[LIT] Prompts Take Two

Sun Oct 21 13:03:58 EDT 2007

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" <hpoland at gmail.com>
To: "A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades." 
<lit at literacyworkshop.org>
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 <rpmgrace at cox.net> 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" <bivey at sbschool.org>
> Cc: "MT" <MiddleTalk1 at LISTS.NMSA.ORG>; "Lit Site" <
> lit at literacyworkshop.org>
> 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