When is Christmas break again?

Oh, that's right...it's three weeks away!

First day post-vacay was rough. First period, bless their little hearts, made me want to curse and break laws. Second period, my best class, was also hard to handle. The highlights of my day were, surprisingly enough, third period (a challenging group) and my seniors (who checked out before LAST year's graduation).

I have to admit, going back this morning was hard for me, too. I arranged for my freshmen to go to the library to check out books. As a former literacy coach, I really try to practice what I preached for four years and SSR was my mantra. (I think my principal thought I was a one-trick pony.) We read for ten to fifteen minutes at the beginning of every period. I've explained to them the importance of reading and likened it to a muscle. I wouldn't show up at a weight-lifting competition without working out ahead of time. Reading is the same way.

So we started with the library and SSR and then began our explicit strategy instruction to prepare for the semester exam. We're working on making inferences and reviewing tips for finding the internal text. I'm using strategies out of one of my favorite books, When Kids Can't Read What Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers. She's got great strategies for everything imaginable and gives real-life examples to use.

Now, the question that has haunted me all year--will SSR and explicit strategy instruction be enough? It keeps me up at night...and makes the vacations not long enough.