*Sidenote: These suggestions are based on text-based reading, though many concepts can be tranferred over to "reading" other media as well.
Good Readers are Social.
There are several social networks specifically for readers that could be used in classrooms of all levels to encourage readers to share their love of reading with each other in the form of reviews and recommendations, and even online book clubs!
Goodreads.com offers readers the opportunity to see what their friends are reading, track books they've read (or want to read), get personalized recommendations, rate books, and write reviews.
Shelfari.com is a similar platform that's connected to Amazon. Shelfari has basically the same functionality, but with a slightly nicer interface.
For one perspective on the difference between the two, click HERE.
Either platform would work for a whole class to have a shared account (more appropriate for primary grades) or to give each student his or her own account (probably more for middle school). The way to make this work the best would be to choose one platform for the whole school so that teachers and students can "friend" each other and have school-wide conversations about books. You could even invite parents to participate as well, bringing them into the process and letting them know the books their children are reading in class. Both of these platforms integrate into blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, which allows readers to use social media for literary discussion.
Scaffolded/Leveled use in the classroom:
- For K-2: After a read-aloud book, the class could work together to compose a review, which would include summary, characters, setting, theme, and the students' opinions on the book.
- For 3-5: Students could submit their own reviews during independent reading centers, which would include summary, characters, setting, theme, and the students' opinions on the book.
- For 6-8: Students maintain their individual accounts (with parent permission and teacher oversight) to track their own personal reading journey throughout the year (and multiple years at Morrill).
Good Readers are Critical.
In reading the unit plans, and in thinking about the conversation last week about career connections, I kept asking myself, "What are some examples of good readers in the world beyond school? How are their habits made visible? How can our students learn from them?" The obvious answer is Book Critics. Book Critics make a living by being deep and critical readers who are able to make connections to other text and the world around them. They have a strong command of language and think about the choices that writers make. They have a distinct point of view and back up their claims with evidence. They respond to other critics. They blog. They podcast. They give out awards.
In addition to reading books, students should be reading literary criticism as well. This can provide strong and concrete models for how good readers think about books. Finding high quality book reviews that are professionally written but also age-appropriate can be challenging. The New York Times has a yearly round-up of the top children's books, from picture books to young adult. Those reviews are written for adult readers, but can help to think about good ways of structuring reviews. Some of the reviews are accompanied by slide shows that include images from the books, which might be more accessible for younger readers.
Once students have been exposed to high quality literary criticism, they can start to produce their own. Although much criticism you'll find in the world is still written, there are increasingly more video and audio reviews. No matter how students communicate their thinking about their reading, there should be a purpose beyond demonstrating their comprehension. As you're designing units and performance assessments, start to think about how students can critique their reading for an authentic audience.
Some suggestions:
- A school-wide "What to Read" webpage with reviews of all the books read across the whole school, tagged by grade level, genre, and author. This can serve as a tool for other readers who want some help choosing their next book.
- In addition to Goodreads and Shelfari, students can easily post book reviews on Amazon.com for an even wider audience.
- Newsletters home to parents can include book reviews and recommendations for the next family trip to the library.
- Older students can recommend books to younger students, based on what they loved when they were their age.
- Students can lobby for the school or community library to purchase more copies of books they love.
Good Readers Seek out Diverse Sources.
One of the foundational aspects of the "Consumption" circle in the Convergence model is curating a transmedia library. Rather than thinking of a single text, or a loose collection of texts, a transmedia library is a thematically linked collection of texts that represent an array of different types of media. For instance, if the topic for a unit is "What Makes a Good Reader," a transmedia library would include suggestions for books about reading, but also links to audio pieces, videos, poetry, abstract artistic pieces, documentaries, images, and games-- all that have to do with showing examples of good readers in the real world. The key is finding examples that will appeal to students with a wide variety of readers (interests and ability levels); I would recommend including texts that may appeal to adult readers as well.
You can set up your library using various digital tools, so that it's accessible to your students and any other constituents you may have (parents, fellow teachers, etc). Eventually, the hope is that your students would help you build your libraries, doing research to find good texts of all kinds and taking ownership for not only their learning, but the learning of their classmates.
Diigo.com is a social bookmarking site that allows you to organize your links, comment on pages, and collaboratively develop a "reading list" that would include multiple types of media. You can set up groups and allow students to post their own suggestions as they come across new sources in their own research. Students' contributions to the class's diigo collection could even be an assessment if you challenge them to justify the addition and check the reliability.
You can also collate everything on a blog or google site page. This way, you can embed videos and images, making it a bit more appealing visually. This decreases the social aspect a bit, though students can still comment. HERE is an example of how I organize blog posts as project hubs, centralizing all texts, images, videos, etc, in addition to providing step-by-step outlines and instructions, plus links to rubrics, worksheets, and other important documents.
Mrs.Yollis' classroom blog is a great example of a teacher using blogging to document her students' learning and her own practice, communicate with parents, and extend learning beyond the school day/building. She teaches 2nd and 3rd grade, and helps scaffold her students to become bloggers on the site.
Good Readers Contribute to the Conversation.
What are ways that students can have their voices heard as readers? Who will listen?
Many teachers have included performance assessments in their units that ask students to summarize books, answer questions, or produce original writing. How can the connective nature of digital media enhance these experiences for students so that they feel purposeful beyond the walls of the school? How will their work have an impact? How can they positively influence the reading habits of others?
Some suggestions:
You can set up your library using various digital tools, so that it's accessible to your students and any other constituents you may have (parents, fellow teachers, etc). Eventually, the hope is that your students would help you build your libraries, doing research to find good texts of all kinds and taking ownership for not only their learning, but the learning of their classmates.
Diigo.com is a social bookmarking site that allows you to organize your links, comment on pages, and collaboratively develop a "reading list" that would include multiple types of media. You can set up groups and allow students to post their own suggestions as they come across new sources in their own research. Students' contributions to the class's diigo collection could even be an assessment if you challenge them to justify the addition and check the reliability.
You can also collate everything on a blog or google site page. This way, you can embed videos and images, making it a bit more appealing visually. This decreases the social aspect a bit, though students can still comment. HERE is an example of how I organize blog posts as project hubs, centralizing all texts, images, videos, etc, in addition to providing step-by-step outlines and instructions, plus links to rubrics, worksheets, and other important documents.
Mrs.Yollis' classroom blog is a great example of a teacher using blogging to document her students' learning and her own practice, communicate with parents, and extend learning beyond the school day/building. She teaches 2nd and 3rd grade, and helps scaffold her students to become bloggers on the site.
Good Readers Contribute to the Conversation.
What are ways that students can have their voices heard as readers? Who will listen?
Many teachers have included performance assessments in their units that ask students to summarize books, answer questions, or produce original writing. How can the connective nature of digital media enhance these experiences for students so that they feel purposeful beyond the walls of the school? How will their work have an impact? How can they positively influence the reading habits of others?
Some suggestions:
- "Reading Rainbow" type testimonial videos, wherein students summarize a book and review it. These can be collected in a centralized location for the whole school and tagged to be searchable as a database for students who need help choosing their next book. Can be made easily using camera on the computer and iMovie or other screencasting software, with very little editing required. (Reading Rainbow is now an app!)
- Slideshow book reviews, modeled after the New York Times slideshows, which include images from the book or students' original artwork.
- "Micropublishing" book reviews on Amazon, Shelfari, or GoodReads.
- Class blog dedicated to publishing student-written book reviews.
