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HS SSR LM_NET responses January 2007

Thank you to everyone who responded. Here is a hit of the responses that I
received. 

By the way, I have administrative support from my principal and my current
plan for the rest of this school year is to see if English faculty might
be able to include an SSR a couple of times per week in their classes.
Next year, I hope to add an SSR time(s) into the HS (and MS) schedule for
reading just books.

Kathryn Turner
Librarian
AIGS
Guangzhou, China
kturner@aisgz.edu.cn

***
What we did to get it to work, was to have the first 10 minutes of a class
period daily, but switch it around so that it wasn't always one class that
took the hit.
~
For example:
Monday-1st hour
Tuesday-2nd hour
Wednesday-3rd hour
Thursday-4th hour
Friday-5th hour
Monday-6th hour
etc.
~
They were always expected to have a "library book" with them.
***
 We also have students (11-12 grade) who don’t have much time for free
reading so we added a class to our curriculum this year called Reading for
Personal Pleasure. ~It is a one semester class where the students get the
hour to read books of their choice.~ We use journaling and class
discussions to grade the students.~ When we proposed the class, we were
hoping to have enough students for one class (20-30), but we ended up with
over 100 students signing up for it and we are offering 3-4 classes.~ My
circulation has increased and the students love it.
***
I am your success story. I, too, was not sure what the staffwould say
about it but when I presented the idea to them, I told them that it would
NOT work unless they modeled the reading.  We are currently on a four
block schedule and each block is 90 minutes long. We refer to blocks as
1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, etc.  Some of our blocks are divided, hence the A/B
identifiers.  We read 15 minutes on Mondays and Wednesdays. I create
aschedule that is placed on a calendar and handed out to staff and
students and in daily announcements. Monday would be 1A, Wednesday 2A,
following Monday 3A and Wednesday 4A. Then the third week is Monday 1B,
Wednesday 2B,etc. When it is "A" time, the 15 minutes for DEAR time is at
the beginning of class. "B" time is taken from the last 15 minutes of
class.  That way, the reading is not in the middle of instruction and all
classes share the"burden" or preempted instruction time. This is our third
year and circulation in high school fiction is way up. I had a 7th grade
boy, just this morning, who has never been a reader asking for the sequel
to Haddix's Among the Hidden. Delighted I was!!! Our reading scores are
great and I know that students continued use of reading material is a
plus. Besides, we are making lifelong readers for a number of kids.  They
hate to have their
DEAR time interrupted (Drop Everything And Read). I do insist that
everyone, teachers too, read BOOKS.  That's right, BOOKS. Magazines and
newspapers do not create the sustained reader like a book does.  Themes
and literary devices are much more sustained in a book environment.  Good
luck! You will need books for your adults in building, too.
***                                                       
 A few years ago our whole school participated in the Heifer Project,
which entailed 5 minutes of free reading at the beginning and end of
classes.  I teach a research paper course to 10th graders, and I modified
the instructions to include 7 minutes of free reading at the beginning of
each class, and have continued the practice in subsequent years.  The real
readers loved it because they had an excuse for recreational reading which
tends to get squeezed out with all the work they have to do.  A couple of
girls who had never checked anything out got hooked on some easy readers
and have gone on to more sophisticated choices.  I am trying to get this
spread to our 9th and 10th grade study halls, perhaps next year.
 ***  
We have been working on increasing reading scores in our high school for
the last two years.  With that in mind, we instituted SSR last year, and
continue it this year.  We have a 20 minute period daily built into our
school day for SSR.  Most weeks it is used for reading on a daily basis. 
Some weeks 1 or 2 of the days are used for Homeroom, or another activity,
but our students read for a minimum of 3 days a week.  What we have
experienced:  as a media specialist, circulation of fiction increases, our
reading scores are better,and  our students seem to enjoy the break in the
day.  
*** 
I can't really offer a success story yet, but I hope to later.  Our school
has instituted a reading period just this semester.  It is only 25 minutes
once a week, but it is a start.  Reception has been generally good, as has
compliance.  Please post a hit of your findings, as I will be looking to
provide additional support to possibly expand the program in the spring.
***
WE tried a number of years ago to do SSR during our tutorial period. It
flopped. Teachers simply didn't buy in to the program (in my opinion).
They complained, didn't enforce the reading, read their email, did lesson
plans,
talked on the phone, then complained that the students didn't read. The
ones I felt who had a legitimate complaint said that trying to enforce
reading with kids you didn't have in regular class just didn't work.

However, last year one of the English teachers began SSR with her English
classes, 15 minutes beginning of the period. If it was a week that the
class met three times, she only would do it twice (we are on a A/B block
schedule). Teacher and students loved it. This year a second English
teacher is also doing SSR and loving it.

 [A] second teacher does require students to create a list of vocabulary
words from their reading, other wise it is free reading. The teacher
shares her vocabulary list from her reading.

In both cases, the teachers reads along with the students.
***
Our school division  has a Literacy for Life campaign going on.  The high
schools are involved in this and so do have Reading Days. Each collegiate
does this according to what works best but I have not heard any complaints
about any one choice.  At my school we have a designated day in almost
every month that is Just Read Day.
Students and teachers must read for the first 15 minutes of each period-
it works well.  In fact, some of the staff is surprised at how well it
works.  I put reminders in the notices in the days leading up to this to
remind students to have a book with them so that we don't have the panic
before first period.  One time I had book titles on posters in the halls
and found that many students read this and came in asking for those books.
Good luck! It's worth the effort!

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