Perfect Practice makes Perfect!

Reading Good Fit Books - and Perfect Practice makes Perfect!

We have all heard the saying "practice makes perfect", but when it comes to reading a better way to think of practice is - perfect practice makes perfect!  What do I mean by that?  Well, like in all things that take some work, we have to practice.  Practice takes effort and persistence, it is not always easy, but it can still be enjoyable.  My daughter was practicing a new piano piece for her solo ensemble competition that will be coming up soon.  One afternoon she spent almost an hour playing the same piece over and over until she told me her wrist hurt and she thought it would fall off.  I smiled.  "No literally, Mom.  I think my wrist is going to fall off!"  Her piano teacher was very impressed with her progress on that piece of music, and she felt pretty proud of herself that her practice had paid off. So practice does make a difference - and the same is true with reading, when students read more, especially more outside of the school day, it does make a difference!  I've seen it!

What about perfect practice?  When we do something over and over we not only get better, but literally we strengthen the connections in our brain where that task or information is stored.  If we learn something the wrong way and practice it that way, it is much harder to unlearn or break that strong connection in our brain once it has been established.   The piano piece my daughter was learning was not too hard for her, just new. She hadn't played it before so it was a little unfamiliar, and took a little while to strengthen those connections in her brain.  Her teacher suggested that she play it like she wanted it to sound when she was performing the piece for the audition - softly here and loudly there, so her brain and fingers would remember what to do later.  She was strengthening the connections in her brain correctly.  We want students to use the strategies and features in the text they know and understand to practice in that text.  This way they strengthen the connections they are making during the reading process.  When students read there might be times, such as when they first start a book, or the plot seems to be moving slowly, that it might seem a little unfamiliar and take a little while to "get into" the book, but we want the books they use for practice to be a good fit for their skills at the moment.  If the book or piano piece is too hard then it will just be frustrating and students are likely to give up, if it is too easy there is no challenge or learning.  Finding the perfect piece of music, or book is the key - not too hard and not too easy.

I complemented my daughter on sticking with her piece for such a long practice session.  Her comment was, "I really like this piece. It sounds so good!"  Her practice, which we often think of as being tedious, was actually enjoyable.  That I think is the key to practice with reading.  The material that students read at home has to be something that they are not only able to read, but they want to read. One idea that can help is being able to choose their book for at-home reading.  Practice doesn't seem like "practice" when you can create beautiful music, or get carried away to another place in the lives of great characters, or the facts of an interesting topic.  Happy practicing!