The Impact of Narrow Reading

Last year, my small group reading block was ran completely different than this year, and because of the drastic changes, I have struggled to implement my research project. During small group last year, I was able to dedicate 90 minutes to instruction; this year, I only have 60 minutes. As we all know, time is precious and every minute counts, so the loss of thirty minutes has really affected me and my plans for small group reading. I also had three reading groups, because I was lucky enough to have a reading interventionist and a special education teacher working with groups at this time. With three teachers working on small group instruction, I was able to separate my students into three ability groups with no more than eight students in each group. This year, however, I am not collaborating with a special education teacher, so my students have been divided into two groups of twelve students, and they work with a reading interventionist or myself.

Amidst the chaos in my professional and personal life, I have been able to squeeze in some informal interviews with my kiddos about small group reading. I am continuing to incorporate the narrow reading strategy into my small group instruction, but wanted to get some feedback from my students about this method. Here is a transcribed version of our discussion:

LK: Let’s talk about the reading we are doing during our small group time. What do you all notice about the texts we are reading?

Brian: They are like what we are learning about in science.

LK: You’re exactly right, Brian. What do you all think about that?

Anthony: I think its cool. I like reading about animals.

Jessica: I like reading more about the stuff we are learning in Science because it helps us remember more.

LK: Ok, great. I know what we read during small group is related to what we are studying in Science, but are you all getting bored with what we are reading? Is it too much Science for you?

Michelle: No, I don’t think so. I like learning about the different animals.

Karen: It helps me because we get to learn about it twice. And some of the stuff we learn in small group with you is different than what we learn in Science.

LK: Did you all notice that yesterday we read about sharks and their unique characteristics, but we focused on main idea, which is a reading skill? Have you ever studied Science content during reading time?

Kevin: I don’t think so. But in Science we don’t have time to learn all about each animal, and I like that we can with you in small group.

LK: That’s exactly the purpose of reading these Science related stories. I want you all to be able to make the connection between a Science text and reading skills, just like we did yesterday.

As illustrated in the interview, my students have been very receptive to the narrow reading strategy. I was worried they would eventually become bored with the emphasis on Science content, but I have yet to hear any complaints. In fact, they all seem very excited to learn more about our Science content. They are able to make stronger connections between texts and really love applying what they are learning. Through this activity, I hope these students realize that any text, whether it is related to science, social studies, or even math, requires application of reading skills. So far, the incorporation of Science content into our small group time has provided positive feedback. The incorporation of Science based text encourages greater student participation and more meaningful conversation. Finally, based on discussions with my students, they would much rather read about topics they are already interested and invested in, rather than random texts that do not mean anything to them.