[LM_NET] HIT > resistance to sustained silent reading

[Gayle Rogers <ninagayle@YAHOO.COM>]

HIT > resistance to sustained silent reading
I have received so many wonderful responses to my target. Forgive me for being late 
posting these. It has been a busy summer. My original target precedes the hits.

We have had some major problems. One is that none of the classes
had classroom libraries. We had a book drive but we didn't get the
books that are most popular with students. Only a few of the teachers
really want to have a classroom library. One doesn't want one at all,
because she doesn't want books lost. (I did lose about 10 books from my
library that were put in classrooms and three from the public
library. But loss of books is not as important to me as long as the
students are reading.) In many of the classes, the students mostly read
newspapers or magazines. The students do not have a variety of
up-to-date magazines, since most of the magazines come from the
library.  Some of the teachers let students talk during SSR or do their
homework.

Another problem that we are having is that the students are very
resistant to SSR. I know one of the reasons for that is not
enough  variety of high interest reading material. However, even in
classes where I brought in more reading materials, the students were
resistant. They used to have that 20 minutes in homeroom just to talk
and they resent having to read. We seem to have a large number of
students who dislike reading. How do we find reading materials for the
classrooms inexpensively? What can I do to encourage the teachers to
effectively implement SSR? What can the teachers do to motivate our
students to read?


Gayle Rogers

Library Media Specialist

St. Jude Educational Institute

ninagayle@yahoo.com
When my son Will was in grade school, silent reading could be done  
under your desk, on the floor with feet up on chair, etc. Not sure if  
you tried that and/or if it would work in your situaton, but I figured  
it was worth a shot.

Cheryl L. Isbister
Wow!  That you are able to have 20 minutes of SSR 4 days a week astounds me!  What 
a gift!  (Which is not meant to undermine how hard you had to work to accomplish 
that!)   I think you've hit the nail on the head; good books will attract them to 
reading, but since they've grown accustomed to not having to read, they're 
resistant.  It's too bad that it didn't start in September; you may have had very 
different results.  It's disappointing to hear that some teachers are not 
supportive--that would make a huge difference!
 
I'm not sure the best idea would be to support classroom libraries; better to allow 
students time every day or every few days to select enough appropriate materials 
from the school library--I think it's a better use of any monies spent.  And I feel 
strongly that reading magazines and newspapers is perfectly acceptable for SSR; 
it's supposed to be enjoyable, and if that's what they want to read....
 
Quality materials is the first thing. In addition, perhaps since many are below 
grade level academically, books on tape would be possible?  I know it's not 
strictly SSR, but if they can't read, listening to literature is better than 
talking!  Equipment may be an issue, so a whole class could listen to a story, or 
perhaps even have one read or played over the loudspeaker?  I know there are great 
renditions of good literature on tape or CD.  Good investment if you can swing it.  
I'm not sure what books would be appropriate for grades 7-12; I'm in an elementary 
school now.  I'm thinking perhaps something by Gary Soto or Gary Paulsen?
 
See if you can connect with a local book store, one of the Book Fair companies 
(Scholastic is one, I'm not sure what else is out there.), local magazine 
distributor, newspapers, etc. for possible donations.  I scour second-hand book 
stores, garage sales, and thrift stores for like-new used books for almost nothing. 
 We've also gotten donations from a local girl scout troop who went through their 
own collections for books they'd outgrown.  You might have better luck looking 
toward college-age groups for that, given your age level.
 
As far as getting the teachers on board, continue to be enthusiastic and positive; 
acknowledge the contribution they are making to students' learning by being good 
role models.  Enlist the help of those teachers who support SSR to "talk it up," 
and show research about the positive impact SSR can have.
 
