Hi! First, for the format of our Readers Response Journals - "Keith Macks's Bulletin Boards". I signed up for a "Forums" membership at http://www.literacyworkshop.org/memberships.htm (note many different membership options on this page, starting with the free "Basic" option which includes listserve membership and side chats, with other options including web space, file upload tools, an email account, electronic bulletin board service, blogs, and/or special participation in projects (such as the Poetry Slam). Keith is The Man. But I digress.
This membership enables me to have access to an electronic bulletin board where I can create different forums for discussions of different types. One such forum is our "RRJ" forum. Each student has her own RRJ area, accessible to me and all other students. Once a week, either at school or at home depending on how they want to use their "choice time," they sign in and post "some sort of reaction" to their independent reading books. Usually, this includes a short plot summary and some sort of more personalized reaction - "I feel sorry for this character because she doesn't really seem to know what she wants to do with her life," "I hope that these two characters make up, but I'm not sure they will because their fight was so bad." and so on. I write back some sort of response to what they wrote, and that's pretty much it for the week. Students don't read aloud from them, but they are public and can be (and are) shared with other kids. Grading - sigh. I'm laying some groundwork for our middle school hopefully not using grades in the future. At the moment, I just count them on a "done - not done" basis, but deep down I know that some sort of rubric for self-evaluation would make them a lot more useful, whether or not that ends up being converted to a grade. Well, a project for next year's kids! Take care, Bill Ivey Stoneleigh-Burnham School "A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on Saturday, April 14, 2007 at 10:16 AM -0500 wrote: >I totally agree with you in regards to RRJs. Do the kids keep them in >class >or are they responsible for them? > >Also, Keith Mack's bulletin boards???? ************** >Tell us more about the "Readers Response Journals"--how you use them in >class and how do you grade them? > >Do students ever share aloud from them or are they personal? _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
