I got this from James this morning:
Ben,
Today for the first time I tried SSR. It was in a Latin 2 class. We went for 30 minutes (!) without a peep and, as I could observe, actual focus on the text. I think this was because they could actually understand what they were reading, so no need for disruptions. (The reading was simple stuff they had seen in the textbook last year, but this time they were actually able to read it fluently, that is, without looking up nearly every word in the dictionary.)
The whole time I was itching to “do” something as a teacher. I basically felt silly just watching them read. But man! Imagine how much they gained from simply reading with quiet focus. Like gardeners we need to resist the temptation to be always checking and prodding the roots.
James