[etni] Re; Book Reports

From: Rivka Lewenstein <rlewen@xxxxxxxxx>
To: rsheffer@xxxxxxxxx, etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 04:01:32 -0800 (PST)
You're right, on the one hand, that it's annoying to write about a book you've 
read. On the other hand, students DO attach importance to grades - since I want 
them to take reading books seriously, I do give book reports, but only two a 
year, so if they read more than two books, they don't have to write about all 
the books - they can choose which books to write about. The book reports are 
done in class (to prevent cheating) with the book in hand. There are always 3 
general questions, as well as a creative task, since a creative task is 
generally considered more fun than a straightforward writing task. (Writing a 
summary of a book is not only hard but BORING.) I take off very little for 
grammar and vocabulary, etc., and focus mostly on content, since that's what's 
actually most important. I am fortunate to teach Russian students who are more 
used to reading than Israeli students, but even those that hated reading 
English books when they started generally
 end up enjoying the process.
Some things that I think can help make reading pleasurable, in addition to 
doing silent reading in class:

1) A well-stocked library with attractive titles and books in a variety of 
genres (of course I won't plug the readers I sell :-)
2) Books divided by level so that students can easily choose the books that 
suit their level
3) A teacher who is familiar with the books and so can recommend different 
books to his / her students - I find that my students really appreciate that.

All the best,
Rivka

Ruthi wrote:

David you are quite right.I adore reading and would HATE to have to write a
book report afterwards. It would destroy all the joy of reading.
It seems to me we are confusing two things, namely getting kids to read
books and testing writing.
If your aim is to get them to read, then go back to SSR and let them just
read silently in class,listening to their mp3s,putting their feet up on the
desk whatever. And just watch.. it will be relatively easy to see who is
reading and who is not. You can write down what page they begin the lesson
and what page they finish. YOu can call kids up to you in this time and ask
them to just chat about what they have read. But please don't assume that
because they turn in a beautiful piece of writing that it proves they have
read anything at all.
That is a WRITING assignment and nothing whatsoever to do with reading. How
many adults do you know who love reading do a book report when they finish a
book?
Those little forms of Maxine's are also good. But the writing must be
MINIMAL. IMHO.
My 2 cents.


      

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[etni] Re; Book Reports

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