Lucinda, we did a couple of things in our classes that seem to have improved the amount of independent reading kids are doing. We have a status of the class form that gets passed around each day. Each child has a page with dates in it. They have to record the title of the book and the number of pages read. Each week they give themselves a grade for the number of pages read - the teacher decides how many pages equal a certain grade). I can send you an attachment privately if you'd like to see it. This works well because it is passed around while they are working so it doesn't take any time away from teaching.
The second part is a weekly reading response. We found that kids can do beautiful book reports without ever having read a book by finding information on line, so we gave up on those. Each week the students have to respond with a "reading as a reader" or "reading as a writer" response. This idea came from the Teaching that Makes Sense website - http://www.ttms.org/ On the left side click on "read like a reader, read like a writer" link. We ask the kids to alternate doing a "read like a reader" response one week and a "read like a writer" response the next week. They also have to vary the types of responses they write (for instance, when reading like a writer, one week they might discuss "voice" and another week "word choice" etc.) I find the "read like a writer" responses harder for them to complete, but it helps them analyze what authors do and use those strategies in their own writing. I also like the fact that the "read like a writer" responses are based on the six traits of writing (which we use for grading their writing) so it helps them understand the writing rubric better. The reading responses make them more accountable for actually doing the reading. When they try to fake their responses, it quickly becomes obvious that they're not reading. Since we started using these ideas last year, many of our parents are saying, "I don't know what you're doing, but my child is suddenly reading a lot more." Carla -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Lucinda Marcello Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2007 11:04 AM To: A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades. Subject: Re: [LIT] Prompts Take Two Heather, Thank you. I do like the idea of a weekly reading reflection. This may solve our reading log issue. I would love to see your format for it. How many pages a week did you calculate for the 25 books? Wow. Twenty-five books is what I have read other schools are reading across the country. I wonder if we are not challenging them enough. We have seven book reports and for many this is ALL they read besides the short stories/novels we do in class. Are these 25 books chosen by your students or are you including books you read in class? I wonder about the value of book reports as I am now grading another batch of them.....At the end of their books, do you have a reading reflection or do they do a book report? What else did you do to encourage reading as a culture in your class? We take the students to our library every two weeks and the wonderful librarian has book talks about new selections and the genre we are reading. I really appreciate your ideas and thank you so much. Lucinda ----- Original Message ----- From: "Heather Poland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades." <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2007 9:32 AM Subject: Re: [LIT] Prompts Take Two I'm not Bill, but I have some ideas :) With a reading log, yes, some kids will lie. I think this will always be the case. I still required a reading log that showed they had read at least 25 books by the end of the year. I also required different genres. What I also did was have a weekly reading reflection. They had to write 1 page, document the title, author, and how many pages of the book they read (I had a requirement for amount of pages per week in order to get them to the 25 books). In the reflection, they did NOT summarize. They wrote what they thought about the book. I showed them how they could use evidence from the book, I suggested at times they talk about theme, or characters - whatever we were studying. I liked this assignment. Yes, some students still did not read and still wrote a reflection, but I think more students actually read than did not. It helped not having a summary because then they can't copy off the back of the book. And it is a lot harder to write a reflection if they have no read the material. So, I don't think you can ever get everyone to read as much as you want - some will lie. But if in your class you are encouraging reading, making suggestions as to what books a particular student may like, and have reading as a culture in your class, I think that really helps. I did a number of things besides this assignment to make books and reading a part of the culture in my classroom. I was also successful at getting some non-readers to start reading, at least a little! On 10/21/07, Lucinda Marcello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Bill, > > What do you do to encourage reading for middle school students at home and > in class? Do you have reading logs for your students or how do you > encourage > reading & responding? I am wondering how valid they are after our first > quarter. We have been using them in our middle school. Some students have > really embraced it, saying they are reading more, others are lying, and > others refuse to do it which tanks their grade. > > I respect your feedback and would welcome any ideas you may have > implemented. > > Thanks you. > Lucinda Marcello > 7th Grade Language Arts > Secrist Middle School > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bill IVEY" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: "MT" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Lit Site" < > [email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2007 6:27 AM > Subject: Re: [LIT] Prompts Take Two > > > > Hi! > > > > How about "Why do we care what others think of us?" > > > > Take care, > > Bill Ivey > > Stoneleigh-Burnham School > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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 > > > > > > -- > > No virus found in this incoming message. > > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > > Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.15.3/1081 - Release Date: > > 10/19/2007 5:41 PM > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.15.3/1082 - Release Date: 10/20/2007 2:59 PM _______________________________________________ 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
