Today Miss K is kicking off our quarter of posts on teaching reading. Reading is a built-in norm in all our English classrooms. She continually tells students that reading makes you a better writer and writing makes you a better reader; they go hand in hand. It is most likely a similar discussion in your classrooms. Plus, we cannot eliminate the fact that many of our classrooms focus on those pesky standardized tests, where reading is a focal point.
As humans, reading is an integral part of our lives, and therefore, creating a lifelong reading habit in our students is important. But, it’s not an easy task. Especially today, when students want information quickly and they love to use the excuse, “I hate reading.” How do we create a habit for them to be readers?
Miss K has found the best way to make it a routine in the classroom. The start of class – the first ten to fifteen minutes – is dedicated to silent sustained reading (SSR). This is most likely not a new concept to you, but adding it to a routine may cause a bit of a pause. Ten to fifteen minutes of class time is a lot and there are so many things that we are required to do in class. You may be asking, “is it worth the time?”
YES!
Creating a routine where students read a book helps them sustain their reading on tests, encourages them to be resilient and stick with a book, and also builds a natural transition into the class that can reduce behaviors.
It is not easy, but doing it day after day gives students the expectation that no matter what they will read for the beginning of class.
Plus, those moments when you feel like you have more important things to do, tie them into SSR. For the past few weeks, Miss K has been studying narrative elements with students. So, she tied it into the silent sustained reading. She directed students to read with the elements in mind and to flag the page when they found a narrative element and had a quick share out at the end of SSR time each day or every other day. Maybe your class is studying nonfiction texts, you ask students to find connections to your driving question or essential question. Not every student may be able to find a connection, but they are focusing their reading on it and generating discussion for the class.
Some tips Miss K finds useful to start:
- Start easy and slow – ten minutes to start. If possible work in a day every week or so that is a little longer.
- Encourage students to find a book to stick with and try. When students are reading a different book each day, they are not creating much of a habit.
- But, if they truly do not like the book, give them the opportunity to change it!
- Ask students what they like to watch when they tell you they don’t like to read. It is a good place to start when looking for a book to read.
- Use the resources available to you to help students access books: PDFs online, the local library, online databases, audiobooks on YouTube, etc.
- Allow students to listen to their books. It is still a habit!
- Read with your students! Model the habit – and give yourself some time to transition into the class too!
