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Building Student Literacy Through Sustained Silent Reading
Building Student Literacy Through Sustained Silent Reading offers a powerful solution for teachers who want to improve their students' reading Let students choose what they read and give them the time to read it. For 27 years, high school teacher Steve Gardiner has used the sustained silent reading (SSR) program in his English classes to help students of all abilities and backgrounds improve their literacy. Gardiner writes with refreshing candor about his own experiences developing a sustained silent reading program. He demonstrates convincingly that giving students 15 minutes of uninterrupted reading time each day can help them discover their own abilities and develop enduring reading habits. Gardiner also summarizes the research both for and against SSR as well as reactions from other teachers, students, and administrators to examine the program's effects on literacy—from reading proficiency to vocabulary and spelling skills, from content comprehension to writing. He demonstrates how teachers from elementary to secondary grade levels can adapt SSR for their classes' unique needs without interfering with mandated curriculum or lesson plans. In an environment where reading is an essential part of all subjects, Building Student Literacy Through Sustained Silent Reading shows how a simple and inexpensive program can not only help students achieve greater success in school, but give them a precious the joy of reading.
- GenresTeaching
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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13 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 30, 2019
This book confirms some things I've always thought. Now I can deploy it as a weapon to bring about changes at my school. (I know the author. It is cool to hear stories from his classroom.)
June 21, 2022
Ahhhh! This book!
I am going to take a risk and award it 3.5 stars, even though it probably falls in between a 3-4, and definitely not a 5 (although that doesn't mean that this book doesn't have 5 star moments). A 3.5 rounds to 4, because I do want to encourage other educators and leaders to give this book a read. Just be cognizant that this book does require some trimming of the annoying sections.
To be more specific, I found this book both exceptional, and a complete hot mess. It was like eating a blue rare steak when I ordered a medium rare. It was juicy, but just too raw in some places. That's the metaphor right there: too many places were raw and undercooked in this book, that for me personally, were hard to wade through. Once I understood that trimming, avoiding, and wading were necessary to glean gold from this book, I continued my sojourn and read on.
Here's an example of one of the rawest parts of the book: an entire chapter is dedicated to an example lecture the teacher could conduct on a class towards SSR. Not only is it boring to read, but I could not imagine lecturing about SSR for an entire period (ironically, I think a lecture about SSR would already start killing students' joy for reading, without any reading even being done)! This was one of the rawest parts that was super frustrating to read.
Thus stated, the 5 stars that are sprinkled throughout this book are in two sections:
1) The research on SSR was extremely interesting to read. One teacher wrote a review that they wanted research on SSR, which made me a little sad, because there are pages and pages in this book dedicated to just that topic. Yes, the research is a bit dated, because the book is old too, but I appreciated the scholastic dive. It is present in this book and I found it somewhat insightful. An update on the research could be of benefit.
2) Reading commentary from other students about SSR was really interesting, because it really got me wondering about all the opportunities I have missed as teacher to gather student feedback on SSR. I have used SSR for over 2 years. Sadly, I did not use it when I taught grade 2, because I lost an argument and... well I won't go there, but I do plan to use it in all my MYP literature classes next school year.
3) I appreciated reading the different ways to embed and utilize SSR. I think I will still keep SSR as a long read on a Friday, because although it may exhaust students at first, I believe it does help students become gulping readers. It is expected that students will sit reading and writing exams (especially in the DP) that are 3 hours long, so reading for a whole class period on Friday should also help prepare students for this assessment situation. Students these days really need support with focus (I need support here as well! And guess what has helped me personally with this? Reading for long periods of time)! And I think offering students a chance to read for 50 minutes really does support reading stamina. Though I did appreciate the 15 minutes per day of reading and can see the benefits of this, such as building the routine faster into students. I liked reading this alternate perspective, which forced me to argue with myself.
4) There was also a lot of different ways that teachers chose to both assess and implement SSR. I appreciated this way and I think I may try to find a way to offer a choice for students to be assessed. I am very much in the camp of students "proving" that they are reading, because the heavy time investment that SSR carries almost calls for some sort of proof. I have usually just done this with a quick conversation with the book on the chesterfield, but I think I can offer more options for students.
