Back in Action

After a long hiatus, I am back to reviewing the books that I am reading. My hope is that this blog will become a tool for my students (and others) to use to find books to read.

Proof that not every student hated SSR :)

This past semester, I implemented an SSR (student selected reading) period at the beginning of every class to encourage my students to read more. Okay, so I sort of forced them to read, but I allowed them to choose the books they read, within a very broad limit. The only requirements were that it was a piece of fiction and something at their reading level, which of course varied from student to student. The result? I had students reading! I'm talking about the kid who is a self-proclaimed reluctant reader, you know, the one who groans when you tell him that he has to read a book. Several times throughout the semester, I had students coming in and say "Ms. Ferrari! I read my book at home last night!" or
"Ms. Ferrari, I read in the car all the way to location X and all the way back!"

Of course, this wasn't the case with every single student, but out of my 80+ students, almost all of them finished at least 1 book, sometimes for the first time in their high school career.  Some students were reading so much that I couldn't get new books into their hands quick enough! My favorite part every day would be at the end of the designated time, usually 10, 15, or 20 minutes, depending on how into my own book I was, when I would tell them to find a good stopping point or finish the page. I would look up from whatever book I was reading, and instead of seeing every student rushing to close his or her book, eager to move on to the next item on our agenda, I would see students still reading. And still reading. Sometimes for as long as 5 more minutes. A few times, students would look up at me and catch me with a huge grin on my face because seeing them absorbed in books makes me so happy.

I will again implement SSR during the next school year, making a few changes to how I structure the time, but I am looking forward to seeing how my next groups of students respond. I am also looking forward to seeing how many more books I am able to read during SSR myself. Last semester I read 10 books, during class only.