[LM_NET] HIT: High School SSR-DEAR (long)

[Carol VanHook <vanhookc@SE-POLK.K12.IA.US>]

*SSR / DEAR*



Here is the HIT regarding SSR / DEAR as I promised. Thank you everyone for
thoughtful responses!



My target message to LM_NET last week stated that our Language Arts teachers
would love to initiate SSR in our high school. To help kick-start this
activity, I thought a query to LM_Net would provide an easy plan of action.
However, as I have read comments of librarians across America, I now see
there are many considerations and factors that must be in place if SSR is to
WORK at the high school level!



*In summary, (1) there must be 100% support within the high school, (2) it
must be endorsed within a school's* *Comprehension Action Plan of
Improvement, and* *(3) the students and staff need specific guidelines for
participating in SSR.*

* *

*I am sharing your comments, as others have expressed an interest in the
advice and reflective thoughts of those currently administering SSR.  Perhaps
the highlighted thoughts will give you an insight into how to initiate a
successful SSR.*

* *

* *

*Minnesota** librarian says:*



We do SSR here at West (1200 students) and it's rocky to say the least.



This is what is supposed to happen:

Everyone arrives to their 6th period which is longer by 14 minutes than the
others. At that time, everyone is supposed to read. No coming to the library
because they forgot their books, no going to the bathroom, etc. The time of
day is an issue. It follows senior lunch, which means many students are late
to SSR because "it's not real class." Apparently, the school used to have
SSR right before 2nd period and that was much better received.



This is what happens in many of the classrooms. However, we have a few
teachers who refuse to enforce it and their students are loud, in the halls,
etc. The administration has just started monitoring more actively, so
hopefully it will get better.



The other problem we have is that clubs always want to take time out of SSR
to meet. Because our school recently switched from EVERYONE having the same
lunch period, the struggle is to find meeting times that allow everyone to
show up. Unfortunately, SSR gets cannibalized quite often for that.



If there isn't 100% buyin among staff, it's a tough row to hoe.



*Texas** librarian says:*



We had DEAR for 1 year.  The problem we had was that all teachers did not
buy into it and would let kids do something else (usually sleep) for that 20
minutes.  I personally liked it because it gave me a chance to read things
that I would not usually read.  DEAR met every day for 20 minutes before the
period before lunch.  I wish we still had it, more kids would use the
library.



*Another Minnesota library director says:*



Sorry, no statistics. Our school has 4 lunch periods and to accommodate

a class hour we have an early directed and a late directed.  During this

time students get announcements, do homework, or come to the library.

On Thursdays, during early and late directed, it is called unplugged

time.  No electronics of any kind are allowed and students must read.

It can be anything.  The thing I have noticed is that not all teachers

are consistent on this.  They send kids to the library to type a paper,

do research, etc.  I just send them back or tell them they can sit and

read.



The school paper did a story on it and the students they interviewed

didn't feel the time was very useful or popular.

* *

*Montana** librarian says:*



We do SSR on Friday for one hour.  The schedule is designed to rotate
through the periods (period 1 week 1, period 2 for week 2, etc.) so no one
class is missed every Friday.  I would not recommend doing this.  At the
high school level, teachers who teach more than one section of a class hate
for their classes to be separated in terms of materials being covered.  This
means SSR is generally skipped for any classes that have more than one
section.  That eventually becomes more wide spread, and eventually only one
or two teachers in the entire high school continue with SSR.



I'm trying to convince our administration to make some adjustments to our
daily schedule so we have a full 20 extra minutes somewhere during the day
(borrow 3 minutes from each class?) that can be dedicated to SSR.  Our
school's reading test scores have been down the last few years.  While there
is no definitive proof  SSR greatly helps those scores, I can't believe
daily reading -- even if only for 20 minutes -- wouldn't help.  The more
successful programs I've heard about do the 20-30 minutes every day
approach.



*Kansas** librarian says:*



Our high school has daily SSR time from 8:30 to 8:45. The time is added onto
the end of our first period. This was implemented as one of our reading
intervention strategies for North Central accreditation. This is my fourth
year here, and I believe it was started at least one year before I came,
when we were at the beginning of our 5-year NCA cycle. Students receive
daily points (5) from their first period teachers if they read for 15
minutes. The points are reported to the English teachers (our students must
take 4 years of English), and the SSR grade makes up 5% of their English
grade. There is some inconsistency as to what teachers allow students to
read, and it is not always supervised or enforced equally from classroom to
classroom, but overall, students are cooperative. With high school, having
reading time early in the day seems to work pretty well. I'm not sure we'd
keep them focused late in the day!

* *

*Arkansas** literary association leader says:*



We have a similar time at our school.  It's for about 20 minutes in the
morning 10:30-10:50 and also serves as homeroom and meeting time but mostly
serves as reading time.  It's later in the morning because we have students
who attend morning college classes.  It is successful in the classes whose
teachers actually make them read - rules are no homework but reading
material can be books, magazines, newspapers...

This is the first year we've done this and the push here actually came from
our admin who would like to improve literacy scores.  We have grades 10-12.



*Another librarian from Minnesota:*



We started Sustained Silent Reading in our high school about three or four
years ago. My principal initiated it. We found lots of research, especially
articles by Steven Krashen, and bought a book that guided us in establishing
the program.



There was a rocky start. Some staff and many students resisted it at first.



It is not perfect, but it has become part of our lives here at our high
school. Every day 18 minutes are dedicated to SSR. Once in awhile the high
school video production class broadcasts on Fridays in the SSR time slot,
but it is known as SSR time. Our principal saw an increase in reading
comprehension as measured by the Degrees of Reading Power assessment, but it
was a voluntary sample of the students who took the DRP at .



There is a hard core of "I hate to read and will do anything to not read"
group. We did try a read aloud group in the media center last semester for
them. It started out as a small group who appreciated listening to someone
reading. As the semester went on, however, students started to attend who
came in randomly. They were not listening but text messaging and/or talking.
So that remains an issue. What do we do with those who refuse to read? So
far, they are coming into the media center. Last year our administration
suggested that I run a book cart to classrooms where students have not
brought books. So I do that. It gives me an opportunity to book talk.



The culture of the school is slowly, slowly changing because of SSR and
other initiatives.



*An Iowa librarian says:*



We have silent reading time for 25 min. twice a week, on Wednesdays and
Thursdays. On Monday students are dismissed early for inservices. Tuesday is
time for students to get extra help from teachers, and Fridays is a study
hall. Gives them an up on the weekends. We love it because we get to read
also!!!





*In conclusion, here are two documents that discuss the value of SSR.
Perhaps others will find these helpful.*



I have seen SSR to be in place in numerous high schools throughout Indiana!
Here is a comprehension action plan for an Indiana High School, for the
2007-2008 school-year term.
http://www.nwcs.k12.in.us/NHS/NHS%20Action%20Plan-comprehension%2007-08.pdf






"Sustained Silent Reading" Helps Develop Independent Readers (and
Writers). Education
World article

http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr038.shtml



-- 
Carol VanHook
Teacher Librarian
SOUTHEAST POLK SENIOR HIGH
8325 NE UNIVERSITY AVE
PLEASANT HILL IA 50327
vanhookc@se-polk.k12.ia.us
Ph: 515-957-3484

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