SSR in 207

Silent Sustained Reading
There are lots of opinions about this practice and whether or not it's beneficial. Some researchers are fans of making this a structured time.

Here's my take:
1. Let them choose to read whatever they want. Minimally, this means a diversified and well-stocked class library. I also allow them to bring books from home, the school library, or the local library.

2.  Let them read. No teacher intervention. Just let them read. Ideally, the teacher (yours truly) would be reading along with them. I need to come up in this area. I normally use this time to meet with small groups of children or one-on-one with certain students.

3. After about 20-30 minutes of reading a book of their choice, I follow it up with
     a. Having them write a written summary (modeled in the beginning of the school year)
or
     b. Have them do an illustrative summary, no words, just pictures to represent the portion they read
or
     c.  Prepare a pantomime presentation
     d.  Followed by a "Book Talk" where they discuss with classmates around the classroom the content of their written or illustrative summary or pantomime what it was they read as their classmates guess, not the title, but the events.

My take on SSR!

"To become better readers we {Class: "READ!!"}, we don't {Class: "SWIM!!"}"

~Mr. Flemming and whatever group he's teaching at the time