Creating Lifelong Readers

Amy Jessica McMillan
IL

Gardiner, S. (2005). Chapter 1: Creating lifelong readers.  In Building student literacy through sustained silent reading. Retrieved from  http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/105027/chapters/Creating-Lifelong-Readers.aspx

Summary
In the first chapter from his book Building Student Literacy Through Sustained Silent Reading, author Steve Gardiner outlines the various forms of sustained silent reading (SSR) as they currently exist in schools. Variations of SSR include free voluntary reading (FVR), drop everything and read (DEAR), love to read (LTR), independent reading time (IRT), and many others. Gardiner gives a brief history of the origins of SSR and discusses why its popularity has ebbed and flowed over the past few decades. Next, Gardiner outlines some research in support of SSR, most importantly from Steve Krashen and his 1993 book The Power of Reading. In addition, Gardiner cites Caught in the Middle author and educator Nancy Atwell as a strong proponent of SSR, and he details Atwell's suggestions for what to do and what not to do when running a reading workshop. Finally, Gardiner makes the case for encouraging independent reading because when students build reading stamina and learn to enjoy reading, it becomes a "flow activity"and this is what is necessary to build lifelong readers.

Evaluation
As a classroom English teacher for the past fifteen years I have personally witnessed how the popularity of independent reading as receded over the past decade. In 2000 I taught at a school which mandated twenty-five minutes of independent reading time daily. Fast forward to 2008 and new district administrators actively discouraged independent reading at school, citing "lack of research." The perceived lack of research for independent reading comes from the National Reading Panel Report (2000) in which report authors claim there isn't significant evidence to support independent reading as a strategy to improve overall student reading proficiency. However, I am happy to say that this trend seems to be reversing itself. As Gardiner states in the first chapter of his book, there is research supporting independent reading programs. No one is advocating that independent reading is the only type of instruction that should happen in schools. In fact, classroom teachers still have a curriculum to teach. Gardiner is simply arguing that a robust independent reading program is necessary for students to practice the skill, to gain new vocabulary, and to become avid and engaged lifetime readers. I agree with Stephen Krashen, as quoted in Gardiner's article: "[Independent reading] will not, by itself, produce the highest levels of competence; rather, it provides a foundation so that higher levels of proficiency may be reached. When FVR [free voluntary reading] is missing, these advanced levels are extremely difficult to attain" ("What Researchers Say" section).