Overall, this book was really good at getting me thinking and also annoying to the point where I was yanking on my hair. Its a good book if one can use a blade to cut through all the extraneous and excess.
3.5 rounded to 4!
I am going to take a risk and award it 3.5 stars, even though it probably falls in between a 3-4, and definitely not a 5 (although that doesn't mean that this book doesn't have 5 star moments). A 3.5 rounds to 4, because I do want to encourage other educators and leaders to give this book a read. Just be cognizant that this book does require some trimming of the annoying sections.
To be more specific, I found this book both exceptional, and a complete hot mess. It was like eating a blue rare steak when I ordered a medium rare. It was juicy, but just too raw in some places. That's the metaphor right there: too many places were raw and undercooked in this book, that for me personally, were hard to wade through. Once I understood that trimming, avoiding, and wading were necessary to glean gold from this book, I continued my sojourn and read on.
Here's an example of one of the rawest parts of the book: an entire chapter is dedicated to an example lecture the teacher could conduct on a class towards SSR. Not only is it boring to read, but I could not imagine lecturing about SSR for an entire period (ironically, I think a lecture about SSR would already start killing students' joy for reading, without any reading even being done)! This was one of the rawest parts that was super frustrating to read.
Thus stated, the 5 stars that are sprinkled throughout this book are in two sections:
1) The research on SSR was extremely interesting to read. One teacher wrote a review that they wanted research on SSR, which made me a little sad, because there are pages and pages in this book dedicated to just that topic. Yes, the research is a bit dated, because the book is old too, but I appreciated the scholastic dive. It is present in this book and I found it somewhat insightful. An update on the research could be of benefit.
2) Reading commentary from other students about SSR was really interesting, because it really got me wondering about all the opportunities I have missed as teacher to gather student feedback on SSR. I have used SSR for over 2 years. Sadly, I did not use it when I taught grade 2, because I lost an argument and... well I won't go there, but I do plan to use it in all my MYP literature classes next school year.
3) I appreciated reading the different ways to embed and utilize SSR. I think I will still keep SSR as a long read on a Friday, because although it may exhaust students at first, I believe it does help students become gulping readers. It is expected that students will sit reading and writing exams (especially in the DP) that are 3 hours long, so reading for a whole class period on Friday should also help prepare students for this assessment situation. Students these days really need support with focus (I need support here as well! And guess what has helped me personally with this? Reading for long periods of time)! And I think offering students a chance to read for 50 minutes really does support reading stamina. Though I did appreciate the 15 minutes per day of reading and can see the benefits of this, such as building the routine faster into students. I liked reading this alternate perspective, which forced me to argue with myself.
4) There was also a lot of different ways that teachers chose to both assess and implement SSR. I appreciated this way and I think I may try to find a way to offer a choice for students to be assessed. I am very much in the camp of students "proving" that they are reading, because the heavy time investment that SSR carries almost calls for some sort of proof. I have usually just done this with a quick conversation with the book on the chesterfield, but I think I can offer more options for students.
Overall, this book was really good at getting me thinking and also annoying to the point where I was yanking on my hair. Its a good book if one can use a blade to cut through all the extraneous and excess.
3.5 rounded to 4!
December 29, 2008
As a practicing English teacher, I believe strongly in the value of SSR. I read this book hoping to hear new research supporting SSR, or at least innovative methods for its implementation. That said, Mr. Gardiner's book is a disappointment. If a teacher is starting completely from scratch with SSR, this book might be worth a read. I didn't find much information that I hadn't already come across in books by Nanci Atwell, Stephen Krashen, or Pilgreen. In our district, ASCD books are well received by administrators, and if this holds true around the country, perhaps this text will extend SSR into more classrooms.
August 27, 2012
A clear, logical and practical guide to setting up a sustained silent reading program in a high school classroom - definitely a priority for me next year. I liked that there were sections on supporting research, different approaches, failed attempts and teacher and student testimonies. Easy to read, including a 'script' for the first few lessons.
July 19, 2012
Excellent resource that offered valuable suggestions to improve my use of SSR in the classroom and also validated that what I have been doing is supported through various big names in the field of education.
January 30, 2013
This is an easy to read guide to Sustained Silent Reading. I would highly recommend it to those who are thinking of incorporating SSR into their classroom.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews