[etni] Re: Book reports
- From: maxinetz <maxinetz@xxxxxxx>
- To: rlewen@xxxxxxxxx, etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 03:27:05 +0200
Thanks to all of you who responded to my plea for a solution to the problems
inherent in book reports. Many of your suggestions involved doing SSR -
sustained silent reading - in class, which I agree is an excellent idea IF
YOU HAVE THE TIME FOR IT. Perhaps I was painting too pessimistic a picture
in my previous posting [what alliteration ;-)] because there are many pupils
who read and enjoy it. I suppose we can never achieve absolute 100%
success and if we've fostered love of reading in some of our pupils then
that is a net gain. By the way, one thing that I do is have my pupils
write their book recommendations on our school web site on a special forum
that I set up called Book Discussions. This way pupils can share their
book choices with others. In addition, I usually have pupils sit in a
circle and describe their books to others, their task being to persuade
others in the class to read THEIR book for the next book report.
Off to bed with a good book,
Regards,
Maxine Tsvaigrach
-----Original Message-----
From: etni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:etni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Rivka Lewenstein
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 1:50 PM
To: maxinetz@xxxxxxx; etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [etni] Re: Book reports
There is one solution which really works, but it IS time-consuming: Have
students read in class. All my students (yes, including 12th graders) do 20
minutes of silent reading in class twice a week, so I know that they are
actually reading. (OK, there may be times when a student tries to get away
with doing other things, but it's pretty easy to spot those who aren't
actually reading.) I know that lack of time is a major problem, but I
believe very strongly in the power of extensive reading, so it's worth it
for me to "give up" that class time for the cause. And many students enjoy
their books so much that they carry on at home. I had one student (NOT a
native speaker!) who finished Harry Potter 6 (and yes, she really read it)
in about 3 weeks! That was not just done in the 20 minutes of class reading.
But even those who will never pick up a book at home at least get in the
minimum in class. BTW, I am indebted to Dr. Bracha Kupinsky with sharing her
methods for doing silent reading in class.
All the best,
Rivka
Maxine wrote:
We have been having our students write their book tasks in class for years
now. While it generally ensures that the writing is genuine (unless
they've copied off the back cover and you haven't picked up on it) it does
NOT solve the problem of
1) pupils having read the book in Hebrew
2) pupils having seen the movie instead of reading the book
3) pupils having read the book in 9th grade and possessing good
memories
4) pupils having read a summary of the book on the Internet
5) pupils having gotten a detailed summary from a friend who read the
book/saw the movie
6) several other possibilities that I haven't been smart enough to
figure out.
I regret to say that if this sounds a bit suspicious, well it is, and I am
talking about even the "best of them", i.e. up to the English Speakers.
Yes, many of them are reading, but many of them ARE NOT. When I read a
book task I feel I am being had all too often.
Anyone who has come up with a brilliant solution to the "having been had"
feeling, I would love to hear it.
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