reading in literature class

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Literature Teachers Chatboard

reading in literature class

by S.S.

Aug 13, 2010

New to my school. Hired to teach 7th and 8th LA combination writing and literature. Administrator says that lit class should not have any silent reading - this should be done at home - it's a waste of teacher time for teacher to be in the room while students are reading. How do I handle this? Also, students have a mandatory 15 minutes of siilent reading school-wide. This is not supposed to be student choice material, but rather connected to the curriculum. How can I help students develop life-long reading habits if their only in-school experience with reading is teacher driven? Also, if anyone knows of any sources that support the need for daily reading as an aid to reading improvement or intelluctual gain, please pass this on as well. Thanks

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Sheila Take a look at this site about SSR.[link removed]

Your admin obviously isn't aware of your district policy on SSR. My students read daily for 10-15 minutes (5/6 grade). During this time I conference with students and the students reading are taking notes in their Reader's Notebook (which are collected weekly). The books they are reading va...See More

Aug 13, 2010

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Mae in Texas It sounds like your admin doesn't know the first thing about teaching reading. Give your admin a copy of Teaching in the Middle by Atwell and The Book Whisperer by Miller. Mae

On 8/13/10, Sheila wrote: > > Take a look at this site about > SSR.[link removed].

Aug 15, 2010

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Sara we've had some trouble with SSR and DROP and read in school programs - sometimes it becomes difficult to enforce and some kids either just Hate to read or really Don't want to read in school. I don't do silent reading in my LA classes - I'm having trouble seeing the class as purely 'teacher driven' just because we don't do silent reading in class. ...See Morewe've had some trouble with SSR and DROP and read in school programs - sometimes it becomes difficult to enforce and some kids either just Hate to read or really Don't want to read in school. I don't do silent reading in my LA classes - I'm having trouble seeing the class as purely 'teacher driven' just because we don't do silent reading in class. If you tell kids to read, that's 'teacher driven' isn't it?

I wouldn't say 'it's a waste of time' to have kids reading in class - reading isn't a waste of time. Perhaps what he meant was that there are other good uses of class time as well as reading.

I encourage -strongly - outside reading - that develops habits of life-long reading and perhaps just as much as devoting 15 minutes of class time every day to reading. I don't like to read in school by the way. I'm a 'curl up with a book' person - there's little curl up space in my classroom. Many readers don't like to read sitting in the hard chairs we provide in school - they like to flop down, lie down, sit in a comfortable chair to read.

In any case, I wouldn't worry that you're not encouraging life-long reading habits just because you can't let them read silently in school. Have them do a weekly discussion of what they're reading. Invite them to share when they begin a new book. Keep a 'reading wall' of what they're reading and put what you're reading on the wall as well. Add the pages of what they've read all together and see how high the number gets. There are many things to do that can foster and encourage life long reading habits other than just reading silently in school.

Have them read poetry aloud to each other - have a poetry cafe. Have them write short short stories and read those aloud. Listen to poetry and short stories on tape.

I think you'll have a great year even without in class silent reading. > New to my school. Hired to teach 7th and 8th LA combination > writing and literature. Administrator says that lit class > should not have any silent reading - this should be done at > home - it's a waste of teacher time for teacher to be in > the room while students are reading. How do I handle this? > Also, students have a mandatory 15 minutes of siilent > reading school-wide. This is not supposed to be student > choice material, but rather connected to the curriculum. > How can I help students develop life-long reading habits if > their only in-school experience with reading is teacher > driven? Also, if anyone knows of any sources that support > the need for daily reading as an aid to reading improvement > or intelluctual gain, please pass this on as well. Thanks

Sep 3, 2010

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