… with a lot of help and endorsement from their English teachers.
In March, all my (95) 7th graders had to pick a book of classics from a list of titles that the 7th grade English teachers and I had compiled. There are about 40 titles on this list, running the gamut from Little Women, The Island of Dr. Moreau, All Quiet on the Western Front, Miracle Worker, to Wind in the Willows and Sacred Garden. Our hope was that most students would find books that speak to them so the reading experiences would be pleasurable and positive.
Their assignments are, one, of course, to read the book of their choosing; two, on April 16th, to write and post character descriptions, setting, bibliographic information, a short plot summary, and five questions and answers based on his/her book. All in the time of one class period (no longer than 45 minutes.)
The follow-up activities that we tried out this year was a real success: During a one-hour class period which they usually had a silent “Reading Hall” time, they all came to the library. Each class of about 16 students were divided into two groups of 8, each sitting in a circle. The two Group Leaders first distributed the print-outs of their group members’ blog entries. In 20-30 minutes, each student read silently all the group members’ summaries and Q&As. They then had a chance to talk about whether they enjoyed their books, why they thought each book has endured a long shelf life, and they can ask questions regarding each title. The last part of the hour was spent for the Group Leaders to run a mini-quiz session to refresh everyone’s memory of the others’ classics. What was so remarkable about this little experimental event was that since this hour is usually monitored by their House Advisors (Homeroom Teachers,) they (and a couple of Administrators) all came to the Library with the students and sat in on their discussions. It made the whole event more scholarly with so many adults present and taking the activities seriously.
The notion behind these sharing activities is to cultivate cultural literacy among the students: even if they have not read Gone with the Wind themselves, they should at least know that the book is set against the backdrop of the American Civil War in the South; if they have not read Dracula themselves, at least they now know who wrote the book and how so many contemporary cultural references about vampires and the ways to deal with vampires aren’t created by TV producers and movie directors in the 21st century.
The culminating event will happen in June when everyone has had a chance to read ALL the blog posts, if they so desire, and come together to enjoy a Quiz Show where everyone will have a chance to answer questions and receive prizes for their knowledge of these classics. (For several years now, I have given out thousands of pieces of candies to all the wonderful 7th graders who participated in this fun fare!)
If anyone is curious, you can go to The Reading Nook to read the Students’ Entries (bear in mind that they only had a limited amount of time to type/post) and if you are interested, you may also find the Actual Assignment here.
Jennifer Blake
How exciting! I’m currently working on my school library media endorsement, and it’s exciting to learn of librarians in their different roles: teacher, instructional partner, information specialist, and program administrator. (I’d quote where those roles are listed, but I’m not exactly sure other than my teachers’ lectures. Maybe in Information Power??) In your experience you were definitely acting as teacher and instructional partner. That’s neat that the teachers allowed you to have total control over the grading of the project!! What great co-operation exists between you and the English teachers!
Xiaoyang Liu-Behlendorf
I am a librarian at a community college. My son is in 7th grade. I am really impressed with the Reading Nook. I will email the link of the reading nook to my son’s school librarian.
I was not able to find the actual classics reading list from the blog. Could you point me to the right direction?
Thank you!
Michele Conyers
Would love to see the original assignment, but am unable to access it (need username and password of some type. Is there another place you can send me to on order to see it?
Thank you!
Roxanne Feldman
My school has made all assignments private to only our community members. That’s why the assignments are not publicly assessable any more. The assignment itself has evolved through the years and currently each student has to prepare a 2-minute oral summary for their fellow classmates. At the end of the presentation, there’s a lightning round of questions based on what the students have heard from their peers — wrapped candies are the prizes 🙂 (Simple questions about the authorship, setting, characters, plot, etc. that I gather as I listen to the students’ presentations.) The key is that all the oral reports must be typed and “read” (not just bullet points, nor note cards) and the typed reports are to be handed in at the end of the class.