The Power of Reading: Enhanced SSR

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The Power of ReadingEnhanced SSR

• An Opportunity to Make a Positive Impact on Your
  Future Academic and Personal Success

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The man who does not read good books has no
advantage over the man who cannot read
them.Mark Twain
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Questions You Might Have

• What is Enhanced SSR?
• What do you want me to do during SSR?
• Why are we taking time out of the school day to
  have SSR?
• How is it going to help me?

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1 What is Enhanced SSR?
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SSR is an acronym forSustained Silent Reading.

• SSR is a reading intervention strategy used in
  schools all over the nation.

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A rose by any other name would smell as sweet
. . .W. Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet
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Names for In-School Practice Reading Programs

• SSR Sustained Silent Reading
• USSR Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading
• DEAR Drop Everything and Read
• FUR Free Uninterrupted Reading
• SQUIRT Sustained Quiet Uninterrupted Reading
  Time
• IRT Independent Reading Time
• WART Writing and Reading Time
• FVR Free Voluntary Reading

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By whatever name a school may choose to
call it, SSR is a period of quiet, school-wide
reading.
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So what does Enhanced SSR mean?

• Enhanced SSR is our own version of SSR
• It allows you to learn reading strategies in
  mini-lessons during SSR time.
• It allows you to practice those strategies in
  groups, pairs, and individually during reading
  time.
• It provides you with a set of strategies that you
  can use in your other classes and on standardized
  tests, such as the ACT and Exit Tests.
• It allows a mentor teacher to get to know you and
  your reading style and to help you make the most
  of SSR time.
• It allows us to evaluate your reading formally
  and informally.

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2 What do you want me to do during the SSR
period?
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These Things

• Read
• Participate in mini-lessons to learn new
  strategies
• Practice those strategies in lessons you are
  assigned to complete during SSR time.
• Apply those strategies when you read in your
  classes, on tests, or at home.
• Give honest feedback when you are asked about
  your reading.

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We need you to do the following

• Daily, you will need to bring reading material to
  your SSR class. (Most of the time you should
  bring a book occasionally you may read
  newspapers or magazine articles.)
• When the bell rings to end class, you should
  begin reading.

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• Approximately once every two weeks your mentor
  teacher will present a mini-lesson that will show
  you how to apply a particular reading strategy.
• You will be asked to apply that strategy during
  SSR time. Sometimes you will be asked to do a
  written or an oral assignment so that your mentor
  teacher can evaluate how well you are able to use
  the strategy.

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You will earn a grade for your effort A, B,
F You will receive ½ unit credit in reading on
your transcript. This grade will be part of your
cumulative GPA.
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3Why are we taking time out of the school
day to have SSR?
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I Have No Time
I have no time to dream a dream Or think a
splendid thought, Or visit with King Arthur In
the land of Camelot.
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Ive classified one-hundred bugs, And learned
mitosis phases, While wishing that my lab
book Had a story to its pages.
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I could travel to another time With Huck Finn on
his raft. Or read a poem by Silverstein That
really makes me laugh.
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Instead I fill in Xs and Os, A never-ending
chore. How I long to be with Gulliver On a
strange and distant shore!
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Nouns, pronouns, irregular verbs Are sad and
dull and stale, Unless theyre fired with the
spark Of a mighty, wondrous tale. Adaptation
of poem from an unknown author
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Reading Is A Skill

• Ask any sports coach, the band director, the
  speech coach, the key-boarding teacher, a dance
  teacher, or a chess champion, What do I do to
  be good?

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Answer
Practice
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However, research tells us most students get very
little practice reading

• Reading practice declines markedly after fifth
  grade.
• On average, high-school students spend about as
  much time in literature-based practice as
  kindergarten students.
• Schools graduate students that have practiced
  reading an average of only seven minutes per day
  over their entire academic career.

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Research tells us students who read more
demonstrate markedly higher achievement.

• Students in the top 5 read 144 times more than
  students in the bottom 5.
• Students in private schools read 67 more than
  public school students.
• On national testing, students who scored in the
  top 25 spent 59 more time reading than do
  students who score in the bottom 25.

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Our Own Research Shows that SSR Improves Reading
Scores

• Reading Scores on the Nelson-Denny Test last year
  show the following improvement in average grade
  equivalent for this years juniors and seniors.
• 
  1101 503
• Senior Scores 10.8 13.4 GE
• Sophomores Scores 9.9 11.1 GE

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Of the students who took both the 2001
Nelson- Denny Test and the 2003 Nelson-Denny
Test, 83 improved their reading scores.
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Enhanced SSR will allow us to teach you the
READING strategies that good readers use to
comprehend what they read

• Recall prior knowledge before, during, and after
  reading to glean understanding
• Engage in questioning before, during, and after
  reading to clarify understanding and focus their
  reading
• Activate sensory images to deepen their
  understanding of the text
• Determine what is important
• Infer to predict, draw conclusions, make
  judgments, and form unique interpretations from
  the text
• Network new information with existing knowledge
  to create original ideas and interpretations and
  make critical evaluations
• Get past comprehension problems by consciously
  and independently applying appropriate
  strategies.

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4How is all this going to helpME?
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Research shows
It makes you a better reader.
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It improves your spelling.
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It improves your vocabulary.
Students learn an average of 45 words with each
novel they read. Word meaning is picked up 10
times faster by reading than intensive vocabulary
instruction.
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It improves your writing.
Research shows that both style and complexity of
sentence structure is increased as the amount of
reading increases.
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The Most Important Benefits from Silent Reading
Practice Have Nothing to Do with Research.
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What we become depends on what we read after all
of the professors have finished with us. The
greatest university of all is a collection of
books. Thomas Carlyle
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Richard Peck may provide the best answer for why
you should want to improve your ability to read
in his poem entitled I Read.
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I READ because one life isnt enough, and in the
pages of a book I can be anybody.
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I READ because the words that build the story
become mine to build my life.
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I READ not for happy endings but for new
beginnings Im just beginning myself, and I
wouldnt want a map.
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I READ because I have friends who dont, and
young though they are, theyre beginning to run
out of material.
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I READ because every journey begins at the
library and its time for me to start packing.
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I READ because one of these days Im going to get
out of this town, and Im going to go everywhere
and meet everybody--and I want to be ready.