Independent+Reading

Hey all, it's Laura-- this is my first attempt at adding to the wiki. I have some things I want to post on here, following my convo with Billye, Wendy and Abe this afternoon around IR and "meta-talks" (discussion about independent reading in small groups). Here goes.

This was an attempt to make visible the number of the books students read. I don't think the bookmark was the best, but it provided a "thing to do" if a studetnt finished a book and didn't want to jump to the next book...it also provided a way to look at another student's bookmark ring for an idea of a book to read. On the other side of the bookmark is a place to visualize your title and color in a five start rating. It was kind of cool to see kids feel the physical "weight" of what they and their peers were reading!

Julie: below you will see some sample IR logs from a recent new comer to the US and my class. The IR log really followed the Reciprocal Teaching (RT) categories. When students finished their logs, they simply placed them in the folder labeled for their class and they got a new one. The stamp represents my "hw" check--I was certainly able to read and keep track of the IR log during HW check, though sometimes I wasn't looking for quality, just completion. At the end of the semester, I checked them all, as a whole, for quality--see rubric.

Below are some IR resources I've made and used throughout the years. First is the bookrecord which is a running record of the books they are reading for the year. The blue dots that you see and the number notes the "teacher-reviewed" books that were completed by the end of the year. The "13" represents the number of books finished (there was a first page to this). Look at the IR rubric to see how "quantity" fits into a student's IR grade for a semester.

Here is the packet of a semester end IR rubric, with the stapled daily, IR logs behind it. Usually last day of the term, we spend some time where I go around and verify the number of books read by the student (I write the number in a marker on the rubric) and I circle the quantity square on the rubric right there and then. Finally, I assess the one IR letter and logs as a whole. You might see the packet in this photo.



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WENDY: This is a lesson for Readers Cafe, which is what I call Independent Reading. This happens usually every Friday. I am also flexible if students want to work on missing assignments. What makes this special is that I serve them hot cocoa once they get settled into their work or reading.

JULIE : This was the latest iteration of my independent reading rubric. IR counted as 20% of a term grade. While students were logging their books daily in the RT log, (and I was checking the log daily with my stamper) at the end of the term, students put all of the IR RT logs together, stapled them with their one reading letter on top and the rubric as well. I graded their IR as a whole: overall review of their logs, the quality of one reading letter and the quanity of books read. By the way, when all 28 kids were putting logs in order and passing them out, I went around with my smelly marker :) and circled the number of books on the rubric, in real time, in front of them. If a student told me, "no no, remember I read //Crank// I would tell them they didn't show me the book, so it didn't count (or I never saw a log entry etc). That way, there are no surpises what counted as a finished book or not. Also, if I agreed to make //In the Time of the Butterflies// count as two books for a student, I mark it for them on this rubric, letting the student know the reason for the numbers. Photos of student work to come...

ABE: