Hey Laura, I just love all of the advice. Thank you so much. Would it be possible for you to do a video on preparing for and having parent /teacher conferences? Thanks.
Hi Laura, could you please do a video on why you stopped doing novels and what you do instead? I moved up to high school after 8 years in elementary (loving it!!), but everything I remember about high school English is SO different now. At my school we do mostly short stories and excerpts from the classics, plus nine dreadful weeks on the entirety of Macbeth!😭 I do have to say, this is my third year in 10th grade and the FIRST year I haven’t gone home in tears everyday. I have implemented your quarter trios, bell work, Friday riddles, and SSR concepts. I. Love. You. Thanks for helping me so much! You are an angel!
Glad things are getting better, Kelley. ((*Hugs*)) Elementary to high school is quite the transition! I just added your suggestion to my idea notebook, but I'll answer it here in a nutshell, too. I do still teach novels and plays (you know, full versions of major works), only I limit us to one per semester. This was a move based solely on the practical issues I've faced up here in Idaho in terms of not enough time to take my classes through all of the lessons I want them to learn. Idaho's school year is little shorter than the one we followed in California, I value things like SSR Fridays and 20Time (even though they do eat up quite a few calendar days), I've added a lot more in-class writing experiences because my students NEED that work, and the offerings in the book room were less than inspired. Those factors led me to the obvious choice - I had to cut some classic lit. to make the calendar work. Those cuts were painful at the time, but I'm more comfortable with my decision now that I see how the move has served my students' best interests. Hope this is helpful info! :)
If you are reading a class novel, do you still utilize SSR? How do you manage both? Also, do you set aside time for students to go to the library? Can students use books from any library or books from home?
Great questions, Amber! Yes, even when we are working through a novel unit, we still drop everything for SSR Fridays. Kids aren't allowed to read that required novel for SSR credit on Fridays, though; they need to have their fun book for that day. SSR and core novel units are two separate assignments and I just add SSR to our Friday calendar and block out that time. As for the library, my freshmen classes take a mini-field trip there during the first week of school, but after that one visit they are required to find their SSR books on their own time. I don't let kids leave class to run to the library to get a book. Nope, sorry, that's just a huge waste of time and they need to learn to handle that business before class. If they show up to class on a Friday without their SSR book, they will receive a 0/10 for their Friday reading points. They can choose to work on HW for another class or work on some skill-builders (grammar or writing work, usually) with me, depending on what the kid needs. If a kid is regularly showing up without an SSR book and choosing to take the zero, then I investigate more about what's really going on and we make a plan. Sometimes, kids need to leave their SSR books in my cupboard because they don't want to be seen with a book and/or they're certain to lose it if they take it home. I just work this out on a case-by-case basis. You know how it goes. Oh, and any book in our school library or any age-appropriate book from home is fair game. Hope this helps! :)
How does one get a teenager to switch to reading the "heavy classics"? OR how does one get a kid to read beyond following the plot, to really dive into the book, below the surface and begin to think of larger ideas and not just the narrative? How does one get a kid to LOVE language and how it can be crafted. Or is that just a thing you are born with? My kid loves reading - BUT I am not sure he's graduated to a level where he's REALLY diving below the surface. It's difficult to get him to talk about the book or even write about it. I wish I knew where to start
Hi! Great video. If you're unconvinced that a student has read a book, do you wait until the following Friday to let them do the book talk again, or do you allow them to do it sooner? I think you said in the video that they can come back to you the following day, but how would this work if you have other things you've planned to do for that class?
Great question, Diane. In such cases, students are welcome to try again the next day or whenever they feel ready. They'll pop in before school or during a brunch/lunch break. I can't take Book Talks while I'm actively teaching a class or monitoring small group discussions, so the kids find me during small pockets of time that allow for a one-on-one conference. If that time doesn't present itself during the week, they'll have to wait until our next SSR session. This works itself out. :) Laura
Thanks for doing a Q&A on SSR. Great tips. I might be more inclined to do electronic books, but I love using technology and so do my kids. Since we use chromebooks on a regular basis, there would be no excuse for them to not have their book with them. Our school also has access to a program in which we can see exactly what our students are logged into and if we want them to focus on one program in their computer, we can lock them into it until their time is up. This is new to us, so im not sure how well it will work. But if they are using kindle or overdrive, we can keep them in it until their session is up.
Oh, now THAT sounds like a handy tech. extension, Kara. I haven't ever taught in a 1:1 school, but if I ever do I'll insist that we install something like that. Sanity saver!