Sorry I’m responding late to your target – reading home e-mail has been on the back 
burner as things get pretty hectic towards the end of school.
Anyway, here’s an idea:
How about loading up a book truck with books and taking it around to homerooms just 
before the start of SSR on those 4 days.  Kids can choose a book.  The next day 
they can choose another if they didn’t like the one from the day before, or hang on 
to it until done.  At least they’d always have opportunities to choose something of 
interest to read.  There might also be some incentives for student reading:
Encourage students to post reviews of the books they read on your library webpage 
or on a library blog
Perhaps to kick-off each day’s SSR (or at the conclusion), a student can be chosen 
to read a passage from a favorite book over the PA system
Be sure you have a way for kids to give you feedback on the kinds of books they 
would like to read so you can order them for the library
 
Hope these are helpful - 
 
 
Margaret Robison
K-12 Librarian at 
the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind
Staunton VA
chewey75@comcast.net
"Libraries Maximize Curriculum" 
 
John Williams SI had a group of 5th graders who were very resitant to reading and I 
had 
them all sit around a large table and listen and read the same audio book, 
"The Mulberry Project" Once they started listening, they did not want to 
stop. Go to Recorded books, and read their stuff- if kids listen at the same 
time they read, it seems to help relunctant readers.

Subject: TARGET-> resistance to sustrained silent reading- June 2007chool No. 5
Rochester City School District
Rochester NY
 
It has taken us a full 4 years before the kids fully accept SSR.  Also you have got 
to have the faculty behind you.  Our faculty love SSR.  We also started off with 
school wide reading contests, prizes etc.  Can you get any money to go to a used 
paper back store to buy fun books?  We have 3 SSR books in every classroom--lots of 
things like Uncle John's Bathroom Readers, Horror short stories, etc.  Our English 
teachers also require outside reading so the kids have things to need to be reading.
 
You are going to have to pump up the volume so to speak; you already know why they 
are not reading and the solution is to jump start reading for them.  Go to Barnes 
and Noble or any local bookseller and find out what kids at that age are reading.  
Find something exciting and relevant to students.  Try Monster by Walter Dean 
Myers.  Go into classrooms and read the first chapter aloud.  Tell students after 
they have read for 20 minutes they will have a few minutes to talk about the book 
together, that way they get their talking in but it is about what they just read. 
 
Good Luck!
 
Michelle Holt
Media Specialist
7th St. Elementary
NLR, AR  72114
[501]340-5170
 
Sounds to me like "the cart before the horse you put." In other words, 
you didn't do the proper preparation BEFORE you started the program, and 
you are reaping the results. What to do now? Drop it for at least a 
year, maybe two. During that time you and the principal need to work on 
getting ALL the teachers on board. That includes not only the idea of 
SSR, but also what it looks like. Will you permit newspapers? Magazines? 
Books? Books/newspapers/magazines brought from home or only 
school-provided materials? How much time will be devoted to SSR? When? 
Who participates? Students only, students and classroom teachers, 
administrators?

While you are working on those issues, you need to start gathering 
materials for kids to read. Yes, this will cost money, and that money 
will have to come from somewhere. Since it sounds like you are already 
operating on a shoestring (I've been a Lutheran school teacher) you need 
to be looking for a donor. Perhaps your local Wal-Mart would be willing 
to let you come in once a month and get 10 books for free. If you bring 
in 10 kids with you each time (don't use the same ones) and they 
actually select the books (with your permission, of course) you will 
eventually have quite a collection of books that the kids WILL want to 
read.

Good luck.


-- 
David Lininger, kb0zke,
MS/HS librarian
Hickory County R-1 Schools
Urbana, MO 65767
417-993-4226
tss003 at tnp dot more dot net
 
I can imagine the difficulty your school is having instituting SSR. What kid 
wouldn't be resistant if s/he previously had time to chat with friends and now is 
expected to do something s/he hates for 20 minutes instead!
 
