Was doing some searching literacy centers and stumbled across this. I have always strugged on how to assign a grade to independent reading and I think I will use something like this. http://home.att.net/~TEACHING/litcircl/rubric2.pdf
I love this...thank you! I'll be using AR at my school, and what an excellent way to assess independent reading!
Does anyone use reading logs for home reading? I want to keep track of how much my students read at home, but I know it most likely won't end up being true. I have a feeling some will stop reading, yet keep recording. Any thoughts?
I have a question for everyone here: Why are you assessing their independent reading that way? There is a difference between Independent Reading and Sustained Silent Reading If you are not familiar with the differences I would encourage you to take some time and learn them. Reading Essentialsby Regie Routman is a good place to start. Also how long are your children reading independently in the classroom each and every day? Talking with children about their reading is the best way for the teacher to assess their comprehension. After listening to them talk about their book and then read a small portion, I ask a couple of questions to get them thinking deeper about their book. I take the time to conference with my students and find out what they are doing correctly and what they need to work on to improve their comprehension. Is that what we are after in the first place? Accelerated Reader questions are all knowledge level according to Bloom. I don't really encourage those tests in my classroom but I don't discourage them if the students want to take the test. But, I always allow them to use the book for the test. Becuase for our state assessment, they have the passage in front of them for that so why not use this as a test taking practice. I just hope that some of you reconsider using rubrics to assess their independent reading. I do use reading logs to keep track of their home reading and again, I can tell if the are or aren't reading just by talking with them.
I don't assign reading at home. I want the kids to love reading, and if it's just another thing they HAVE to do, they won't enjoy it as much. In fact, they will likely end up hating it. I structure SSR after 4 blocks, and the kids love it. They beg for more time! At parent night, and during many, many times throughout the year, I talk to the parents about the importance of reading every night and making it part of the routine. I will say, most of my parents speak English, and are in a comfortable social class, where they have a little luxury time with their children at night. I will often send home a list of book series or authors that are currently popular with the kids so they can go to the public library with their parents. I talk about making reading part of the routine. Also, I often ask the kids what they will be reading over the vacation, and we talk about favorite authors. I have them tell me what they read over the weekend, or they bring in a book they are enjoying at home for sharing if they want. I talk about the books I read at home and do lots of book talks. I get new books over every break, and talk them up. From talking to the parents in my class, reading is something almost all of them do nightly with their child, or their child does alone. Anyway, there is no way to assess this. There is no way to log this. I have to trust them. We read independently at school for 35 minutes. We also have a read aloud and a whole group reading, such as a novel, articles, poems, etc. I have to think this is a good start.
I don't assign reading for home either. However, I am required to have some sort of record of students reading at home...whether they read or not. I'm at a Reading First school and we have to have a copy in our Reading Specialist's mailbox every Monday with data for the previous week. I just wanted an easy way to track it. edit: I also don't take a grade on this. It's something that I have to do for the administration.