Out with SSR - In with Reading Workshop!

Remember when SSR was popular? Sustained Silent Reading was implemented in schools across the country, and it was based on the belief that the best way to improve reading skills was to provide uninterrupted time for reading. So for 30 minutes a day, all school activities were suspended as teachers, administrators, students, and even custodians stopped to read. Students were supposed to be inspired to love reading through book choice, time to read, and observing adult reading models. It made perfect sense .... but what appeared to be a wonderful idea in theory didn't always lead to strong reading gains in practice.

Even though I love reading, I wasn't completely surprised when researchers began to question the effectiveness of traditional SSR practices. I strongly believe in giving kids more choice as well as plenty of independent reading time in class, but I believe the old SSR model was weak because of the following assumptions:

1. If we give students time to read and choice in what they are reading, they will spend the given time reading their chosen book. 
2. It's more important for teachers to model a love of reading than to work directly with students during independent reading time.

Let's take a closer look at what was REALLY going on during that uninterrupted block of reading time. If you used SSR in your classroom, you may remember looking up from your own book only to notice your students’ eyes wandering and sleepy heads drooped over half-closed books. Big surprise! Many kids weren't reading at all!  Sure, good readers loved SSR and enjoyed having more time to read in class and SSR may have been effective for them. But struggling readers were not improving because they weren't actually reading. Clearly, having time to read and seeing a teacher model reading were not enough to inspire struggling readers to become passionate readers.

So where did we go wrong? I believe the olde SSR model was doomed from the start due to the teacher’s assigned role. Requiring teachers to read silently during SSR was a mistake. Because we were supposed to be reading ourselves, we couldn't confer with students to find out why they weren't reading or to help them find appropriate reading material. We couldn't hold them accountable for their reading or work with them on reading skills. All we could do was read, and that's what we did.

Thankfully, the old sustained silent reading model has all but disappeared. Many educators who recognize the importance of student choice and time to read now embrace a method called reading workshop and use the acronym SSR to mean Self-Selected Reading. On the surface it may look like old SSR model, but the critical difference is the teacher's role. Reading workshop sessions start with a short mini lesson that often includes a favorite read aloud. Then students choose their own books and read silently for at least 30 minutes a day. However, during reading workshop, the teacher uses the self-selected independent reading time to quietly confer with individual students or to conduct small guided reading groups. Literacy centers and basal reading texts are noticeably absent; the power of this program can be attributed to students actively engaged in reading appropriate books for long periods of time. A quick glance around the room reveals that kids ARE actually reading and not just flipping pages or daydreaming. A caring teacher has taken time to help them find appropriate reading material and confers with them on a regular basis, and that makes all the difference. Teachers still model a love of reading, but they are active ambassadors for reading rather than passive consumers of print. They read aloud with enthusiasm, and they take an interest in what their students are reading. In short, they infuse their classrooms with a love of reading, and they create an environment where time to read is treasured.

Why am I so passionate about reading workshop? Perhaps I'm fired up because I saw the power of reading workshop when I was teaching, and I hope to inspire others to embrace this method as well. Not only did my students become better readers, but they learned to find joy in the simple pleasures of reading.  Teaching my students to love reading was a gift that I gave them, a gift that would continue to impact their futures long after they left my classroom. What could be more rewarding?

If you would like more information on reading workshop, you can begin your journey by visiting the Reading Workshop page on my Teaching Resources website. You'll find a list of recommended books, a free webinar recording, helpful printables, and links to online resources. If you love reading and are frustrated with your current reading program, jump in and give reading workshop a try! I can promise that you'll never regret it!

The Power of Print

Yesterday was an exciting day for me! The Fed Ex truck pulled up while I was eating breakfast and delivered 3 heavy boxes. My newly published book, Laura Candler's PowerReading Workshop: A Step-by-Step Guide had arrived! This book was published last year in ebook form as Empowering Readers: A Quick Start Guide to Reading Workshop, but it was revised and updated in 2011 and given a new name. Seeing it in print for the first time was a special moment for me.

