All Things SSR Mrs. Gosney Honors ELA I

What is SSR and why do it?  SSR stands for Sustained Silent Reading  Increasing reading depth (level of difficulty) and stamina (how much you can read and how long you can read without a break) is essential to growth as a student and an individual  SSR every day will help you see results as a growing reader  SSR allows you to have time to read what you want during the school day, which doesn’t happen very often

SSR Procedures  SSR is the first minutes every day. It is not optional. If you’re not cooperative, standard disciplinary action will occur (individual conversations, parent phone calls, detentions, office referrals, etc.)  You need to read the whole time  You should NOT have a different book every day  There are no electronics during SSR (headphones, cell phones, computers)—the only exception is an eReader (Nook, Kindle, etc.). An iPad is NOT acceptable  You are welcome to borrow a book off of my shelf, but let me know so I can check it out to you  SSR is NOT the time to visit the Media Center. If we visit the Media Center as a class, it will be before SSR.

Setting a Weekly Reading Goal  You are expected to read two hours or more per week at a comfortable pace. One hour will be completed in class, the other hour must be out of class.  A “comfortable pace” means something different for every person  How to determine your reading goal for the week:  Read at a comfortable pace for ten minutes and record how many pages you read  If you read 9 pages in 10 minutes, then in an hour, you should be able to read 54 pages (9 x 6 = 54)  If you read for the required two hours outside of class, you should have read 108 pages in one week (54 x 2 = 108)  The college expectation is at least 200 pages a week—and those 200 pages will NOT be in a book of your choice…

Reading Outside of Class  If your reading stamina is not great at first, that’s ok. Start at 10- minute reading chunks. However, you should work toward being able to read 1 hour or more without stopping or needing a break.  You will see growth in your reading stamina if you stick with it!  More challenging books affect reading rate (duh!). Obviously it takes more concentration and effort to read War and Peace than it does to read Harry Potter.  There is no excuse for not reading outside of class. EVERYONE has time to read for 10 minutes a day—before bed, at lunch, when you first get home from school, in the bathroom (gross, but true), on a break at work, etc.

Keeping Track  To receive your grade for the week, you need to meet or exceed your reading rate for the week.  Keep track of what you read outside of class.  I will also keep track of what you’re reading during SSR and what progress you’re making.  After SSR on Mondays, we will set your goal for the week. On Friday, we will turn in your reading log.  If you cheat on your reading records, you’re only cheating yourself. It’s only 5% of your overall grade, but if you do it the right way, you will benefit throughout your life.

Sample SSR Schedule Monday- Get weekly reading log, set weekly goal after SSR, complete reading log. Tuesday-SSR and Conferences, complete reading log. Wednesday- SSR and Conferences, complete reading log. Thursday- SSR, complete reading log. Friday-SSR, complete reading log and submit. *This is subject to change based on LMC checkout, book talks, etc.

Other Fun Facts  Keep track of your books on the 9 Week Reading Log. This will be kept in your portfolio.  Upon completion of the book, fill out the book reflection and submit to me. This will be placed in the review folder, and can been seen by other students who need ideas of new books.  We will have a class competition to see which class reads the most books. I will tally books based on reflections submitted.  The winning class at the end of each semester gets a super awesome prize. (Think food. Think film. Think Fun.)