I think easing into 20 minutes of SSR might be the way to go. You might first get 
teachers to do a read aloud for 10 or 15 minutes each day. Find a few really high 
interest, exciting books and give them to the teachers to read to the kids. If the 
teachers don't have to do anything except read the book you might get them on board 
a little easier. Then you might hold a few well planned - and fun - DEAR (Drop 
Everything and Read) events. Perhaps during the DEAR events you, the principal, or 
some other respected (by the students) highly visible member of the community stops 
in a few classes and gives away something to everyone who is reading, or has a 
book, etc. And something really special for the teacher who is modeling reading. 
Keep the DEAR events short 10 or 15 minutes maybe. Then maybe you could move into a 
regularly scheduled DEAR event every Tuesday for example and again keep it short. 
Keep adding days and time to the schedule until you are up to your 20 minutes a day.
 I think this could actually take a couple of years to pull off. (Or maybe you 
increase the number of days/time according to grade level.)
 
Get the teachers on board with a "caught you reading" program. During SSR time walk 
around the school take pictures of the teachers you catch reading. Post them in the 
library and give them a gift certificate to Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, or some 
other inducement. (Our principal uses leave early passes that teachers get to use 
to leave campus earlier than our regularly scheduled release time.)
 
Without a doubt classroom libraries full of books that appeal to the students AND 
getting the teachers to buy into the program are the keys to this being a 
successful venture. But anything you can do to make it fun/hip for the students and 
easy for the teachers would certainly help. 
 
Perhaps there are some grants available that would help you purchase the materials 
(and prizes)  you need. Instituting a new reading program should qualify your 
school for funds somewhere. But don't give up. I was at one school where 10 minutes 
of SSR at the beginning of EACH class period (for us that was 70 minutes a day!) 
resulted in our reading scores soaring through the roof in one year's time. It will 
be worth the trouble.
 
 
Rachel Hinds
Librarian
Carleston Elementary
Pearland, Tx
mcquita2@aol.com
This year I purchased books from Townsend Press, publisher of the Bluford Series. 
By dealing with the company directly the set of 13 books cost $13.00 plus shipping. 
 I got three sets of 13 and they were checked out of our library much of the time.  
The price is so reasonable, that I didn't mind when a book cam up missing. 
The books are high interest and appealed to all populations at our school.  I 
learned about the series from LM_NET!!!
Marcia McCarthy
LMS
A.D. Oliver Middle School
Brockport, NY
 
Maybe your students just "aren't there yet" in regard to SSR.  What do
you think about someone reading to the students during that time for
maybe 10 minutes, rather than having the students read themselves.  You
could raise it to 15 minutes, then 20 minutes.  Then, as it progresses,
you could move to students reading themselves.  This way, you and/or the
teachers could introduce the students to high interest subjects,
stories, etc.

You could use "cliffhangers" to make the students want to listen and to
anticipate finishing it the next day.

Maybe you could schedule some celebrity readers to come in and read as
guests.

Pat Pulis
Media Specialist
Schofield and Westview Elementary Schools
Warren, MI
patpul@fps.fitz.k12.mi.us
 
Keep plugging away.  The research says that it takes at least a year to see a 
change when you implement SSR.  I would suggest one change.  20 minutes is too 
long.  Aim for 10 minutes, that also gives the students back some of the time they 
would like for talking, you could also try having them read first and then talk 
about what they have read.  

