I vividly remember the first year I used the Daily 5 structure in my classroom.  Before the start of the year, I reworked the design of the classroom, organized the library, and prepared book boxes. I subscribed to The Daily CAFE website (now Teach Daily), read The Daily 5 a second time, and felt confident that this structure was going to be a game changer. 

As my students sat in the gathering area for the first time, I introduced our quiet signal and taught Three Ways to Read a Book with a brain break in between. After the launching lessons, and gradually building stamina, I recall how excited I was the first time I heard the quiet hum of reading and saw independent, engaged readers. I was so excited, I picked up the phone and called a colleague a few rooms down to tell her she had to come check it out. This structure was truly working! 

I continued to follow the launch as it was explained in the book and on the website, and everything was great until we were three weeks into the school year and I realized I had not covered as much content as my colleagues.  I was behind and we were only three weeks in!  Tempted to doubt and second-guess the whole process, I went back to the text and the website, spoke with other teachers using Daily 5, and heard over and over, "If you invest in the process, you will get the desired outcome." I decided to trust the process, and now that I have seen it work, I am really glad I did.

The Daily 5 structure is designed so that students gradually build stamina as independent readers and writers, and it does take time . . . It should take time. It is the repetition of the stamina building that trains the muscle memory and develops the desired behaviors in students. Although we still cover content during stamina building, once the muscle memory is trained and students are independent readers and writers, we can turn the focus fully on content. When we do this, we not only catch up, but move forward faster.

Spending time on the process is an investment in the product. When we take the time needed to communicate expectations and practice behaviors, the payoff of independence, achievement, and engagement is unlimited.

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