MiddleWeb

Ideas to Support Summer Reading for Students

The wonder of public libraries is that they can lend kids books for free all summer long. But what if your students can’t get to their library?

• Perhaps you can lend them a book or two from your your own collection. We know building your classroom library can be a challenge. “In Search of Free Books” from WETA’s Reading Rockets lists several literacy organizations that give books to lower elementary students, but finding free books for older kids can be more difficult. The article does link to several national civic organizations whose local chapters may donate books or run fundraisers for book purchases. The Rotary Club website includes a guide to literacy and resources for accessing books. Another possibility: with support from Proctor and Gamble, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs offers $150 grants to its clubs to foster literacy, including purchasing books. Check with clubs in your area.

• In addition to making the case for summer reading, “Endangered Minds,” the second chapter of Kelly Gallagher’s book Readicide, lists suggestions for building your classroom library at limited or no cost throughout the year. Read his ideas (beginning on p. 52) in this free PDF download.

• If your students have access to the internet, they can read e-books in the public domain at Project Gutenberg. And you might help them explore the Google Books project for complete titles (or samples) of interest.

• Many public libraries now provide downloadable books at no cost. Here’s one example of a regional library system that offers downloadable books in formats that can be read on laptops, tablets or smartphones. LibriVox offers free public domain audiobooks read by volunteers.


• To get your hands on actual books in a hurry, you may find yourself combing the shelves of used book stores and thrift shops, spending your own money or donations you've managed to secure. You can also try swapping books online. Several book swap sites have child and teen sections searchable by title and author. Most sites operate by having postage available online for you to purchase to mail books wanted by others. Then the books you request are free. Several sites credit you one point per book.

Bookins.com awards points based on the value of each book. Unlike other sites, Bookins adds about $1.00 to its postage fee as a service charge and guarantees delivery. TitleTrader.com has a premium service for $19.95 a year. Other sites have or are considering a similarly priced service. Both BookMooch.com and PaperBackSwap.com allow members’ points to be donated to selected schools and libraries. All offer swaps for paperbacks and hardbacks. Some include audio books.

• With summer vacation so near, a stop-gap method to encourage summer learning as you build your own library is to encourage parents to enrich their children’s summer literacy experience. Find suggestions in “Get Ready for Summer! Ideas for Teachers to Share with Families” from Reading Rockets.

If you have other ideas or tried-and-true strategies for getting books into the hands of summer readers, please share them by commenting on this post! – Susan Curtis, MiddleWeb

Mystery & Suspense: The Game Is Afoot

We came across this English/LA unit a little late for 2010's spookfest but it's easily adapted to any time of year. Developed by teacher and curriculum writer Felicity Chapman expressly for middle schoolers, the lesson plan "embraces the genre of mystery and suspense writing and allows students to explore the world of ghouls through four major projects in the areas of reading, writing, art and research." You'll find downloadable student handouts and links to three sites with lots more material for teaching whodunits.

 

Idea to Build Science Reading Skills

High-quality science trade books can not only engage students in science lessons but help schools meet upcoming Common Core literacy standards, says STEM educator Eric Brunsell at his Edutopia blog. To increase reading in science subjects, Brunsell suggests that teachers engage students in a mock contest to select the top science trade books of interest to middle schoolers. He points to the finalists in AASA's latest awards program as a starting point and goes on to describe his own classroom event. ALSO SEE the MS Portal's teacher resource on teaching math & science with tradebooks.

 

Dark Literature and the Tween Brain

How are adolescents affected by "dark" literature like the Twilight series and Harry Potter? Lit experts joined psychologists and sociologists at Cambridge U. recently to pursue this question. The Washington Post's Valerie Strauss interviewed conference organizer Maria Nikolajeva and discovered that "dark themes do indeed alter teen brains in sometimes important ways."

 

Major Teaching Resource: THINKFINITY

Thinkfinity was launched three years ago by Verizon Foundation with an impressive list of education partners. The foundation has invested $30 million to create a premiere teaching resources site, complete with a social networking component for those who are not only looking for good lesson plans and other teaching resources, but like to talk about their work. Inside the fancy shell, Thinkfinity houses a database that includes thousands of resources in various subject areas. If you prefer to skip to the chase, once you reach the homepage, find the drop-down menu In the Classroom in the upper left of your screen and click to choose from Lesson Plans, Student Interactives, 21st Century Skills, Today in History, and more.

Math & Science: Teach with Trade Books

Given the pressures to "cover" the curriculum, say the instructional experts at the Middle School Portal, math and science teachers may be skeptical about using trade books as teaching tools, but general literature written for children and young adults "can lead to rich results" in your classroom. One immediate benefit not always present in textbooks: student engagement. "Many contain colorful, interesting illustrations, photographs, and diagrams, all of which draw students into the text and improve comprehension." In this helpful resource the MSP shares 10 tips with links to related ideas and examples.

 

Foster Enthusiasm for Reading

How can you get your students to want to read? Convince them of the importance of reading in their lives. Reading Reasons supports middle-level teachers with 40 classroom-tested mini-lessons that will foster enthusiasm for reading throughout the school year. Click here to preview Chapter 1 online!

Thanks to Stenhouse Publishers for their support of MiddleWeb and middle grades educators.

Free-Reading Middle Schoolers

Donalyn Miller, known for her book and blog titled The Book Whisperer, was chosen a Smart Blogger by the ASCD SmartBrief e-newsletter last week. In the highlighted post, Miller reflected on the favorite books read by her middle schoolers over the past school year. "Miller's free-choice reading environment," the editors wrote, "helped propel students' reading growth as they selected longer, more complex titles and found themselves exploring and preferring new and more diverse books." Student favorites included two by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & the Olympians series), an author who not too many years ago was (like Miller) a Texas middle school teacher. Other favorites among the sixth graders (who read an average of 57 books each) were The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.

