LiterateLife

I’ve been thinking about 1) providing authentic reading experiences for my 7-8 graders

                                           2) how to assess those experiences

                                          3) how technology applications can help/support both goals 1 and

                                              2 above

I have been reading Seeking Diversity by Linda Reif, and have already read In the Middle by Nancie Atwell. I have also read Strategies That Work (Harvey/Goudvis), The Art of Teaching Reading (Calkins), and Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency (Fountas and Pinnell).

 Add to those objectives the fact that I teach English As a Second Language in a Title 1 school that is 80% Hispanic. I also have a pretty limited classroom library of books for my kids to self-choose. We do have a good school library and a great librarian, though.

I believe my students should be

1. Choosing their own books.

2. Trying new genre periodically to see how they like it.

3. Keep a log of what they read (daily? when a book is finished?) This is not necesarily authentic. I personally don’t keep a readng log. Some people do, though. If it was online, in the form of a wiki or blog, maybe it would be more authentic?

4. Respond to what they read (but how is the question? Again, blog/wiki posts and comments to others in the class/school/greater online community? Art? Digital art?)

Just some thoughts for me to mull about in planning for next year.

Also: I need to develop a check out and cataloguing system for classroom library