Planning/Preparation: Evidence Item #2
Item Name:
LitFit: Independent Reading
Description of Item:
This weekly activity involves students reading an independent novel of their choice by taking part in four exercises that are attached with Reading for Meaning: Reading, Vocabulary, Summarization, and Paragraph Significance.
Context & Date Used:
10th Grade English II, All Year
Reflection:
During our PLN classes, we talked in length about the importance of the independent novel and different strategies on how to incorporate it in our classrooms. Around this time, I watched an episode of Brain Games on Netflix entitled, "Use it or Lose it," on how you need to workout your brain the same way you need to work out your muscles. On top of that, being an avid gym-goer, I thought about trying to find a way on combining the two loves of my life, reading and lifting, into an independent reading activity. Result: LitFit.
Every Friday, my regular English II students read a novel of their choosing and complete a LitFit sheet consisting of a Droodles warm-up, inspired by the episode; reading for 10-40 minutes, adding a minute each week; vocabulary analysis, on a word they don't know; summarization, in form of a 30-word GIST; and explaining the significance of a paragraph to the entire novel as a whole.
A side goal of this activity is to develop life-long readers, and I can honestly say that because of the frequency of it, each year, I seem to develop a handful of non-readers into casual readers!
Every Friday, my regular English II students read a novel of their choosing and complete a LitFit sheet consisting of a Droodles warm-up, inspired by the episode; reading for 10-40 minutes, adding a minute each week; vocabulary analysis, on a word they don't know; summarization, in form of a 30-word GIST; and explaining the significance of a paragraph to the entire novel as a whole.
A side goal of this activity is to develop life-long readers, and I can honestly say that because of the frequency of it, each year, I seem to develop a handful of non-readers into casual readers!