Today we started to discuss the summer reading list. Use the comments section to toss some ideas around. What can we do to make our students more successful? (By the way, I have no idea why the second two sheets are screwed up. Sorry.
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8 comments:
Well Joel, what a good question. It's obvious that our summer reading program is thus far unsuccessful, so why don't we list some reasons why.
1. We release the list too late. (Students can then claim to have never heard about it.)
2. Students may not be able to buy or be motivated to find a copy of the books.
I have to wonder, what percentage of kids do you think do the summer reading right now? Two percent, maybe? What do you think is the highest percentage we could hope for under the current system? 35%? Is it worth it? Is there anything we can do to make it a worthwhile experience?
For those that don't do it, i don't think they would if we gave them the sheet right now. They don't do it because they don't want to read in the summer;marty, mahoney and I had them all sign a waiver saying they received it--didn't help
* i think we can agree most of our students can buy the book if they want to (money is not the problem part is getting to a bookstore some claim).
*Have we asked ECPL to make a reserve section of our books as they do for other schools?
*Since most of us are now doing SSR as a mark per. book report we can't let them use that as a fill in.
* I propose to leave the ap assignment the same or--just leave the current events and not the novel if obtaining one is the problem. however, that would entail the grade 10 teachers to explain the dual entry journal first
*. aren't there online novels/reading selections they could get for free if we made a blog with links.
*i definitely don't think we should just give up
*do we want to change the books in general, because i like the ones for 10/11 unless there are other suggestions or we decide to go an online route
can we also start to compile a list of grade level lit we want to teach for the next meeting
also, vertical team info and portfolio contents--i know we can't discuss it all next time but i will forget by then
Hi guys. I agree with Mia; the kids who want to read will and those who don't probably will not. I have no problem with prepping the 10th graders for the dual entry journal section.I always do annotations when we read long lit which goes along nicely with DEJournals so it would be a good connection. Mia could be onto something else too. If we could find and post links of online novels, that could be a free option for kids to have access to the reading which may also motivate more kids in general.
I absolutely say we cannot give up on this! Our students don't actively engage in reading as much as they should and always need more experiences with literature. The question is how to motivate 50% or more of the kids to read over the summer? Hmmm..
* LESLEY! HOW'S MAGGIE? HOW'S EVERYTHING?
* As far as the free online selections, that's a great idea, but the problem is that books that are free online are really old and most likely inaccessible to most of our students. To be free online they have to be in the public domain. That means waiting 70 years after the author died.
* I agree on the no make up assignments for next year.
* I don't think we should give up either.
* The last part of Lesley's post is the question. How can we motivate 50% of the kids to read over the summer? How can we make it a positive experience with literature? These are the tough things.
well, i know the online books are old but at least there could be a few options; they don't all have to be online. Also, there could be online links to articles and some short stories that are available-- i know there are some on our ap syllabus. I don't think there is an easy answer to get kids to want to read; i don't think even the kids in the suburbs who do do it, don't want to-actually, i know mahoney had suggested adding a few films to the list last year, which at the time sounded crazy, but maybe she was onto something? a film with a book and articles that somehow link--more of a personal creative response, or at least some options to choose between? something to think about...
Um, I have been blog...tardy? So maybe I can add something to sleep on? If you even get a chance to read this.
Comments I have:
*Quit? Quit?! Not have summer reading??!! Never.
*Reading free online books would be even more difficult than print, and printing it out would be nearly impossible. Don't know if that would really help.
*Perhaps having an interactive blog for over the summer and requiring posts during the months of July and August? Certainly that would require us to be actively engaged during the summer months (shudder) but could encourage more kids who are technically and computer inclined. Or perhaps an email feature where there is a due date of sorts over the summer?
*Trying to get local bookstores to feature our lists might be helpful. Might.
*Perhaps if we add William Carlos Williams's modernist epic poem, Paterson, to the list and asking them to examine it for poetic technique and debate about its use of American ideals, allusion, and pastiche?
:)
Cheryl, this is not the time for bl-arcasm. We are not having these students analyze poetry for evidence of tasty, finger staining nuts.
Mia, I think I like the idea/film/article idea a lot. What are the possible pitfalls, I wonder.
I think that overall, a place for students to discuss, post questions, interact with us, etc., would be fantastic. A few thoughts:
1. It would have to be optional, as not all kids have access.
2. This would necessitate that we all have, ahem, read the books, lol.
3. This would necessitate that we all log on and contribute.
4. This would necessitate that we model the site's use for the students and pose thought provoking questions, etc. Give 'em something to write about, you know. I've got some good prompts that might work, but if it's optional we'd have to figure out a way to make it work.
5. Mack High Summer Reading MysPace page? We could join the McKinley Student group, lol.
6. I think that if we followed through with the interactive website, it would be a great opportunity to be reading role models, thinkers, etc., all the while building rapport with future and past students. We'll have to talk about it tomorrow.
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