Colleen Tew, LIS 
Margaret Allen MS
Nashville, TN
 
In my view the key to successful SSR is that it must start from the top. Your 
principal must insist upon it, and participate. If he/she does not care, then it is 
not going to take off school-wide. Then publicity can be great. Have the local 
paper come in and take a picture of a teacher, some students, custodians, or other 
members of the school community reading. Make a bulletin board of pics of people 
reading. Etc. If you cannot get school-wide support starting from the top, caring 
teachers can still enforce it within their domains. That will happen if they buy 
into it, model it, and make the kids take part. As for getting low-cost materials, 
sometimes you can appeal to local businesses. I know some supermarkets in my area 
used to have a certain amount of money they could give away each month. If you 
showed up on the first of the month, they would give you about $20. Then It would 
go to their paperback and magazine racks and buy what I could. Little by little you 
can build
 this way. Used book stores are sometimes allies also. Or you can have kids bring 
in gently used books. In return they get something they like. Candy, for instance. 
I was fairly shameless about using candy as prizes with kids. Frankly, if people 
are not supporting it and you are trying to drum it up by yourself, you may be 
fighting a losing battle. I know this was true for me at one point. In that event, 
I would seek other promotions that encouraged reading but did not seek to get 
EVERYONE involved. To me the true key is the principal.—mabell
 
I hope you do not have to fight this battle alone.  SSR is a powerful tool, but it 
must be used correctly and with committment.  Jim Trelease has updated his Read 
Aloud Handbook (2006) and in that he reports the results from schools who embraced 
SSR and raised test scores.  I am a fan/student (albeit figuratively) of Stephen 
Krashen and he has done the research to support the benefits of SSR.  I've heard 
him speak a few times and he always discusses the technique.  He specifically 
describes the problems of "getting started."  This takes patience, perseverance and 
committment.  You begin with 10-12 SSR minutes and build to more.  The teacher must 
also read during SSR.  Students are often uncomfortable and restless in the 
beginning, but the teacher must remind them of the purpose and expectation.  The 
experts go on and on about this, but I just wanted to share my excitement about the 
power of SSR.  Give them good books (from the school library collection of course) 
and time
 to read; and your students will prosper with reading skill as well as better 
understanding and study skills in all areas.  Good luck and I hope you get others 
on board to support these efforts.
 
http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/ 
http://www.sdkrashen.com/
From what you describe, it almost seems like it might be more effective to do a 
really high-profile read aloud program first  -- with books that are high interest 
and that will catch the students' attention - perhaps one book per grade level, and 
then some sort of event that gets classes talking about it.  Or maybe even have the 
whole school read a book like HOLES that is bound to resonate with different grade 
levels.  THE FIRST PART LAST comes to mind for older students...then maybe you can 
work into the students reading a book silently like this book. Or THE GIVER or BUT 
NOT BUDDY or something like that.  Short chapters...funny or dramatic.
 
In my former life as a reading teacher (15 years), my classes always started 
w/15-20 minutes of ssr every day.  I also did SSR 4 days a week in my advisory 
class.  They did not begin this exactly joyously; afterall, we call them "reluctant 
readers" for a reason :-) .. They did, however, acclimate and, when forced to stare 
at the page would eventually give in.  I knew I had them when they'd ask if we 
could read all period or jump halfway to the ceiling when I called time because 
they were so involved in what they were reading. One of my Special Ed Reading 
teachers also used SSR this past year at my suggestion. Again, in the beginning 
it's a struggle but she held firm and the kids DID begin to read... And not so 
amazingly, their scores on standardized tests went up.   

Very few kids would be willing to give up free time for reading so you've got to 
get over that hump first-- it can't be voluntary and your teachers have to enforce 
it.  I'll be honest, it's not fun at first because the teacher has to be willing to 
stand firm on his/her expectations during that time period.  So that means your 
teachers have to buy into this.  The good news is that most of the reading "gurus" 
(e.g., Janet Allen, Stephen Krashen, Richard L. Allington et.al) strongly support 
SSR. Maybe you could find some articles by them and distribute them to your 
faculty? 

As far as books go... my special ed teacher brought the kids to the library to 
check out their own books.  She kept them by periods in boxes in a special part of 
her room. She pulled out the box for the incoming class as they came in. Students 
weren't allowed in that other part of the room (to keep them from taking someone 
else's book.. she learned this the hard way).  She had a few books in her room for 
those who refused to check out books but the kids quickly learned that their 
choices in the classroom were limited.  As far as magazines and newspapers go, 
personally I stopped letting kids read those during SSR because magazine reading is 
a group exercise for kids.. plus some wanted to only look at the pictures and could 
"finish" a magazine in 10 minutes.   

