Reading is the basis of all learnings and also an effective and systematic way to acquire knowledge. Massive reading can enrich one's background knowledge and increase one's learning ability and creativity. It's an essential habit and ability that any person in the 21st Century should have.
Since 2015, our school has promoted interest-based reading mode in order to increase students' reading interest and ability. We emphasize on students' reading interest development and habit formation that students should have the autonomy in choosing what to read, no longer reading what required by teachers or parents. In doing so, students are forming the life-long reading habit and ability. We introduced "Modeled Sustained Silent Reading (MSSR)", led and promoted by Prof. Chen De Huai (陳德懷教授), of Graduate Institute of Network Learning Technology, National Central University, Taiwan. MSSR is based on cultivating students' interest and emphasizes that teachers and parents are to become role models in reading.
The four elements of Modeled Sustained Silent Reading are:
Modeled (M) : Teachers read together with students at the front of the classroom.
Sustained (S): Reading must be done daily without suspension.
Silent (S) : Reading environment should be silent and quiet.
Reading (R) : Choose the books you are interested in to read.
With MSSR, the principal is encouraged to become a role model, establishing reading culture in the school; teachers to become role models, leading students to spend time reading together during Morning Reading Lesson so as to cultivate students' reading interests and habits. Besides MSSR, we also introduced "Book Talk" model encouraging students to share their thoughts after reading and have discussions so as to stimulate students' thinking and increase their reading interest and their ability to express themselves. Our school principal and teachers have visited the schools in Taiwan several times and exchanged for experience in implementing MSSR.
