Literature/Reading Handout

What? This book covers everything from reading fluency to understanding vocabulary, writing tips, and public speaking. It is divided into four parts: Understanding Struggling Adolescent Readers, Organizing Classroom Contexts that Promote Literacy, Implementing Classroom Instruction for Struggling Adolescent Readers,  and Developing School-wide Contexts to Support Achievement.
       

Why? I chose this text because of the title. I would love to see all my students find joy in reading. I would keep this book handy for when I need help for my struggling learners.

How? Ways to use the Reading Success for Struggling Adolescent Learners…

1.     I would start off by recognizing the unique strengths of my students. I could even encourage the students to put out the strengths they see in themselves and others. When People feel good about themselves they rebel less and try harder(44).

2.      Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) time in class is strongly encouraged in this text and it suggests creative acronyms for reading time: DEAR (Drop Everything And Read), FRED (Free Reading Every Day), RIOT (Reading Is Our Thing), or SAFARI (Students And Faculty All Reading Independently).

3.      Indy 500—students are encouraged to read in their free time and record pages read for the quarter and the highest class gets a reward.

Why not? Challenges I can see arising with these ideas in the classroom… not everyone likes to feel good about themselves or receive compliments (it makes them feel “funny”). Sometimes SSR is viewed by students as study hall and it might be used to do homework from other classes. Kids read at different speeds and do some don’t read at all. The Indy 500 would be based on student honesty which might be problematic.

Writing/Grammar Handout

What? This book is an easy-to-read-and-follow instruction manual for writing and grammar. It has five chapters: Parts of Speech (nouns, verbs, etc.), Sentenced for Life (sentence structure), Punch Up Your Punctuation (take a guess), Quick and Dirty Tips (my favorite), and Your Right to Write (everything else).

Why? I chose this text because I have heard of Grammar Girl before and have been curious how a book about grammar and writing makes the New York Times Bestseller List. I never thought grammar could be exciting enough to make a bestseller list. Learning grammar can be super annoying as a teenager so I’m seeking advice from this author to hopefully bring grammar and writing to life or just simplify it. Mignon Fogarty also makes you feel normal for feeling like a bad writer and offers great advice and encouragement that makes you believe you can write. I would love a classroom set of this book to use in my classes. If I can’t do that, I will at least keep this book handy for when I fall short and have no clue what I’m doing.

How? Ways to use the Ultimate Writing Guide for Students to inspire…

1.      I would have my class make “zines” or charts similar to Fogarty’s to help them remember the rules… then use these charts to help with writing and editing their own works. (It was said in class that people learn best from reviewing their own work).

2.      The book has “Quick and Dirty Tips” to help with writing. I want to have my classes come up with and share their own anecdotes that they use in writing and spelling. (Like when I write Wednesday I don’t say wends-day in my head I say wed-nes-day. Stupid? But it works.)

3.      The last chapter is motivational and also addresses writing appropriately for the audience. Filters are a must in writing and speech. I would like to have my class write an article or story and rewrite it for different audiences. They could take a newspaper article and turn it into a children’s story then a research article and have them notice the differences in how they write per audience and that we do the same thing when speaking. 

Why not? Challenges I can see arising with these ideas in the classroom… a student could lose their grammar-zine so then I would maybe want to have the students leave them in class or have larger one on the wall as a visual. Not everyone likes to share anecdotes but not everyone would have to because they will learn regardless. I could encourage those students who choose not to share to mention their favorite that someone else shared.