Terri Moore, Librarian
Richardson West JHS
469-593-3696
readingrocks@att.net
 
I serve a similar population to yours, and I wish I could get my principal to agree 
to SSR! How about trying a one-book-one-school kind of approach? Your kids would 
love the Buford series of books from Townsend Press which are only $1 a piece 
(that's right - a BUCK!) At that price you could afford to get one for every 
student. The series is about the lives of students who attend a fictional high 
school in urban Los Angeles. Examples of titles are The Bully, The Gun, Someone to 
Love Me, and several others. They are written on a 4th-5th grade level but the 
situations involve teens. I think you'd see students really get into the books and 
start talking about the characters as if they were real people.
Trisha Hartye, Librarian
J. S. Russell Middle School
Lawrenceville, VA
patricia.hartye@brun.k12.va.us
 
An effective SSR program takes teacher involvement.  I found having students keep 
reading logs and the teacher walk around individually conferencing with students("I 
see you were on page 14 last Friday and here it is Tuesday and you're only on 
16..what's going on?")
 
Another effective thing is to do a guided reading book with the class to teach them 
how to read a book.  Many don't know what they like to read.
 
One of our teachers schedules time a couple of times a week for kids to discuss 
what they're reading.  Another have kids do buddy books.  They each check out the 
same book, decide how many pages they'll read each day, then spend 5 minutes 
discussing it before the next day's session.
 
We have our students check out one book from the library that they leave at school 
just for SSR.
 
If your students aren't used to SSR, it will have to be modeled and taught.  But 
don't give up! Find one teacher that sees the big picture and get her/him on board.
 
Jan Cole
 
You don't mention kids reading library books. Why do they need to read from the 
classroom libraries? If each student borrows 2 or 3 library books each week they 
should have plenty to read. 

Karen
 
I can understand the students resisting reading when they are accustomed to 
free time. I think the best way to get them started is to encourage the 
teachers to start out by reading aloud. You would have to make sure they are 
reading something that will really grab the reluctant readers' attention. I 
would make sure the teacher's have all of the data cited by Stephen Krashen 
on the benefits of free voluntary reading. Perhaps that will convince them 
to give it a try.



Sandra Carswell, Librarian
S.C. Lee Junior High School
1205 Courtney Lane
Copperas Cove, TX  76522
 
I teach incarcerated urban youth and they love sustained silent reading time.  I 
think, as you already pointed out, that teacher attitudes and high-interest 
materials make all the difference in the world.  One idea:  Do a staff devel.  with 
the teachers where they get to read whatever they want for 20 minutes and solicit 
feedback.  Help them show each other what a great experience it can be and what 
challenges can come up for a reader at any age in that situation.

Another thing I've found is that routines help-- the sign on the door, the 
self-evaluation rubric at the end, the conferencing one on one with students who 
are having difficulty.

Another thing that worked well for me with 6th graders last year was ordering a 
bunch of simpsons books used from sellers on amazon.com.  I invested about 100$ to 
get 12-15 books.  The kids loved them.  It was a big motivator, as were the bean 
bags I bought for my classroom.  I understand your school won't invest in this 
stuff right away.  Maybe do a pilot-- get the "worst" class and invest in resources 
for that class and prove that it works-- and then write a grant to get resources 
for all of the classes... (that's a long-term plan, I know.)

And know you're not alone.  Any school where the teachers don't buy into it will 
always struggle with the program.

Best wishes to you,
Jessica Fenster-Sparber
literacyforteens@aol.com
 
I worked in a school where students had the option to read a book, magazine or the 
newspaper during SSR.  The Washington Post delivered 400 newspapers to our school 
each day for free as part of their "Newspapers in Education" program.  A crew of 
students came to school each morning and earned community service hours (for their 
high school graduation requirement) by delivering a stack of newspapers to each 
homeroom and the library. 

