I believe for 8th graders, I required 80 pages a week. I had them turn in their reflection on Monday so that if they had activities during the week, they could read on the weekend. I found that requiring a per week requirement was easier at my school since a lot of the kids had other commitments. This allowed students to read it all in 1 day if they wanted, or spread it out. For my struggling readers, I told them how they could read a certain amount of pages per day (if they were struggling with it). As for teaching them how to write the reflection, I first showed them one that I wrote, then I had them practice in class with something we read. They turned it in and I gave them tons of feedback. Then, they did it on their own.
For the 25 books, these were books chosen by the students. I did not have them put the read aloud books I read to them on it, but if we did a shared reading of a novel they could put that on there. However, I didn't use that many novels in my class. I had 1 read aloud novel going which I used as a shared reading if we had enough copies. We read a lot of short stories and articles, and the bulk of my class was nonfiction reading and writing. I did make a reading log which required them to read in all the genres. I also had a page requirement, however, for my struggling readers, I let them read smaller books. They just had to get it approved by me. Also, I had a list of college bound reading that the high schools gave out, and I went through it and put dots next to all the books I thought were appropriate for middle school reading. If they read any books on there, I gave them some "Extra credit". I also put stars by the books on there that are my favorites. They were very excited about that! In my class, I always had chart paper up with MY reading log for the year. They were always surprised at how many books I read and also since just about all I read is young adult fiction, they often wanted to read what I had read. When I would buy books for the classroom, I would always introduce them - usually 1-2 books a day and students would always check them out. I also set up my room so bookcases were all around the room - everywhere they went there were books! I actually didn't take them that often to the library since I had a really great selection in my own classroom library. I did take my support class to the library fairly frequently though. When they finish a book, they just record it on their reading log. They will have been doing reflections throughout the time they have been reading, so I thought that was sufficient. I don't like traditional book reports. I have done an assignment - with a book I read aloud in class - where they had to do different activities, and they could choose the activities. For example, one of them was an "I am" poem about a character from the book. Another, they had to create a totem (was for Touching Spirit Bear) like they discussed in the book and they had to choose an animal that represented them, and then had to write about it. I forget what the other ones were. But I only had 1 of these since we had a lot of other things (writing) going on in the class. On 10/21/07, Lucinda Marcello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > 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 > -- - 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
