http://teacherplaces.com/leec/weblog/36.html

The first novel is going well.  I'm doing this one with the 9th graders.  Friday we finished at the end of chapter 8 and the kids were literally begging me to read another chapter.  Unfortunately, we were at the end of class so that wasn't possible.  But it's always nice when we're that into the book.

We did the admit slip and possible sentences before we started and both of those were great.  We had some interesting predictions and questions before we even started reading. 

Honestly, at the beginning, when we started using the CD, I was worried.  It seemed to be going pretty slowly - some of the students didn't like the reader's voice and some thought the CD was great.  It's the usual dilemma - you can't make everyone happy.  But we're past that stage now and everyone is into the book, even students who have read it before.

I loved that the kids almost immediately made the connection to China and were asking questions about their population law.  We used the two articles in the Nonfiction Reader to do mini-research.  We started by listing their questions.  Then I asked students to choose three questions for their papers.  I read one article aloud and they listened for answers to their questions.  We talked about answers we heard, unanswered questions and new questions.  Then I gave them one of the articles to read on their own.  It went pretty well.  (Thanks, Lynette, for this idea from this summer.  Its a nice intro to research and a good first step.)

So, Monday the students will begin keeping the chapter map and the visualizing. 

 

 

 

 

http://www.teacherplaces.com/leec/weblog/36.html

The first novel is going well.  I'm doing this one with the 9th graders.  Friday we finished at the end of chapter 8 and the kids were literally begging me to read another chapter.  Unfortunately, we were at the end of class so that wasn't possible.  But it's always nice when we're that into the book.

We did the admit slip and possible sentences before we started and both of those were great.  We had some interesting predictions and questions before we even started reading. 

Honestly, at the beginning, when we started using the CD, I was worried.  It seemed to be going pretty slowly - some of the students didn't like the reader's voice and some thought the CD was great.  It's the usual dilemma - you can't make everyone happy.  But we're past that stage now and everyone is into the book, even students who have read it before.

I loved that the kids almost immediately made the connection to China and were asking questions about their population law.  We used the two articles in the Nonfiction Reader to do mini-research.  We started by listing their questions.  Then I asked students to choose three questions for their papers.  I read one article aloud and they listened for answers to their questions.  We talked about answers we heard, unanswered questions and new questions.  Then I gave them one of the articles to read on their own.  It went pretty well.  (Thanks, Lynette, for this idea from this summer.  Its a nice intro to research and a good first step.)

So, Monday the students will begin keeping the chapter map and the visualizing. 

 

 

 

 

Missy raised a point last week that I want to mention to everyone.  When she posted a comment to one of Lee's posts, she asked how Lee would know about it if she didn't specifically check.  I think that answer is, she wouldn't.  Therefore, I am going to suggest that we use the community blog for posting issues and ideas that we want to make sure get discussed.  You can find the community blog by clicking through to it via your own main page, or you can find it directly at:

Click HERE to reach the Plugged-in community blog.

I think we should post ideas AND comments as posts (not using the largely hidden "comment" field) and just let the posts run in order.  And if everyone remembers to TAG their posts, they will be easy to find with the search function.

We can discuss how to use the personal blogs as we go forward. Thanks again for you intrepid spirit in working with this new idea of the learning community for Plugged-in To Reading.

http://teacherplaces.com/missyh/weblog/44.html

It was interesting to read Lee's post because I had a very similar experience with my students. Some of my students were not "feeling" the book (as one outspoken student put it)until the end of chapter eight. When I stopped the CD a chorus of protests erupted in the room. The same thing happened at the end of chapter 15! The majority of my students are now definitely "feeling" the book. The only downside is that they want to hurry through the assignments to get back to the story. This is not a problem I am too upset about- wanting to read more! The Y charts are working especially well for all levels of my students. Our word sort has been interesting as well. I posted the words and student selected categories on the wall. Almost every day we interact with the words to either reorganize or move our unknown words into pre-existing or new categories. I will take a picture and try to post when I am done with my roll of film (I know- I need a digital!).

Something else that has been going well is my students are making connection with the text. Because of my students' socio-economic status, there is special attention to how the government treats the commoners vs. the barons. Also, there is a link that could connect well online today about America reaching 300 million people. I believe the link is through the Today show. Here is an attempt to add the link: [Click to view link] rats! I don't think it is working. It is on msn- there is a message board about if we should worry about the pop growth and related articles about the environment and the economy. My students don't have regular access to computers, so I think I am going to incorporate it through homework or extra credit. Hope this helps!