See if your local newspaper has a similar program, this might give the students 
another option, especially those reluctant boys!  They'll love reading the sports 
pages!

Amy
 
The first thing you need to do is get your administration's support. 
Teachers need to know that the administration is behind this, not just the
media specialist's idea.

Somehow you've got to get the kids to the media center to check out books.
Since it is a small school you might be able to get teachers to bring
their classes to the media center to check out books.  Classroom libraries
are okay but certainly not the answer to the SSR problem.

Winning the teachers over is the 3rd big piece.  Compile statistics of the
benefits of SSR and present them at faculty meetings, grade level
meetings.  Get some popular paperback novels for teachers to read. 
Brainstorm with some teachers who are behind SSR.
 
You might look into some of the writings and research of Stephen Krashen for some 
inspiration and support for why this is so important. I do know from my own 
experience as a teacher that if the teacher is not on board then it is virtually 
impossible to get this to work. The teacher has to believe in this and she/he has 
to participate - no grading papers etc... during ssr time. Maybe you could ease 
into the program by letting students still have some talking/social time as well as 
the ssr time. Wean them off the social time into more reading time as the year 
progresses? Good luck!

April Johnson
Elementary Librarian
Waxahachie, TX
 
Is the administration behind the SSR or is it only you trying to
implement SSR?  Starting in the middle of the year is harder than doing
it at the beginning of the year -- the students have their routine set
up and it's hard to break.  Start SSR the first day of school and see if
the administration would recommend (order) that everyone in the building
reads; teachers, custodians, cooks, secretaries, visitors to the
building, everyone. Having it in the morning should make it easier for
everyone to read. When students see everyone reading it should make more
of an impact on them. We have SSR just before lunch and because of 1/2
day students, bus students, senior labs, junior labs, academics it has
not gone over very well. Also it's at the end of the period rather than
at the beginning. The period before lunch is 10 minutes longer than any
other period because we have some students that have to leave to eat
lunch before they get on a bus to go to our south campus. I usually
forget that I should be reading at that time -- though my assistant
always reads. 

Try sending for travel material, ask car dealers for their material, see
if the teachers would be willing to look for young adult books while
they are out doing the rounds of garage sales.  Check with Half Price
Books, they may have books that they will donate to your cause, since
they get a lot of books that they cannot sell. If your area doesn't have
good garage sales you might want to ask friends and relatives in other
areas of the country to shop for you (and donate).  They should be able
to send the books at a reduced rate since the material is going to the
library. 

The items that you collect should be "free". Don't worry if they don't
come back. Ask for restaurant menus, or get the pamphlets that fast food
establishments have behind the counter.  Have the material located on a
book truck outside the library where the students could pick up their
reading material for that day. Because our students are suppose to read
four 250 page books or 1,000 pages during the year and keep a log of
their reading (for High Schools that Work) they are told to keep their
book with them. 

It may take awhile for it to catch on but it should. 



Emily Jean Honaker, Library/Media Specialist 
Delaware Area Career Center 
1610 St. Rt. 521
Delaware, Ohio 43015 
740-363-1993 ext. 2231
honakere@delawareareacc.org
I wish I could offer some worthwhile suggestions. 
Colton High is a comparatively lower socio-economic
populated school of 3,100 students.  Last year I got
an 18-vol. book shelf grant of new books dealing with
what it means to be American from the ALA/Nat.
Endowment for the Humanities.  

  I announced a meeting in the Daily Bulletin that is
read over the PA.  1 student came.  So I collaborated
with maybe 6 or 7 Eng. classes where I bk talked
sources like Mad magazine with the cover showing
Alfred E. Newman with a buckshot-pocked face standing
beside VP Cheney with a shotgun.  Bks. mentioned
included NY Times Best Seller Marley & Me about a
dysfunctional golden Labrador retriever; also As
Nature Made Him:  the Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl.  I
got a list of perhaps 75 students including may 6
colleagues who said they'd at least be interested in
attending.  So I called another meeting.  No one came.
No colleagues.  Not even the girl who attended the
1st meeting.  

