Reading

The Plan

Course Description: Reading class will build students’ skills, fluency, stamina, and understanding of texts. We also focus on background knoweldge, specifically in the area of word study. Accomplishing these goals requires time, support, and resources, all of which are found in this class. Success is something we create, and the creation of successful readers and students is precisely what this class is about.

Instructor Information: William Polking

Room A129

School phone: 792.8010

Home phone: 792.9329

Twitter: @Polking

Class website: polkingclassroom.com

Class Twitter: @chsbks

Our Twitter hashtag for reading: #chsbks

Class Instagram: chsbks

My prep period this semester is first period. Questions? Come in before or after school (until speech season begins in November, when my schedule becomes much more complicated). I am always available online—feel free to contact me on Twitter (@Polking) or e-mail me using either of the addresses listed above.

Course Outline: Students will improve their skills at reading different types of texts; use and monitor their own reading processes; improve their reading speed, stamina, and confidence; and expand their vocabularies through word study. Most importantly, students will understand that, having learned to read, they now need to read to learn. And, I hope, believe that books can be answers to the questions our lives present.

Texts/Resources: Students will need a (small) three-ring binder or folder for this class.

Sharing our reading:

What I encourage you to do after you’ve finished a good book:

1) Take a Shelfie with your book! (Look at the Shelfies page on our website to see previous student efforts) We will post them on our “Shelfies” page.

--You can take it anywhere--then share it with me on Twitter or via e-mail

--You can even take it in class during reading time

--Take it alone or with a friend or friends

--Or I can take it in class

2) Tweet the author of your book and tell her/him how much you liked it!

Most authors are on Twitter—they love to hear from their readers. Worst-case scenario: you never hear back from them. Best-case scenario: They respond and maybe even follow you!

Attendance/Classroom Expectations: Students are expected to be in their seats and ready to work when class begins. Students are also expected to have their reading books with them each day. As parts of some days will be spent reading, the classroom must remain undisturbed during those times.

Instructional Procedures: Some class time will be provided most days for silent independent reading and conferencing. Students will be responsible for finding vocabulary words from their independent reading and will be orally quizzed over their individual sets of words. After the first few weeks, the class functions on a workshop model. Often different students will often be doing different things, all related to reading.

Students will choose their books to meet their individual needs; when certain genres of reading are required, students will have choice within those particular genres. I firmly believe students should be pilots, not passengers, and choice in what you read is part of that.

First five weeks: We will all read fiction.

Second five weeks: All students are invited to try a historical fiction book.

Third five weeks: All students are invited to try a nonfiction book.

Final five weeks: Any genre.

You are never “done” in our class—another book always awaits.

Whenever you finish something we are working on as a class, you are expected to shift seamlessly to your independent reading.

Assessment/Grading: The semester grade is formed as follows: Each quarter’s overall grade is worth 45% of the total semester grade, and the final 10% is allotted to the semester test.

Each quarter’s grade has five components:

Articles of the Week and responses: 20%

Vocabulary Work (including quizzes) : 20%

Big Question Responses (at least one during each midterm): 20%

Weekly Goal Checks and other Reading Checks: 25%

Projects and other assessments: 15%

A: 93-99 B: 83-87 C: 73-77 D: 63-67

A-: 90-92 B-: 80-82 C-: 70-72 D-: 60-62

B+: 88-89 C+: 78-79 D+: 68-69

Articles of the Week and responses:

A shared need for all readers is the ability to analyze and argue with informational and persuasive nonfiction texts. We work on this all semester long with our articles of the week and the responses. Articles are read and annotated together on most Mondays; the responses are due online in the forum BEFORE class begins on Thursdays. I will always post a model response to show you what I think and how I write a response. Your response should be approximately the same length. You are also required to respond to at least one other response as part of your own response—we want this to be a continuation of the discussion we are having in class. Be sure to, at minimum, proofread and spellcheck your response before you post it.

Vocabulary: As this is an individualized reading course, what constitutes an independent vocabulary word is necessarily different for different students. You are responsible for finding vocabulary words from your reading; if you cannot find words from your selection, that is a strong indication that the text is too easy for you. Proper nouns–words that are capitalized–are not to be used for our vocabulary purposes. You should, however, look up these words if you are unfamiliar with them. Wikipedia is a wonderful resource for this.

