I really like that idea of a blog! I forgot that in my responses, I also had them do a *short* summary and just of whatever part they had read that week so I had a point of reference.
On 10/21/07, Bill IVEY <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > "A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades." > <[email protected]> on Sunday, October 21, 2007 at 12:20 PM -0500 > wrote: > >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. > > Hi! > > Sorry, I left this part of the question out of my last response. We don't > have reading logs - I tried that for about a week my first year, and > dropped it because it seemed to punish the avid readers by giving them > more paperwork. We do have online blogs (set up by Keith Mack) where they > write weekly Readers Response Journal entries. I believe in the importance > of summarization (Rick Wormeli, for one, is a big advocate of this skill), > so part of it is a plot summary, but also I ask them for personal > reactions. I write responses to each and every entry, and try to make for > a conversational feel. Sometimes, kids will comment on each other's > entries as well, though I haven't wanted to require that. I can keep track > of how much they're reading this way without having them fill in a reading > log. > > I do feel that their skills continue to grow through the year with this > system. Once, when a couple of parents were challenging my effectiveness > with their daughter, I was able to show the first vs. most recent RRJ as > one piece of pretty solid evidence of her growth in many ways, and they > were actually pretty pleased. > > 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 > -- - 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
