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Evidence-based Practice in Sustained Silent Reading
At the conclusion of the Northwest Practitioner Knowledge Institute, participants integrated what they had learned from their experiences and the empirical evidence from the research to determine the evidence-based practices that they recommended to other teachers. The advice they gave to other teachers about using sustained silent reading included:
- It is a good idea to incorporate modified sustained silent reading (SSR) into a multi-faceted reading program.
- Involve students in building the library. Include a large variety of texts.
- It is important to establish a reading log system for students’ self-assessment and external (teacher) assessment (how many, what books, what they liked).
- Plan for post-reading activities (activities conducted in pairs afterwards).
Examples are:
- Re-telling
- Journal entries
- Predicting
- Vocabulary
- Extension questions
- Try to retain the students’ focus on “pleasure reading.”
- Gauge SSR time, maybe a minimum of 15 minutes. It should be habitual with a consistent time and routine.