Students are responsible for three vocabulary words each time vocabulary is due. You may work alone or with a partner. Students need to come to class with three words selected from their reading; together with your partner, you then need to choose the three best words and complete the word study sheets for each of them. To earn the vocabulary credit, you must complete the form for each word correctly and completely (partners only need complete three total, not three each). All sections of the form must be completed; no partial credit will be given. The form represents steps in a process of word study; skipping steps means the process is incomplete.

Students may complete up to five additional words per week on their own for extra credit.

Vocabulary is always due at the end of a class period, so that students can use online sources, each other, and the instructor as resources. However, your individual responsibility is to have chosen three words before class begins. You may also pull vocabulary words from our articles of the week.

Note: If you have any difficulty with any part of the vocabulary process, please ask for help. The point of the vocabulary work is for you to become familiar with and correctly use more words. Students often struggle creating their own sentences correctly. Do not just throw together a sentence and hope it is correct. ASK FOR HELP!

Individualized vocabulary quizzes over nine words will be given orally throughout the semester. Students will first be asked to pronounce the word (failure to do so correctly will lower your score); you will then be asked to demonstrate your understanding of the word through various prompts: example, context, synonym, antonym, and so on.

Big Question Responses: As part of our conferences over finished books, we will come up with a “Big Question” for your book. Don’t worry—we will work on this together as a class early in the semester. You are required to complete at least one Big Question response during each of the four grading periods: the midterms and the ends of both quarters.

Big Question responses are to be posted in the appropriate forum on our class network. I will post model responses from my own reading and excellent models from previous students; as with the article responses, your response should be approximately as long as mine. To complete the Big Question, you must conference over the book. Not all books need a full conference—only those you plan to write a Big Question over. You and I together will come up with useful Big Questions as part of our conference.

Those looking to earn extra credit can do so by completing more than one Big Question response. The more books you finish and conference over, the more choices you have for Big Question responses.

We have a rubric for these responses, and I will be happy to comment on your response as long as you share it with me before the deadline. You can and SHOULD revise your response after reading my comments—your grade is not final until we reach the deadline.

Weekly Goals and other Reading Checks: We will negotiate a weekly page number goal. The minimum weekly goal is one hundred pages. If you set only a minimum goal, reaching your goal will never get you an A—the A level is not about doing the minimum. We set and check goals on Wednesdays, online in a forum on our class website. If you are absent, you are expected to still respond to the forum.

Your weekly grade is based on how well you met your goal AND how well you respond to the prompt(s); if you are not reading, you will not be able to respond to the prompts.

The instructor must approve all books. Reading only books below your current reading level will not improve your reading ability. Different students enter the class with different reading abilities; thus, other students may receive approval for a book for which you were denied. Books required for other classes may be used for this class, but these books are also subject to instructor approval.

Remember: Finishing books is habit we want to reward. If you do not finish a book during the grading period, you can (and should) finish it during the next grading period. But remember that you do not HAVE to read any particular book. After twenty pages or so, if you wish to switch your book, by all means do so. But waiting until later in your reading to abandon a book is not a great strategy.

Genre requirements:

Fiction

Historical Fiction

Nonfiction (including Autobiography/Biography/Memoir)

Why this requirement? We are building our brains, working on becoming total readers. If you read only fiction, you become better at reading fiction. But non-fiction/expository texts have different structures and have to be read differently (which is one reason why we do nonfiction articles of the week). We need to build our brains to read these kinds of texts as well.

Polking’s Class Rules (adapted from Sister Corita Kent):

Rule One: What I have to offer is me. What you have to offer is you. Offer it.

Rule Two: Find a place you trust, and then try trusting it. Do the same for people.

Rule Three: General duties of a student—pull everything out of your teacher; pull everything out of your fellow students.

Rule Four: General duties of a teacher—pull everything out of your students.

Rule Five: Be self-disciplined—this means finding someone wiser or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.

Rule Six: The only rule is work. If you work, it will lead to something. It’s the people who do all of the work all of the time who eventually catch on to things.

Rule Seven: Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It’s lighter than you think.

Rule Eight: Always be around. Always go to class.

Rule Nine: Read everything you can get your hands on.