Sustained Silent Reading

I believe that the single most important thing I can do as an English teacher is turn kids on to reading for pleasure. Students who read for pleasure have so many advantages over those who don't.

If you don't believe it, check out these statistics.
1. Students in the top 5% of their class read 144 times more than students in the bottom 5%.
2. On national testing, students in the top 25% spent 59% more time reading than students in the bottom 25%.
     A.  Students who read 2 minutes a day score in the 30th percentile.
     B.  Students who read 5 minutes a day score in the 50th percentile.
     C.  Students who read 10 minutes a day score in the 70th percentile.
     D.  Students who read 20 minutes a day score in the 90th percentile.
     E.  Students who read 65 minutes a day score in the 98th percentile.

READING LEVEL OF THE BOOK HAD NO IMPACT ON THESE STATISTICS!!!

Research shows that reading done by college students in their earlier years contains a preponderance of series books like Nancy Drew, Harry Potter, Infernal Devices, Princess Diaries, and Maze Runner.

There seems to be a need for the familiar--text, characters, situations--that are predictable enough to be non-threatening and mindless enough to allow readers to become proficient and fluent, to meet lots of words without having to worry about subplots and character development.

What about the classics?

According to Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook,  “About the only people in this country who read them [the classics]are teenagers—and only because they are required to….At some point it might be helpful for secondary English heads to define the goal of their curriculum:  Is it to create future English professors or future readers?"

Reading the classics is not helpful in creating a reader from a nonreader. Students need to begin with reading experiences aimed at their ability and interest levels.  Hopefully, by becoming proficient readers, these students will be led into reading books with more depth/substance in later years or in whole-class settings.

RESEARCH SHOWS THAT BEING A PROFICIENT READER HELPS STUDENTS...

→improve spelling

→improve writing

→improve vocabulary

→improve grammar

SSR HELPS TO CREATE LIFELONG READERS.

A big problem in our society today is that people don't read anymore. Not like they used to.

Some more statistics:

1. 40% of the homes in the United States don't buy a single book in a year.

2. Most of the buying and reading is done by 30% of the public.

3. Only 28% of Americans age 15 years or older read for pleasure on any given day.

4. 24% of Americans say that haven't read a book in whole or in part in the past year.

To quote Thomas Jefferson: "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

WE NEED TO CREATE READERS!!  

And in case you didn't know it...

You don't create a reader by having kids read classics all the time.  Teach classics as whole class novels, but please...turn your kids on to some fun, independent reading, too. It's well worth the time and effort. Heck, it might even be the saving of us.

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