Reading Bingo! is back for the spring semester! I made a few changes to the general procedures, the reviews my students write, and, of course, the board is different than the Fall 2015 one. Here is the board for Spring 2016! The changes I made focus on accountability with my students and their reading. For example, when deadlines loomed, I noticed my students were "reading" all sorts of books that they had not been reporting in weekly Reading Roll Calls. I also noticed that students were analyzing their books with the respective course's essential questions in a broad and superficial way. Check out the breakdown of the changes by comparing last semester's expectations to this semester's. Reading Roll Call
This exercise has created a positive reading community. I love it when I hear students say, "That book was great!" or "I couldn't get into that one!" because it gets the conversation started about books and reading. Essential Question AnalysisThe essential question or through line for each class is the same, but I am upping the ante for about half of my students. As was the purpose in the fall, students are practicing the skills associated with finding, analyzing, and connecting textual evidence to larger questions and claims.
What do you think? Feel free to comment below!
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Locked LibraryRecently, I learned that the library in my building is not accessible to students a majority of the time. There are multiple factors that contribute to this scenario, but as a first year teacher, no less an English teacher, I was devastated to not have this resource and a librarian at my disposal for additional resources, books, and materials for myself and my students. If a student is struggling or unable to find a book at home, I am not able to say to them, "Check out [book title] from the library." I am also unable to take classes down to the library to explore titles and authors and then have my students check out the books that caught their eye. Looking for some John Green? You can probably forget it as new titles are not being added to the collection. Classroom LibraryBecause of this situation, I am now on the lookout for clearance specials, garage and yard sales, and library book sales in order to build my classroom library. I wish to have a wide variety of books for my students to be able to read from my classroom library and for independent reading, in addition to the other places they may select their books from (home, CADL libraries, bookstores, etc.). Yesterday, I went to 2nd and Charles, an awesome bookstore made up of mostly secondhand books. There are other forms of media occupying the shelves, too, such as music, video games, movies, etc. This past week's sale focused on the clearance section and it was a "Buy One, Get One" deal. I was able to walk away with several books for my classroom library (see picture below). I was able to find a lot of great nonfiction titles, in addition to the one fiction title.
The books that are in my classroom library, so far, are books that I enjoyed reading when I was in middle and high school. When I see them in a clearance bin or at a garage sale, I say to myself, "Oh, that's a good book!" and grab it. My hope is that students will enjoy it as much as I did. The only problem with this is some of my students will not think or read like me, but they may read like you. How You Can HelpDo you have any books that are now collecting dust, weighing down your moves, or taking up space? Do you think a middle or high schooler would enjoy them? Do you want to share your favorite book(s) with others?
If so, let me know, and I would be happy to add them to my classroom library! Feel free to contact me via Weebly, Twitter, or email and I will provide you with more details on how you can help! Thank you for your consideration!
I gave the book a "monumental" rating because it is just that - monumental. The first half of the book provides the reader with a detailed look into how and why people procrastinate, and it is very fascinating. I'm not much of a science guy, but because I have a history of procrastinating, I was able to relate to the instances that were given. The authors also provided a lot of their own experiences with procrastination. This allowed the reader to relate with them and made the authors not seem so high and mighty. The second half of the book provided suggestions to avoid procrastination. I was able to take out a few of the suggestions and apply them to my life. These tips include: dividing projects into small, manageable chunks; making daily to do lists; starting small by taking just twenty minutes to sit down and do something; and placing time worked on projects in my calendar after I have completed it. Overall, I have seen a lot more projects getting completed on time and I hope to continue this trend as I step into my first classroom in the fall!
I feel that this book would be great for other runners to read. It doesn't matter if you are an Olympian runner or a recreational runner, like I have turned into. This book is great. It is easy to read and follow. Lear chronicles practically each day of the 1998 season. The team and individual dynamics are captured well with quotes, reflections from different runners' journals, and candid moments of both pain, suffering, and victory. The book was "exceptional" in my opinion because of the nostalgic feelings it gave me. It also serves as a great mentor text for journals/diaries. I had some issues with the formatting of quotes between people, some occasional typos, and random musings that carried on for longer than I desired.
I'm not sure if it was because of the mundane daily entries or learning more information about the highly anticipated secret that the narrator holds very close to her. I could not connect with this book. I provided it with a "reasonable" rating because I believe that it would make an impression on another reader. It didn't move me in ways that it may move others. Would I have this in my classroom library? Absolutely. I did find Melinda's daily high school perspective to be entertaining at times, including her take on the school's struggle to find a suitable mascot, the descriptions of her teachers, and her generally dry sense of humor. Laurie Halse Anderson allowed the characters to come alive, but did not develop a meaningful or engaging plot for the characters to navigate and live through. Goodreads Reading Challenge Update This Reading Round Up was jam packed with potential for the Reading Challenge I participate in a Goodread's group. Each book counted for 15 points and allowed me to move up in the leader board. As of this post, I have completed four tasks, four books, and have earned 55 points. As far as reading challenges go, I have always enjoyed them. I have been participating in this group's reading challenges for several years now, and they motivate me to read and allow me to be competitive at the same time. I think reading challenges with categories and points would be a fun way to develop an Independent Reading unit. I thought about developing one during my teaching internship, but came up with #BookBracket2015 instead.
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The Avalanche of Books
As an educator and avid reader, I am constantly hearing about books. I feel like I am being chased by a giant, rolling avalanche of titles and authors. Rating System
5 books - New fave! Read it now!
4 books - Shelf worthy 3 books - Quality read, but ... 2 books - Borrow it 1 book - Skip it Archives
December 2017
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