#453. Individual Novel Reading

Reading/Writing, level: Middle
Posted Thu Jun 11 11:55:29 PDT 1998 by Christopher Aube (aubech@nb.sympatico.ca).
Superior Middle School, Bathurst, NB, Canada
Materials Required: 30 different novels of varying topics and reading levels
Activity Time: 30 minutes per session for two weeks

This worked well with my five language arts classes.
I distribute 30 different novels I have tucked away from
my dividends earned with a book club. Students in each class
read for 20-25 minutes then write a 7-10 minute reaction.The next
class comes in, and the novels are randomly distributed again.
They read and review the previous journal response by the other
student to their novel and write their own which are then stapled together.
A journal begins to grow during the day! They are encouraged
to respond, agree, disagree, and ask questions. At the end of
the activity, these students meet in novel groups to discusss
and collaborate on a final novel project.