LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Friends and Colleagues,
Even though after I posed my query about SSR I found
references to it in the archives, a number of you saw fit to add more
scenarios to the mix - for which I am grateful. Here they are:
"In our school the students and teachers spend the first five minutes
of their English class each day in silent reading. I'm not sure how
it's working out, but as the librarian I often see kids who have
forgotten to bring a book rush in here and grab anything at all off
the shelf, quickly check it out and run to English class. I'm not sure
they're getting the point...." --------
"We have it here in the school I am at, 7-12th grade, on Wednesday
afternoons during homeroomwhich is about twenty minutes. Basically
all the students rush in here late Wednesday afternoon and grab
magazines then drop them back afterwards which is a big headache for
me to check them in and out,, not to mention the magazines aren't
really designed for that kind of abuse and most of them are falling
apart already. I keep the lastest year or so out of the seven or
eight most popular magazines on Wednesdays so they can dig through
themselves.I think it is a good idea in theory but I haven't really
talked to the teachers to see how it is working in their homerooms.
It is nice to have a few minutes to read myself, though kids coming in
at the last minute have cut into my enjoying the full twenty minutes.
Hope this helps. I am in a rural school with only 250 students."
--------
"We are in our fifth year of "Word Up"--we start off each day with 15
minutes of sustained silent reading throughout the school. Students
and teachers all read for that time--some teachers extend it a little
longer. We added 15 minutes to the first period of the day so that we
wouldn't lose time in those classes (just shaved off a minute here and
there from lunch and breaks). Kids resisted at first, but now it's
just expected and, for the most part, they participate. Teachers
resisted a little at first, too, but now they love it." --------
"Actually, the English teachers at my site push SSR. Students come to
the library every other week for a new book (or the renewal of the
book they are reading). It works very well and one of the ways thatwe
insure success is by having available books that students WANT to
read. That means, we have lots of titles by R.L. Stine, Christorpher
Pike, Lois Duncan, Stephen King,etc. In addition, we have lots of
books on sports and whatever it is that the students want. So far it
has really paid off." ----------
"My colleagues and I did a study two years ago of the effects of
leisure reading on test scores and asked our school board for more
money to start a promotional and buy more fiction. They gave us much
money and we did surveys last year and began promotionals and SSR this
year. We are a MS/HS (6-12). Last year SSR floated each week to a
different period. That was too confusing. This year we re-set the
bell system each Wed. which shaves off 7 min. from each class and
leaves a 24 min. period at the end of third period for SSR. Seems to
work, the kids are very possessive of their time. We are collecting
circulation statistics and vocabulary and comprehansion scores for our
documentation. Our program is to run for 4 years then be evaluated.
Our other promotionals are trivia contests pertaining to literature,
lotteries for free books, book fairs put on by local book stores,
reader's advisory committees, guest speakers and readers, reader's
theaters etc."
-----
The Ten-minute-a-day Silent Reading Time
......In 1997 Itoshima Senior High School changed the bell
schedule so that
all students must read books for ten minutes from 8:40 to 8:50 every
morning. Ten minutes a day, 50 minutes a week, and 2,000 minutes a
year, the students sit reading before their teachers' eyes. The rules
for the project are simple: Students (and teacher as well) are asked
to bring to classroom what they want to read except comics and
magazines, and to keep their mouths shut with their books in their
hand for ten minutes. Some bring books from home; some borrow from
the library; and many buy them at bookstores. At first, most of them
hesitated even to bring books. But once the majority of classmates
started silently reading, the students had no choice but to have their
eyes glide from page to page making no other sound than that of
turning pages. One year of ten-minute-a-day reading has passed.
True, it's too early to conclude that all the students have become
ardent bookworms, but silent reading has become a part of Itoshima
High School life. For example, at many schools there are some big
muscular men who seem to enjoy only doing sports but not drawing
pictures or writing stories. Nobody in Itoshima now ridicules these
big muscular athletes reading at their desks after lunch when they
suddenly smile at some stories in the book. A group of students
gather around the paperback section of a nearby CD & book store.
------
"We started spending
the first years funds this past summer which menat we had a huge
shipment of fiction books all ready for the start of the program. We
ran a slogan contest and had a banner (3ft.x 6ft.) made by a local
sign maker made of the winner. We are the Adams Central Jets and the
winning slogan was "Fly first class.....READ!" Then we had a big
kick-off celebration in Sept, where we had the state Superintendant of
Public Instruction and our Senator and Representative invided. Our
local student who is a musician and comedian did a song and skit, the
cheerleaders did a reading cheer and the honored quests gave speeches.
Then there was the banner unveiling and the winner got a certificate
for $50 at Borders Book Store. Then we had a ribbon-cutting ceremony
where we honored outstanding readers by letting them cut a red ribbon
wrapped around book carts full of the new fiction books. There was
some other intertainment as you can imagine and we dismissed everyone
to go back to the room for "in-flight" snacks (peanuts and pretzels)
and have the first SSR for the year. It was fun and a good way to get
the High Schoolers excited about the new books. Go for it, you will
reap rewards untold:-)"
----
"in our school only the middle school has SSR, and it was just a
decision made by the whole middle school team. In the final analysis
it cuts into the built in "free" time the kids have at midmorning 2x
evey ten days. We voted to keep it this year.
But, one of the upper school Spanish
teachers did the neatest thing last month that will forever endear her
to me. The class was discussing the Spanish verb "leer"(to read) and
she asked the kids what they liked to read for fun. When they all
told here they didn't have time to read, she stopped class, and
brought them all to the library to get books for fun, and ggave them
the rest of the period to enjoy them! I can't see that happening on a
regular basis, but it sure was nice to have someone other than the
English teacher acting on her conviction that this is a good thing to
do!"
Rod Jaros
LMS, Horace Greeley HS
Chappaqua, NY
rojaros@chappaqua.k12.ny.us
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