That's a great question, John. I use a variety of approaches, including recommendations during a class visit to meet our school librarian and suggestions from me based on things the kid tells me that he likes. I've also had success by having the kid sit down at our classroom computer and use the Book Rec Generator at StoryTimeTeen.com. www.storytimeteen.com/start Hope this helps! :)
Autumn Haney Easy, Autumn. They just read at home for 45 minutes and bring me a signed note from a parent/guardian stating that they did so. Simple fix! :)
i wish kids being excited was my problem... instead it's admin. they claim that using my short periods on wednesdays [36 minutes] is more of a time waste than doing it for 10-15 minutes a day. so frustrating.
right?! needless to say, we still read all period on wednesdays since i can justify both the time being less than the 50-75 minutes they approved, my lessons being standards aligned, and also the COUNTLESS studies that say extended time to read is better than short chunks...
Hey Laura, thanks so much for the clarification. I'm so excited to start SSR (Grades 7-9) this year! :D To echo below, I'd love to know why you cut down on novels. Up here in Canada, we have this program that is novel heavy (you are "supposed" to incorporate poetry, article writing, essays, etc.) through the novels, but it really weighs down the year. We end up reading over 1400 pages of NON-SSR material! Love to know your thoughts on the trim. PS Also excited to use your daily slides for Mugshots, Word Wednesdays...and the tuesday one I can't place atm, haha! :) Fav shop in TPT bar none.
Thanks, Mark, for your kind words. :) As you probably saw in my response a few entries below to Kelley's question, the slicing of major works was more of a practical move than a pedagogical one. That being said, it's one that's worked for me. Down here in the U.S., we have a set of standards that are focused more on real-world writing, reading, and speaking. Literature studies are still a part of the standards, but they are no longer centerstage. Because of that and the reality of limited time and resources, the switch was an obvious one to make. Sounds like Canada is moving in a similar direction.
Yeah, I'm specifically in Alberta and we are the country leader in curriculum innovation--there is definitely a paradigm shift towards project-based learning in these last few years, which has lead to (thankfully) less in-depth solely novel studies. We instead achieve our depth in our breadth (what? lol) of the variety of forms of literature. Is the American system shifting towards project-based learning?
Hey Laura, I just love all of the advice. Thank you so much. Would it be possible for you to do a video on preparing for and having parent /teacher conferences? Thanks.
Regina Anguiano Great suggestion, Regina. I just added this to my video idea list. Thanks for planting this seed!
I love the finger countdown for points. Genius!! ♥️
Oh yeah, B Peltier, I'm an excellent silent communicator. ;)
Hi Laura, could you please do a video on why you stopped doing novels and what you do instead? I moved up to high school after 8 years in elementary (loving it!!), but everything I remember about high school English is SO different now. At my school we do mostly short stories and excerpts from the classics, plus nine dreadful weeks on the entirety of Macbeth!😭 I do have to say, this is my third year in 10th grade and the FIRST year I haven’t gone home in tears everyday. I have implemented your quarter trios, bell work, Friday riddles, and SSR concepts. I. Love. You. Thanks for helping me so much! You are an angel!
Glad things are getting better, Kelley. ((*Hugs*)) Elementary to high school is quite the transition! I just added your suggestion to my idea notebook, but I'll answer it here in a nutshell, too. I do still teach novels and plays (you know, full versions of major works), only I limit us to one per semester. This was a move based solely on the practical issues I've faced up here in Idaho in terms of not enough time to take my classes through all of the lessons I want them to learn. Idaho's school year is little shorter than the one we followed in California, I value things like SSR Fridays and 20Time (even though they do eat up quite a few calendar days), I've added a lot more in-class writing experiences because my students NEED that work, and the offerings in the book room were less than inspired. Those factors led me to the obvious choice - I had to cut some classic lit. to make the calendar work. Those cuts were painful at the time, but I'm more comfortable with my decision now that I see how the move has served my students' best interests. Hope this is helpful info! :)
Thank you! I’m going to give this a go this year (my second year and first year at an ISD, not charter/alternative).
Glad to hear this, KB. Hope you enjoy the extra time for conferencing. Congratulations on your new job, too!
If you are reading a class novel, do you still utilize SSR? How do you manage both? Also, do you set aside time for students to go to the library? Can students use books from any library or books from home?
Great questions, Amber! Yes, even when we are working through a novel unit, we still drop everything for SSR Fridays. Kids aren't allowed to read that required novel for SSR credit on Fridays, though; they need to have their fun book for that day. SSR and core novel units are two separate assignments and I just add SSR to our Friday calendar and block out that time.
