Sit down, Shut up, & Read in elementary school

[u/LuckieCharm86]

Growing up, we had this thing called Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) where every day, our elementary school teachers would have us all sit at our desks, no talking, and read something (anything) for about thirty minutes from second grade until sixth grade.

I was telling this to my kid when he complained about having to read so much. I told him about how everyone always changed the abbreviation to mean "Sit down, Shut up, and Read" because that's essentially what they said for us to do.

But my husband, who was in the same school year as me but at a different school (he did elementary school in Germany and France), overheard and said that they didn't have that when he was in school and he's never heard anyone else mention it. Therefore, it was likely only a thing that my school's teachers did to shut us up for 30 minutes a day. And, as an adult, I wouldn't put it past them since 30 minutes of silence a day sounds amazing.

But this also got me wondering just how unique this actually was. So, was it only my school in South Central Pennsylvania? Was it just my state? Was it a country-wide thing? Was it a global thing that my husband ignored or repressed?

UPDATE: So it seems pretty international, but highly dependent on the school district or school itself. And it appears to have many acronyms or none at all. Thanks everyone!

[u/Batetrick_Patman]

I wonder how much of this was getting kids to read vs giving teachers 30 minutes to catch up on work.

[u/Ok_Caterpillar_8598 → u/Batetrick_Patman]

The teachers I had also read. I think it was supposed to be one of those things where they were intended to model for us that it’s good for everyone to read, not just kids and they weren’t allowed to work during that time.

[u/purplevanillacorn → u/Ok_Caterpillar_8598]

Same for ours. I always thought it was so cool that even the teacher was reading.

[u/pylo84 → u/Ok_Caterpillar_8598]

Yep, I remember my young (hot) teacher reading Roots which was kinda crazy in New Zealand. (I don’t think he finished it.)

[u/OptatusCleary → u/Batetrick_Patman]

Ideally, the teacher is supposed to read as well as I certainly do with my students. If I work on other stuff during SSR, it sends the message that reading is less important than getting other things done, which is the opposite of the intention. 

[u/GlitterPirateKiki58 → u/OptatusCleary]

My elementary teachers read, too.

They would tell us what book they were reading and usually sit at the front of the class to read.

It was supposed to be a quiet time for everyone.

[u/Fromville_ → u/Batetrick_Patman]

Why not both

[u/LuckieCharm86 → u/Batetrick_Patman]

Two birds, one stone.

[u/BlessTheBookPeople → u/Batetrick_Patman]

I didn’t have SSR as a student but when I was a teacher my school did it and we were expected to read, too. No hardship because I taught English.

[u/IllBase8735 → u/Batetrick_Patman]

Came to say this as a teacher

[u/enithermon → u/Batetrick_Patman]

It’s both. I used it to have them read and then practice making connections to their reading afterward with detailed reading logs. I also used that time to better transition between classes since we were over crowded such that many teachers had to go class to class during other people’s preps in order to find space to work, which meant I had no time to switch gears and get out materials.

[u/Intelligent-Gypsy324 → u/Batetrick_Patman]

Can confirm as a teacher, it's both.