Sustained Silent Reading

Reading is a skill. Like swimming, or shooting a basketball through a hoop, reading needs to be practiced over and over until automaticity kicks in and metacognition begins: this zone is where real comprehension begins. This is where the higher levels of cognition reside. This is the home of critical thinking.

What can a teacher do to achieve this? Give your students plenty of opportunities to negotiate text with true relevance. Let your students read everyday in your classroom for at least fifteen minutes. The dividends will be plenty. Reading is the key to everything.

In a nutshell, let your classroom become a gym for the practice of reading. Let your students negotiate text.