As for the library, my freshmen classes take a mini-field trip there during the first week of school, but after that one visit they are required to find their SSR books on their own time. I don't let kids leave class to run to the library to get a book. Nope, sorry, that's just a huge waste of time and they need to learn to handle that business before class. If they show up to class on a Friday without their SSR book, they will receive a 0/10 for their Friday reading points. They can choose to work on HW for another class or work on some skill-builders (grammar or writing work, usually) with me, depending on what the kid needs. If a kid is regularly showing up without an SSR book and choosing to take the zero, then I investigate more about what's really going on and we make a plan. Sometimes, kids need to leave their SSR books in my cupboard because they don't want to be seen with a book and/or they're certain to lose it if they take it home. I just work this out on a case-by-case basis. You know how it goes. Oh, and any book in our school library or any age-appropriate book from home is fair game. Hope this helps! :)
How does one get a teenager to switch to reading the "heavy classics"? OR how does one get a kid to read beyond following the plot, to really dive into the book, below the surface and begin to think of larger ideas and not just the narrative? How does one get a kid to LOVE language and how it can be crafted.
Or is that just a thing you are born with?
My kid loves reading - BUT I am not sure he's graduated to a level where he's REALLY diving below the surface. It's difficult to get him to talk about the book or even write about it. I wish I knew where to start
Hi! Great video. If you're unconvinced that a student has read a book, do you wait until the following Friday to let them do the book talk again, or do you allow them to do it sooner? I think you said in the video that they can come back to you the following day, but how would this work if you have other things you've planned to do for that class?
Great question, Diane. In such cases, students are welcome to try again the next day or whenever they feel ready. They'll pop in before school or during a brunch/lunch break. I can't take Book Talks while I'm actively teaching a class or monitoring small group discussions, so the kids find me during small pockets of time that allow for a one-on-one conference. If that time doesn't present itself during the week, they'll have to wait until our next SSR session. This works itself out. :) Laura
Thanks for doing a Q&A on SSR. Great tips. I might be more inclined to do electronic books, but I love using technology and so do my kids. Since we use chromebooks on a regular basis, there would be no excuse for them to not have their book with them. Our school also has access to a program in which we can see exactly what our students are logged into and if we want them to focus on one program in their computer, we can lock them into it until their time is up. This is new to us, so im not sure how well it will work. But if they are using kindle or overdrive, we can keep them in it until their session is up.
Oh, now THAT sounds like a handy tech. extension, Kara. I haven't ever taught in a 1:1 school, but if I ever do I'll insist that we install something like that. Sanity saver!
@@laurarandazzo1158 the program is called hapara
Hey Laura, Quick Question: How does the selection process work? How do you insure that the students pick a book they like ?
That's a great question, John. I use a variety of approaches, including recommendations during a class visit to meet our school librarian and suggestions from me based on things the kid tells me that he likes. I've also had success by having the kid sit down at our classroom computer and use the Book Rec Generator at StoryTimeTeen.com. www.storytimeteen.com/start Hope this helps! :)
How do students get their weekly 10 points if they are absent?
Autumn Haney Easy, Autumn. They just read at home for 45 minutes and bring me a signed note from a parent/guardian stating that they did so. Simple fix! :)
i wish kids being excited was my problem... instead it's admin. they claim that using my short periods on wednesdays [36 minutes] is more of a time waste than doing it for 10-15 minutes a day. so frustrating.
Erin Foster Um...can they do math? Sheesh.
right?! needless to say, we still read all period on wednesdays since i can justify both the time being less than the 50-75 minutes they approved, my lessons being standards aligned, and also the COUNTLESS studies that say extended time to read is better than short chunks...
Erin Foster Preach! Hard to argue with success and stacks of research. ;)
Hey Laura, thanks so much for the clarification. I'm so excited to start SSR (Grades 7-9) this year! :D To echo below, I'd love to know why you cut down on novels. Up here in Canada, we have this program that is novel heavy (you are "supposed" to incorporate poetry, article writing, essays, etc.) through the novels, but it really weighs down the year. We end up reading over 1400 pages of NON-SSR material! Love to know your thoughts on the trim.
PS Also excited to use your daily slides for Mugshots, Word Wednesdays...and the tuesday one I can't place atm, haha! :) Fav shop in TPT bar none.
Thanks, Mark, for your kind words. :) As you probably saw in my response a few entries below to Kelley's question, the slicing of major works was more of a practical move than a pedagogical one. That being said, it's one that's worked for me. Down here in the U.S., we have a set of standards that are focused more on real-world writing, reading, and speaking. Literature studies are still a part of the standards, but they are no longer centerstage. Because of that and the reality of limited time and resources, the switch was an obvious one to make. Sounds like Canada is moving in a similar direction.
Yeah, I'm specifically in Alberta and we are the country leader in curriculum innovation--there is definitely a paradigm shift towards project-based learning in these last few years, which has lead to (thankfully) less in-depth solely novel studies. We instead achieve our depth in our breadth (what? lol) of the variety of forms of literature. Is the American system shifting towards project-based learning?
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