Good morning all:
After I sent out the first hit about motivating 3rd
graders to read at their own level, I received a few more
responses so I will just put them here.
On a personal note, I did the "put 4 books on the
table and give me a short review of them" with this class
yesterday and they really got into it. Some of them had to
be encouraged to be "more specific" other than writing "It
looks funny" and "it looks cool" to which I would reply
"why?" but I also got some very valid comments such as "I
wouldn't read this because there are too many sentences"
(I think what she meant was the print was too small and
thus intimidating) and also "I like this book because I
think I would like this boy".
The real bonus was that when they were done with
the reviews, they all grabbed at least one of the books
and continued to read quietly for quite a while until
everyone was done. Usually when they finish the work
before everyone else they have to start bugging their
friends but I didn't have that problem yesterday.
We will share our reviews next week and talk about
what makes a good review and of course find more books
just like the ones that I put out (I went with series or
authors who have tons of books) and hoping to have
everyone hooked on something soon.
Thanks again for your ideas.
Carol Van Brocklin
Librarian--Faith Academy Mindanao
Davao City, Philipines
carolannvan@motimail.com
I've faced similar issues. This year twat I'm doing to
combat that is
twofold. First I introduced the idea of 4 types of books:
Easy books, Just
Right Books, Challenge Books, and Too Hard Books. We talk
about what each
category means, how we can determine what kind of book it
is for you and how
the same book is in a different category for different
people. I also did
something similar to what you did with the Medical Book
(for Too Hard) but
also Challenge, Just Right, and Easy. I told them the goal
is to normally
read Just Right Books. Sometimes if we're really
interested in a book we
might choose a Challenge Book and sometimes we might read
a book we really
like that's Easy, but our goal is to find interesting Just
Right Books. As
students checkout books I am then talking to them about
what kind of book
this is for them. I don't disagree with whatever their
assessment is. When
possible, I follow up the conversation when they're
returning books.
Basically it seems like you've tried this (as I had). I'm
just adding more
structure and common phrasing in an effort to make them
think.
The second strategy I'm trying is to introduce peer
recommendations. At the
start of class if someone has read a book from the library
that they would
rate a 9 or 10 (which I define as not just a book you
like, but as something
you love, as one of the best books out there), they get a
chance to booktalk
the book before they return it. After they booktalk the
book we do our
normally library lesson before they get a chance to
checkout. Despite the
break, the recommended book is almost always taken. It's
taken a little
while to build this up, but at the moment (after 5 weeks)
we get 1 or 2
students each period booktalking.
So far I've been very pleased with the results. I wish you
the best of luck
with this very thorny problem.
Have you thought about using software like Reading Counts,
or AR,
parents might be willing to pay for the access to this
software if their
kids realize they can not just read something if they
don't understand
enough to test on the material? It is the same with most
math tests,
they may be able to read the words, but do they really
understand the
questions and how to answer them.
I run a program where the kids read the books that I
have tests for,
take a test and everyone they pass at 80% or better get
them closer to a
prize of a free book for every ten they pass. If they pass
with 100%
they earn a token prize from my treasure chest. We are
also lucky
enough to be a part of Earning By Learning where the kids
can earn $2
per book they read up to 20 books. They only pay 100 kids
per term, but
this year I made it into a school wide program and the
kids and their
teachers are loving reading and seeing how much they
understand.
These programs are expensive, but if parents really want
their child to
push further, they may be willing to work to make enough
money for their
kids and others at your school to have access to this
powerful tool. I
prefer the Scholastic Reading Counts Enterprise version,
online and
accessible from home if I am not mistaken.
this worked with some older kids who were struggling
readers - I made them "book evaluators" put their name up
on the wall etc. I would give them books at or below
their grade level, told them that it was probably too easy
for them, but I needed someone to "evalutate them" so I
could recommend them to the younger kids. It worked, they
read, and "evaluated" the books and sometimes told me that
I shouldn't reorder them, but it got them reading AT their
level, without being embarassed by their reading level.
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