“Everyone, SSR begins now.”

An administrator randomly announces this during a random period. It’s as if they expect students to have  psychic powers so that they know that on this random Wednesday during fourth period SSR is going to happen. Sorry, students at LHS aren’t that talented. Sure, it was posted somewhere on some calendar before the start of the school year. Then how come nobody knows about it?

There are lots of problems with the way SSR, or Sustained Silent Reading, is run right now. If the school really wants to offer time for students to read for pleasure during the school day, these problems need to be fixed asap. Or, it’s time for SSR to go.

First of all, students have no idea when it is. So when they announce that it has begun many students don’t even have a book or magazine to read. And I don’t think reading a math book is appealing to many people. But many teachers just reply with “read what you have.” And in many cases students don’t carry a book of enjoyment around with them. So what are students to read? If they are lucky maybe the teacher has magazines or books laying around, but it most likely won’t be something the students want to read. It’s become wasted time for many students.

If we are given time to read in school, we should know ahead of time in order for students to know to grab their favorite magazine or book to read.

Secondly, many teachers disregard SSR altogether. When we had SSR during first period, I had a study. So I went to my locker to get my books. While walking around I noticed numerous teachers teaching their classes during SSR. I’m not here to rat them out, but if teachers don’t even follow it then whats the point of doing it? If we truly value SSR then everybody has to buy into it.

And finally, if students are reluctant to read in the first place, 30 minutes every couple of weeks isn’t going to make them want to. Forcing students to do something they don’t want to do is making them more resistant. If a student or a teacher wants to read they will do it on their own time.

So let’s fix SSR. Do it right or don’t do it at all.