  The colleagues suggested fliers, posters.  Via
Publisher, I drafted a flier that I sent to those
colleagues.  I asked our print shop teacher to print
up a large, color poster on the huge new HP color
printer advertising Book Club date/time and a free
copy of Time Stops for No Mouse, 24 brand new copies
of which came from author Michael Hoeye.  The poster
was truly a work of art.  Campus supervisors said that
if I posted it outside, kids would punch holes in it
in no time flat.  I tried to put it about 10' high on
the library's E wall but the green library tape
wouldn't stick on our stucco walls, so instead I taped
it to a metal fire extinguisher space on our E wall. 
I thought sure kids would draw a moustache on the
mouse but no vandalism occurred.  This time 1 teacher
came.  I gave her a copy of the book and this morning
gave away all but 2 of the rest to the last of our
Dist. librarians' meetings.  ALA/NEH's deadline was
last week.  I e-mailed ALA, explained I'd failed and
offered to return the bks.  They graciously said I
should simply add them to our main collection which I
did. 

  At that meeting and in discussion on LM_NET, it
seems clear that there are a number of negative
factors adversely effecting student reading.  One is
MP3s, iPods, & various other electronic gadgets which
kids like.  They seem to have sound buds stuck in
their ears almost all the time.  Another factor is
that some of them, due to required class readings, are
simply read out.  CHS has something like 25 ppbk
novels used as supplementary reading for Eng. classes
including Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Steinbeck's
Grapes of Wrath/Of Mice & Men, works by Edgar Allen
Poe, Hardy's Jude the Obscure.  I've read the latter. 
It's not easy, and I must admit that if I were
required to read even half the supplementary list, the
chances of my joining an after school bk club that
doesn't offer free food would be extremely unlikely. 

   I think CHS does have SSR and I've coincidentally
encountered at least 1 teacher here reading aloud to a
class, which I think is great.  But as Walter Dean
Meyers, who I consider a very good writer, has said,
"Today kids don't go to school to learn.  They go to
school to be entertained."  I'm afraid he's right.  If
I'd wanted to be an entertainer, I'd have gone to
Hollywood or Broadway instead of to library school.  I
still read.  A lot.  But am I going to pursue bk club
establishment here any more?  Nope.  

  Good luck. 



Larry "Library" Retzack,
  BA, MM, MA, Ph.D. candidate,
  Librarian-Media Teacher,
  Colton (CA) High School,
  777 W Valley BLVD,
  Colton CA 92324-2251.
I would suggest going to Jim Trelease's web site, and reading the information on 
SSR.  He is a big component of it, and public libraries might be willing to give 
you the magazines they would want to read.  Albeit, they may still be older copies, 
but popular magazines.  
 
Loss of any type of material will happen whether it is a book to read or a pencil.  
Shame on that teacher.
 
Do you have a time for read aloud?  If students don't
have many experiences with reading material, then it
is difficult to expect that they would have the
patience to enjoy the experience of reading on their
own.  You may need to create those experiences for a
while. Reading aloud can provoke discussions and
create excitement around interests and stories. You
could even try reading aloud a book that has an
exciting ending. When you get to the last few
chapters, tell the students they will have to finish
the book on their own. See how many will be wrestling
to get the copy of the book for SSR.
I volunteer at our Friends of the San Antonio Public Library used book sale. All 
withdrawn books are sent to this book store from all over the city.  We have a huge 
amount of hard cover and paperback books for young adults which cost .50 and .25 (I 
get them for half price).  Do you have such a place in your city? I am the 
librarian at a small Catholic school as well, so I know how tight money is.

Josie Martinez
St. Martin Hall
San Antonio


       
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