It comes as no surprise that the students who read often are the students who read well. How, then, can we get the rest of our students reading? Is it enough to set aside in-class time for sustained silent reading? Or should we set up a more structured program-one that ensures all of our students are engaged in their reading and that they do so on a regular basis for the pleasure of it?

Janice Pilgreen knows from hard-won experience that it takes a lot of time, effort, and know-how to put an effective sustained silent reading program into practice. In The SSR Handbook, she's done most of the work for you, not only providing an overview of the underlying research, but also reviewing eight essential factors that ensure a program's success. Pilgreen explicitly identifies these factors, then explains in detail how to incorporate them into your own program. The book also features lots of resources to help you implement your program, including support organizations, book clubs, classroom magazine subscription titles/addresses, favorite young adult series books within various genres, comic book titles, lower-level reading books for adolescents, and publishing company names, addresses, and phone numbers. Best of all, there are reproducible student and parent inventories, reading records, and other forms to assist you with the process.

Readers will come away from this book with an understanding of what SSR is, why it's important, and how to implement it in their own schools and classrooms. Just as important, they will be motivated and energized enough to want to develop new programs or modify existing programs right away.
About the Author:

Janice Pilgreen's mission for English Learners and the Secret Language of School is simple: If this book can provide some measure of guidance for teachers whose goal it is to support English learners, then it will have been a worthwhile effort. She taught English and ESL for 22 years and was motivated to write this book because she knew firsthand the uncertainties that teachers face in trying to help ELLs acquire academic English. Today she is Professor of Literacy Education and Director of the Literacy Center at the University of La Verne and conducts workshops on content-area comprehension and sustained silent reading. Jan is also the author of the popular Heinemann title The SSR Handbook.