Hi Heather, Their Response to LIterature Essay is a requirement in our district. The Response to Book Bites serves a dual purpose. It is a lot of essay reading, but it's what I need to do with them. It takes hours of reading the papers and there is no way of getting around it or them. I do tell the classes that they will not have their essays returned for a long time if they want me to read them. Luckily I teach for a principal that is supportive of what I do and is more than willing to give me release days to read and evaluate essays. I had to come to the conclusion early on that as an English teacher, I will never be caught up till the year is over, and even then . . .
Now, this coming year, I think I will be teaching 2 Honors, 2 Advanced and 1 Below Basics. Any ideas on the really low students? I am thinking of running their class elementary style and begin with sentence writing and progressing to paragraph writing and hopefully on to a very formulaic, structured essay. I sometimes find it amazing that after several years of reduced class size in the lower grades that there is no noticeable difference or gap closing between those that can and those that cannot. Short Story Book Bites might be good for these students under a controled system because usually there are behavior issues that go along with low level readers. I would be very interested in hearing about your ideas. It really helps to have this venue to brain storm. Wendy ---- Heather Poland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I like this idea as well :) I am always in favor of having good discussions > about the books read! > > Honestly, in the past, I did not have the students present their response to > lit papers because I had a 50 min. period and so many students (35+ in each > class) However, I think combining the writing with a discussion in groups is > great. You could probably even do it socratic seminar style - a student > presents his/her thesis and then they discuss. That would be interesting. > > On 7/3/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > Hello, > > > > I also teach in California and we are fairly tied to the district's > > curriculum which is Holt Literature and Language Arts as well as the State > > Standards. However, in my advancing age I am learning to be the good > > teacher I once was before NCLB and the standards and the fact that Basic is > > no longer passing. But I digress. With my honors classes I use high level > > novels and conduct Book Bites. Students are given 4 weeks to read a > > novel. The 4th week I hand out a list of 15 to 20 discussion / prompts for > > the students to prepare for Book Bites. On the day of Book Bites we all > > volunteer to bring our favorite finger munchies. We use the prompt / > > questions and discuss the book for that period. I tell them I will be > > choosing one of these questions for them to respond to in a Response to > > Literature writing. It will not be a traditional book report, but we will > > address conflict or theme as well as symbolism, connections and > > evaluations. Since it was my first year I already want to change and adapt > > this Book Bites to my Basic Classes using the stories in the Holt . . the > > better ones, what few their are. My problem is finding enough novels for > > all the students. Perhaps I could do Literature Circle Book Bites and have > > group novels in the same genre or author or theme. > > > > You guys give me motivation. Thanks! > > > > Mrs. Mac > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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 > > > > > > -- > - Heather > > "The world of books is the most remarkable creation of > man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments > fall; nations perish; civilizations grow old and die out; > new races build others. But in the world of books are > volumes that have seen this happen again and again and yet > live on. Still young, still as fresh as the day they were > written, still telling men's hearts of the hearts of men > centuries dead." --Clarence Day > > "While the rhetoric is highly effective, remarkably little > good evidence exists that there's any educational substance > behind the accountability and testing movement." > —Peter Sacks, Standardized Minds > > "When our children fail competency tests the schools lose > funding. When our missiles fail tests, we increase > funding. " > —Dennis Kucinich, Democratic Presidential Candidate > _______________________________________________ > 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 _______________________________________________ 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