What is it about a print version of a book that makes it seem so much more real than an ebook? Is it the fact that I grew up as a voracious reader and constantly had a book in my hands? Perhaps the sensation of holding a physical book is similar to the "comfort food" feeling of eating forbidden homemade treats I once enjoyed. Print books recall those happy childhood years I spent discovering the joys of reading.

Don't get me wrong - I'm a huge fan of ebooks - I love the fact that they don't take up space on my shelf and I don't lose them. I've been writing ebooks for the last 3 years and I've been purchasing them longer than that, so I obviously see the value in them. In fact, Power Reading Workshop is available in digital form because ebooks are so darned convenient! But there's still something about a print book that grabs me. I wonder if children born today will have the same affinity for print books? Somehow I think not. Their "comfort book" feeling will be related to holding an eReader of some sort!

As I hold my first print first copy of Power Reading Workshop, I'm filled with gratitude for the many inspiring books that convinced me to try reading workshop, books like Steven Layne's Igniting a Passion for Reading and Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer. I'm also grateful for the teachers who field-tested the strategies in Power Reading Workshop with their students and helped me fine-tune the program.

As an avid reader myself, it saddens me that many of today's kids haven't discovered the joys of reading. So when I discovered the power of this approach a few years ago, I knew I had to share with others, especially upper elementary teachers like myself, teachers who would appreciate step-by-step directions for implementing reading workshop.  I set up a discussion group called Empowering Readers to help me tweak the process, and I'm indebted to those teachers for the terrific ideas they shared and the solid advice they gave me. Now that many of them have wrapped up a year of reading workshop, it's been extremely gratifying to read the success stories that have been sent to the group - stories of kids who love to read AND who have made tremendous growth on state reading tests.

Reading Workshop really does work! The method works when kids are reading print books, and it will work just fine when print books no longer exist. But in the meantime, I'll treasure my very first print copy of Power Reading Workshop!

Note: If you would like to learn more about this approach, I invite you to join me in a webinar on reading workshop to be held July 21st. Visit my webinar page on Teaching Resources for more information and to register.

Spreading the Word about Reading Workshop

Over a year ago I began writing my book, Empowering Readers: A Quick Start Guide to Reading Workshop, and I have some exciting news to share. It's now available in digital form, but it will soon be available in print as well! I love the reading workshop approach, and I wrote the book to spread the word and to provide an easy, step-by-step guide to this method. 

I had dreamed of having Empowering Readers published in print to reach a larger audience, and now it looks like that dream is going to come true! I just signed a deal with Raphel Marketing to publish the book in soft cover form, and I know the project is in excellent hands. The publisher wants to reformat the book, update its image, and give it a new cover. The plan includes me adding about 50 pages of brand new content to the existing manuscript. It’s actually going to be like two books in one because the new material is the Literacy Concepts Organizers ebook that I’m writing now. 

The revised print version of Empowering Readers will be organized into two parts. Part I will focus on how to implement the Reading Workshop approach, and Part II will consist of over a dozen graphic organizers and foldables to be used in reading mini-lessons. If you already own Empowering Readers, don’t worry. The Literacy Concept Organizers will be available as a separate ebook and the entire print version of Empowering Readers will be available for half price to those who have already purchased the digital version.

If you’ve followed my blogs and read my newsletters over the last few years, you’ll know that I love to collaborate with other educators as I create new materials. For the next few weeks, I’ll be working with the members of the Empowering Readers Learning Community as I write Literacy Concept Organizers. They will have full access to the new material and the final digital version. I’ll be asking for feedback from this group every step of the way. In fact, within a few days I should have a whole packet of graphic organizers to upload to the member website. If you would like to be a part of this project, take a moment to read about Empowering Readers Learning Community and how you can get involved. (http://www.lauracandler.com/erlc.php)

I’ll keep you informed about any news related to this project. The target date for the release of the book is July 1, just in time for my Summer Workshop Extravaganza! I'm excited to think that my book will now be available in many places online and in book stores, places where it can found by teachers who want to inspire their students with a love for reading.