ideas, suggestions, and tools for both implementing and continuing the process. Online resources provide the requisite format for record-keeping.
A couple of my own children struggled with reading and had difficulty keeping up with class requirements and assignments. I can’t help but wonder if they might have had a more positive experience in the classroom with teachers that embraced their individual reading identities and supported their unique paths to literacy growth. When used effectively, the process of trusting each reader to independently lead the way leaves no child behind. Trusting Readers delineates state-of-the-art methodology for supporting every single student’s individualized reading work and path to literacy success. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 6, 2023
An excellent guide for teachers of readers. The authors offer a variety of resources, strategies, and tools to support students during independent reading. Consider using this text as a yearlong book study with your team.
June 14, 2023
Great principles for younger grades. Becomes less applicable to older grade levels where schedules tend to be more rigid. Still some great take-aways.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews