Reading for Enjoyment with Big Kids

This school year has been full of ups and downs, ebbs and flows. I went from teaching in my own classroom in September, to be a long-term substitute in someone else’s classroom by February. From teaching seventh graders English to teaching freshman honors English and a senior elective, The Joy of Reading. It has been quite the ride, to say the least! Out of all of the new classes, I am a temporary teacher, I would have to say that my seniors give me the most run for my money.

During a pandemic, I am tasked with engaging 17 to 18-year-olds with reading for enjoyment and finding ways for them to discuss and reflect on what they are reading. Seriously?!?! Hey, Teach’n Ain’t Easy! So, working with the resident librarian we came up with a few ways to engage students during in-person and remote classes and to check in on them to assure they were reading. In order to do this, we knew that whatever we came up with had to be relevant to them, engaging, and a way to assess that they were actually reading. We created three assignments that became the glue to hold this class together: Journal Entries, First Chapter Fridays/Book Trailer Time, and a weekly project.

Every week, students are responsible for writing a journal entry for the section of the book they are currently reading or just finished reading. They can simply give a little synopsis of what is happening in the book, questions they may have, or something they have learned. My expectation is for this response to be no longer than one page long. It’s a quick check-in to see what’s going on in their book. Students will have a week to complete their journal entries. On the same day every week, we have a journal check-in. Students get into groups, choose one important part from their journal entry and share that with the group. This round table sharing can take 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the groups. Here is an easy journal entry outline that students can make a copy of and use for every entry. The rubric for these journal entries is also at the bottom of the outline. A helpful tip would be to create an assignment in Google Classroom and create a rubric in the assignment. Then you can reuse this assignment week after week and it will already house the rubric.

I like to begin the week with either some First Chapter Fun or Book Trailer Time. This is a super quick and easy way to introduce students to new books and hopefully spark their interest. The first thing you might want to do is take an inventory of who likes what with respect to genre and plot. You can do this by giving the class a Google Form and ask them a few questions that will help you when selecting your first chapters or book trailers. I just wing it and start with a book that I like and then ask students for their feedback after listening to a first chapter or watching a book trailer. Then I can make more educated selections as the weeks go on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPZPY8UWhSk

Let’s say I start this week with some First Chapter Fun. I will select a book that would be of interest to the students in my class. Then I will search the web to see if someone has already recorded themselves reading the first chapter of the book I selected. Why reinvent the wheel, right? If no recording exists, I will use Google Meet, Screencastify, or Screencast-o-matic to record myself reading the first chapter of the book I selected. I provide students with a reflection sheet to see what they think of the book. Sometimes students dislike the book but other times interest is sparked and they request a copy to read. Score!

The following week I will make room for some Book Trailer Time. I will select a book that would be of interest to the students in my class. Then I will search the web to see if someone has already created a book trailer for the book I selected. Why reinvent the wheel, right? If no recording exists, I will use Animoto to create my own trailer for the book I selected. Again, I provide students with a reflection sheet to see what they think of the book. Sometimes students dislike the book but other times interest is sparked and they request a copy to read.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxREmkVINvg

You could totally stick with one format rather than switching them up every week. Some teachers might prefer to do this kind of activity at the end of the week and call them First Chapter Friday or Book Film Friday. It’s totally up to you!

The final assignment we give students is a weekly project, which they will house in a portfolio and present to the class at the end of the quarter or semester. Each assignment includes the same criteria: select an interesting quote from the book, weave that quote by explaining the context from which it was pulled, and then explain its relevance to the assigned project. This is where you get to have a lot of fun...English teacher fun, that is!

Some of the projects I have assigned this school year are #BookSnaps, Book Memes, Book Trailer, One Pager, Book Talk, and Character Confessional. I have attached links so you can see these assignments in TpT. These projects are intended to be fun and relevant to the students as they get to incorporate elements of technology that they are familiar with or they are introduced to new platforms and online tools. My hope is that they see how others communicate what they are reading on social media and that they continue to read and share.

To check out my Teachers Pay Teacher store click here.

In my next post, I will go into greater detail about each of the above-mentioned projects. These projects can be used for an elective class, choice reading book unit, weekly assignments, or extra credit. No matter how you use these in your own classroom, my hope is that your students continue to love reading and find new ways to share their experiences with text.