So first I want to fully acknowledge that there are lots of opinions on reading logs. Many of them are very negative. I understand that forcing kids to track something they currently do for the joy of it can definitely endanger their love of the activity. However, I find that only a small handful of my 8th graders consider themselves avid readers. In fact, only 14 out of 160 kids indicated that they love reading. So here is a little bit of historical context. I drank the proverbial Kool-Aid in grad school and was avidly pro-SSR and anti-assignments-that-would-detract-from-their-love-of-reading. I made space for reading in my room each Monday. It was a calm and relaxing start to the week. I spent every spare dollar I earned building a classroom library so my students always had access to quality engaging books and I thought it was working. After two years I moved from teaching 7th grade to teaching 8th grade. I had received some . . . feedback, shall we say, on my collaboration skills and so when I arrived at 8th grade I was definitely over-compensating. The inimitable Karen Johnson was my new teaching partner and she had a rather intense Independent Reading Program. In an effort to be agreeable I let go of my grad-school condescension and just rolled with it. That year I heard from kid after kid that they had "never" finished a book before. When I aggressively reminded Ricky that he had spent over 20 hours of class time reading last year he flippantly responded "well yeah, but I'd just pick up whatever off your shelf and start a new book each week." It was like a knife to my heart. And so . . . I undertook Johnson's program because anything had to be better than that. At it's most basic it's just attaching a grade to certain number of pages each quarter with the goal that they will read a lot. The hope is that the desire for an A or B will push the reluctant readers past their boredom so they actually get into a book. Here is the assignment sheet I give kids: Independent Reading To help students stay on track I divide the page goal I've set for them (1000/500) by the number of weeks until it is due (7 for first quarter) and post how many pages they should aim to read by each Friday. I have compiled a list of resources for my students to help them find books they will be interested in. From genre reading lists to how to access ebooks to how to find more books like ones they already like I think it's vital to give kids lots of access to finding titles that resonate with them. I give time in class on Fridays to read. If I had 90 minute class periods I would have required reading time every day for 20 minutes, but with a scant 45 minutes I have to put it all on one day to make it meaningful. Just like with any routine I use with students I have to explicitly teach the behaviors I want to see from students: Friday Independent Reading Expectations Additionally, each Friday I collect their reading log and write down a "grade" based on those weekly goals. This doesn't actually go in the gradebook, but it does help students maintain awareness of their progress and to hopefully light a fire for kids who fall behind between books or who aren't making time to read. Even though I only put my mark in the gradebook at the halfway point and at the end of the quarter I do keep track for myself of how students are progressing each week. This allows me to intervene early if a student is falling behind. I think something that works for my students is having a page goal to reach as opposed to a number of minutes they need to read each day. By 8th grade many of my kids have sports or time consuming chores like watching siblings or cooking dinner . . . basically stuff comes up that makes it hard for them to read every day. Unless I'm super into a book I don't even read every day. This still holds them to a high standard, requires them to read a breadth of material (thereby exposing them to a lot of words, ideas, and genres throughout the year), while giving them the flexibility they need. A question I often get about this assignment is how I sniff out the fake readers and the kids who are dishonest on their logs. While I think this is a fair question I also try to not put too much energy into "catching" kids messing up. Instead I put routines in place that allow kids to get on board at regular intervals. At the beginning of the Independent Reading class period I take attendance and students respond by telling me the title of the book they have with them. I write this down each week and can compare it to their collected reading logs to determine if they are sticking with a book, finishing books quickly, or picking up a random book each week as Ricky told me he did. This is a catalyst for the second routine I implement: reading conferences. I definitely try to meet with each kid each quarter to check in about what they are enjoying reading and offer suggestions if they are near the end of a book, but I target students who are slow to start, who have stalled, or who haven't settled on a book after a couple of weeks. After a couple of those conversations, if they still aren't diving into an assignment I will call home and ask for parent help encouraging students to read each night. Lastly, I have students do a comprehension assignment and an analysis assignment each quarter to hold them accountable and gauge the depth of their understanding. I rotate through different options each quarter to keep the assignment fresh for the students and for me. For comprehension I have students either complete a book talk or a book events sheet, and for analysis I have an analysis of theme (or another literary element) or a Good Reads review. At the end of my first year teaching 8th grade and requiring 1000 pages a quarter I had two separate students seek me out to tell me that they used to hate reading and now they love it, which was certainly lovely to hear. But what really took the cake was when one of those students found me on Instagram to reiterate the impact I (and this assignment) had on her life. A little grace for typos and a very full heart makes this one of the best messages I've received.
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Author8th Grade ELA Teacher at Twality Middle School ArchivesCategories |