What Works: Writing to Read

A new report by Vanderbilt researchers summarizes key evidence that frequent, well-designed writing opportunities also help students improve their higher order reading skills. The authors of "Writing to Read," a project supported by Carnegie Corporation and the Alliance for Excellent Education, address three questions: Does writing about material students read enhance their reading comprehension? Does teaching writing strengthen students' reading skills? Does increasing how much students write improve how well they read? The report "comprehensively summarizes high-quality research using the powerful statistical method of meta-analysis (which) allows researchers to determine the consistency and strength of the effects of an instructional practice, and to highlight practices holding the most promise."

Reversing Readicide

"Schools have become unwitting coconspirators in the decline of reading." That's the argument made by teacher Kelly Gallagher is his widely discussed 2009 book Readicide. In a 2010 article published in Educational Leadership, Gallagher defines four barriers that must be overcome to repair the damage he believes has been caused by the pressure to improve scores on high-stakes reading tests. Public education, he says, is in a "reading recession" - but "I believe that the critical thinkers we so desperately need will emerge from classrooms where teachers have eschewed the coverage approach in favor of fostering deeper thinking." Also see this Sustained Silent Reading chat.

Reading: Grouped with the Dinosaurs

When Cris Tovani – author of Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? – was assigned to the less-proficient group for her school's annual technology training, she faced up to some challenges her struggling readers also face. Through leveling, she wondered, do teachers inadvertently send a message that limits effort and therefore the potential for success? Tovani came away with four insights and a plan to make grouping work better. You'll find them all in this March 2010 article from Educational Leadership.

Quick Resource: Vocabulary University

This popular free service, used in many schools, recently changed domains, so it's a good time for us to mention it again. Also known as "My Vocabulary," the site offers thematic puzzles (across many content areas), vocabulary lesson plans, specialized word lists, and the all-important test prep for SAT/ACT. A basic tool for any vocabulary-minded teacher's kit.

Create a School Culture That Values the *Will* to Read

Get inspired to create a school culture that values the will to read. In Igniting a Passion for Reading award-winning children's book author Steven Layne provides classroom-based solutions—interest inventories, book chats, teacher modeling, reading lounges, and author visits—to engage kids in all grades. Preview the entire book online!

Thanks to Stenhouse Publishers for their support of MiddleWeb and middle grades educators.

Gotta Keep Reading

We're beginning to think this is "The Year to Rally around Book Reading." A teacher friend (math - not English!) sent along this TeacherTube clip of an Oprah-like "flashmob" at Ocoee Middle (a Florida demonstration school) celebrating the joys of reading. "What a breath of fresh air on the eve of starting our math state assessment tests," she wrote. "It's exactly the antidote I needed to signing honesty pledges, taking hours of training on how to proctor exams, and worrying endlessly about how well my students will do on the TEST." Our frazzled friend shared it with her students - maybe you will too. Or stage your own?

Why Conferences Should Be the Foundation of Your Reading Instruction

See why conferences should be the foundation of your reading instruction. Conferring debunks common misconceptions, outlines guiding principles of good reading conferences, and provides a predictable structure that will help you build skills and strategies. Click here to preview the entire book online!

Thanks to Stenhouse Publishers for their support of MiddleWeb and middle grades educators.

The Case for Literature

Nancie Atwell's powerful statement on the contribution book reading makes to student achievement is a must-read not only for teachers of English but for all educators who know from experience that sustained independent reading builds "fluency, stamina, vocabulary, confidence, critical abilities, habits, tastes and comprehension." Atwell worries that the Common Core State Standards Initiative, "dominated by test-makers and politicians," will devalue the young adult literature that helps teens understand more about themselves and young people "unlike themselves" — literature that often serves as a bridge to the best adult fiction. (Education Week)

Schoolwide Strategy Encourages Independent Reading

While we're sharing bright ideas highlighted in local newspapers: here's one that's boosted independent reading at Case Middle School in Watertown, NY. A few months ago, teachers started a program they dubbed "Caught Reading at Case," to encourage students to read a book during any "down" moments in the school day. Adults who find a student reading give them a card to fill out and drop in a contest box. There's is a drawing every month and a student from each grade wins a bookstore gift certificate. During the first month, over 100 students were caught reading - some more than once.

Create a School Culture That Values the *Will* to Read

Get inspired to create a school culture that values the will to read. In Igniting a Passion for Reading award-winning children's book author Steven Layne provides classroom-based solutions—interest inventories, book chats, teacher modeling, reading lounges, and author visits—to engage kids in all grades. Preview the entire book online!

Thanks to Stenhouse Publishers for their support of MiddleWeb and middle grades educators.

Conferring for Better Reading Instruction

See why conferences should be the foundation of your reading instruction. Conferring debunks common misconceptions, outlines guiding principles of good reading conferences, and provides a predictable structure that will help you build skills and strategies. Click here to preview the entire book online!

Thanks to Stenhouse Publishers for their support of MiddleWeb and middle grades educators.

Group Blog for Word Lovers

Thanks to newsletter subscriber Lisa Mallory for sending us a personal request list. Lisa teaches multiple subjects in a gr. 5-8 school and shared ideas for English, science and math. First up: "I would like to see more on word study." She mentioned the Visual Thesaurus, which has some great features but also a $20 annual fee. If that doesn't bother you, try the 2-wk. free trial. One of our favorite sites for word study is the MacMillan Dictionary Blog, which won the 2009 EduBlog group blog award earlier this month. There's no cost, and through a partnership with onestopenglish.com, you have no-cost access to "Buzzword" lesson plans and more. If you're a word geek, you'll be in browsing paradise.