Darlene I also teach 6th grade reading. I teach everything from Intensive Reading for students 3 years below grade level to advanced reading and I do assign reading homework. What I found that works better for me than a separate reading log is to use the students' daily planner.
My reading homework is this: read for 20 minutes M-Th, the reading can be a reading assignment in one of their content area books (Geography,Science etc), the newspaper, a magazine, a self-selected book from home or a book they selected from my in-class library. While I would like to assign a longer period of reading homework time, I didn't want the requirement to seem so "onerous" that I wouldn't get much compliance. I also wanted to give them a variety of choices as the what to read. I would rather my students read for a 20 minute period than ask for 30 or more and get nothing. I asked the parents to initial each night in the planner that the student read for 20 minutes. I checked the planners every Friday for a grade. I started this the second week of school. I first sent home a "homework notice" that the parent was required to sign so that they knew my homework expectations. I had that homework requirement posted on my whiteboard, I reminded my students every Thursday that I was checking their planner the next day. If a student lost their planner, I would accept a note from the parent until the planner was replaced. Once students (and parents) realized that I was serious about checking the planner every Friday and that their son/daughter was getting a grade (5 points a night) I would say I had about 75-90% participation depending upon the class or week. Of course there were the few who almost never had their planner signed, but I think it wouldn't have mattered what the homework was, it wouldn't get done. If a student forgot to get the planner signed, I would give half-credit on Monday. If a student read Friday morning or over the weekend, I would give them credit for that time as well. So a student could actually earn 25 or 30/20 points for reading. This was very motivating for some students. After a period of time with no parent signatures and poor homework grades, sometimes I would get an angry email from a parent telling me their son/daughter had read but that THEY (the parent) had forgotten to sign the planner. I told my parents, the homework consisted of 2 parts, 1. read for 20 minutes each night, 2. get a parent/guardian signature. I would put the responsibility for the signature on the student, not the parent. Twice a grading period (every 6 weeks), my students have to take either an online Reading Counts comprehension quiz on a book they have read, or if there is no quiz complete a book report. Any written response I want them to do in regards to the reading they are doing, I do in class as bellwork. I will post an open-ended question and they have to respond to it in writing. While this was not a perfect system, overall I have been very pleased with the high percentage rate of students who read most nights. I hope my experience is helpful. -----Original Message----- >From: da...@aol.com >Sent: Jul 18, 2011 12:21 AM >To: Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org >Subject: [MOSAIC] reading logs > > > Hello, > > I would greatly appreciate your thoughts about the use of reading logs in my > sixth grade reading/writing workshop. My homework policy is that students > read 30 minutes 5 nights a week or 150 minutes a week. They are free to read > any book they choose. I give students a reading log, due every Monday, that > asks them to document the minutes they read nightly, I ask them to write > about their independent reading weekly, based on the strategies and or > elements of literature we were studying. I maintain a classroom library and > students have access to the school library every 2 weeks. My problem is that > my homework completion rate is TERRIBLE. Rather , I should say that fewer > than 50% of my students regularly turn in their homework. Atwell, Miller, and > many, many other language arts teachers consider reading at home an important > part of their reading program. I am tempted to drop the the reading log > requiremnent, but I don't want to "dumb down" my expectations for my students > who are predominantly blue collar and poor. I want students to have some > accountability, but at the same time I don't want to make the homework > process so cumbersome that it turns my students off to reading independently. > What are your experiences and insights that can help? Thank you. > >Darlene Kellum > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Mosaic mailing list >Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org >To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to >http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org > >Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
