Language Arts
KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Sometimes I'm guilty of trying to get my students to over-analyze pieces of literature or ask questions about obscure details to see if my students actually read their assignments. Not surprising, this can really turn students off to reading. Instead, I'm trying to streamline what I do with reading to help my students enjoy the process of reading more. Below are two documents. One is an example of a study guide I give students for each chapter when we read a novel using Question-Answer Relationships. I want students to connect the text with something in their own lives through the use of the On My Own Question, I want students to find answers in the reading with the Right There and Think and Search questions to make sure they understand the basics of what is going on in the story, and I want them to think about what's going on in the novel at a deeper level through the Author and Me question.
The other document is a one-pager from Kelly Gallagher's Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It. The one-pager can be used for reading any text with a few modifications. The idea behind it is students need to be given freedom to read and explore different texts. However, they also need some supports to make sure they are understanding the text and some accountability to make sure they are actually doing the work of reading. The one-pager is basically a guided book report that gives the student some freedom to comprehend the text on his or her own.
The other document is a one-pager from Kelly Gallagher's Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It. The one-pager can be used for reading any text with a few modifications. The idea behind it is students need to be given freedom to read and explore different texts. However, they also need some supports to make sure they are understanding the text and some accountability to make sure they are actually doing the work of reading. The one-pager is basically a guided book report that gives the student some freedom to comprehend the text on his or her own.
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Have a variety of texts available to read. This year I've created a small classroom library to encourage my students to read anything at all for pleasure. I've also subscribed to the book rotation service through the AEA. With this service, I receive 25 random texts each month that my students can check out to read. The texts range from non-fiction historical texts to poetry to graphic novels to classic literature. Here is the link to sign up for the 2014-2015 school year: Heartland AEA 11 Book Rotation. I've had some success with the book rotation in that I had six books checked out from the selection and two books were stolen (I may be weird, but I count that as a success when students are stealing books to read).
The AEA also subscribes to a couple of ebook databases and our IMC has ebooks and ereaders available for students to check out.
The AEA also subscribes to a couple of ebook databases and our IMC has ebooks and ereaders available for students to check out.