Article Title: Becoming
the reading mentors our adolescents deserve: developing a successful sustained
silent reading program
Author:
Lee, V.
Journal:
Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 55 (3), November 2011, pgs. 209-218.
Summary
In this article, Lee describes the
steps she took to create a popular and successful sustained silent reading
(SSR) program in her classroom. She
followed the advice of researcher J.L. Pilgreen who detailed eight factors for
creating an effective SSR program. Those
eight factors are: access, appeal, conducive environment, encouragement, staff
training, non-accountability, follow-up activities, and distributed time to read
(2011, p. 211).
Some key aspects of these factors
are that the teacher must also read during the SSR time, the students should be
allowed to read anything (magazines, catalogs, web based articles, etc.), and students
should fill out a reading log with goals for each student. Lee also advised
teachers not to punish students who were resistant to the idea at first, but to
engage them in conversation in order to find some kind of text they would
enjoy. Regarding non-accountability and
follow-up activities, Lee advocates that students not be graded or forced to do
any work for their reading. However, she does recommend providing students with
recommendations on what to do when they finish reading. These recommendations range from reading
other books by the author to writing a book review for the school newsletter.
Lee considers that her SSR program
was a success in her classroom because the students eventually demanded more
time to read and started holding each other accountable for their behaviors
during the SSR time.
Analysis
and Application
Lee’s
tale of turning a struggling SSR program into a successful one provides many
great pieces of advice for teachers.
Four aspects of her program I am going to borrow for my research study
are teacher modeling, book logs, non-accountability, and allowing students to
read anything. If the teacher does not
model the same behavior he or she expects of the students, why would the
students buy in? Telling students “reading
is a wonderful activity that will help you in many ways,” and then grading papers
or surfing the Internet would send the message that both reading is not
important, and that your time is more valuable than theirs. Books logs are an effective tool for students
to be able to monitor their reading, so they can see trends or patterns to help
guide themselves. Including a reading goal
may sound like creating a semblance of accountability, but this is merely for
the student to realistically assess their reading. Students will not be punished if goals are
not met, nor will they be asked to share their goals with the class. Following
this, making SSR a non-graded activity is important for students to feel
comfortable and relaxed in their reading. Tying mandatory assignments or activities
to the task could add stress and agitation which could create reduced motivation
or further reading. Finally, allowing students to read anything will hopefully
guide them to find joy in the activity.
Reading does not only take place with a physical book in one’s
hand. Graphic novels and magazines are
just as relevant when it comes to reading as a book. Plus, in the age of e-readers and online
comics, teachers need to allow those options as well. Shutting down students’ preferences for reading
will not help to increase motivation for the activity, which is what I aim to do
with this program.
References
Lee,
V. (2011). Becoming the reading mentors our adolescents deserve: developing a
successful sustained silent reading program. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 55.2, 209-218. doi: doi:10.1002/JAAL.00026
Speaking of reading, I'm seriously considering reading this article after I finish this post! I have spent most of the last 3 weeks struggling through acquisition activities in my IB Spanish 1 class doing most of the talking and redirecting student focus. I know that my students need more input to be successful in learning a new language, but their resistance to engaging in conversation about these familiar topics has me feeling that I am fighting my class more than teaching it.
ReplyDeleteSustained Silent Reading is bringing a lot of ideas to light for me on how I can get my students to naturally acquire grammatical structures and vocabulary as well as getting them thinking in Spanish throughout the class. I think that implementation of an SSR program for the first 15 minutes of the class would be extremely beneficial for my students. Although I would like for them to read thematically relevant articles and resources with sheltered vocabulary (to remain comprehensible and not lose the engagement of the reader), I think it would be good just to get them interested in accessing authentic materials in the language and learning more about the topics that interest them.
I think that the most important implementation elements for me would be: appeal, encouragement, follow-up activities, and distributed time to read. I think that my students would benefit most from having a quick reflection on what the learned, such as: what is one pattern that you noticed? (help recognize grammatical rules and patterns) and what is one word that you learned? (vocabulary acquisition and reinforcement). Not only would these simple activities help the students reflect on grammar and vocabulary, but they would train these students to read with these things in mind and teach them to be analytical of language as they participate in the SSR time in class. I'm excited to get this going in class!
Speaking of reading, I'm seriously considering reading this article after I finish this post! I have spent most of the last 3 weeks struggling through acquisition activities in my IB Spanish 1 class doing most of the talking and redirecting student focus. I know that my students need more input to be successful in learning a new language, but their resistance to engaging in conversation about these familiar topics has me feeling that I am fighting my class more than teaching it.
ReplyDeleteSustained Silent Reading is bringing a lot of ideas to light for me on how I can get my students to naturally acquire grammatical structures and vocabulary as well as getting them thinking in Spanish throughout the class. I think that implementation of an SSR program for the first 15 minutes of the class would be extremely beneficial for my students. Although I would like for them to read thematically relevant articles and resources with sheltered vocabulary (to remain comprehensible and not lose the engagement of the reader), I think it would be good just to get them interested in accessing authentic materials in the language and learning more about the topics that interest them.
I think that the most important implementation elements for me would be: appeal, encouragement, follow-up activities, and distributed time to read. I think that my students would benefit most from having a quick reflection on what the learned, such as: what is one pattern that you noticed? (help recognize grammatical rules and patterns) and what is one word that you learned? (vocabulary acquisition and reinforcement). Not only would these simple activities help the students reflect on grammar and vocabulary, but they would train these students to read with these things in mind and teach them to be analytical of language as they participate in the SSR time in class. I'm excited to get this going in class!
Thanks for the comment Alex. This was my favorite article because it read like a memoir instead of a research article, but it provided some great tips. Implementing an SSR in a foreign language class would be great because it will give them exposure to a more natural form of the language. You can tell students to read Spanish books all you want, but if it's not part of the class, then they probably won't,
ReplyDeleteI teach IB Year 1 also - Lang and Lit. Nice to see another IB teacher here at WSCU. It's a grueling program for students and teachers alike!