Final Project

For my final project I have created a sample blog that I will use as an exemplar when I introduce the independent reading project.
I would like to change the way my students keep track of their independent reading, eliminate a lot of paper, expand their reading choices, and allow them to give each other feedback on what they read. I also think it will help more reluctant readers find a greater diversity of reading material. I hope students who have a hard time finding reading material that interests them will be able to get ideas from students with similar tastes and interests.
I'm currently working on samples of the types of posts students can create. Ultimately I would like to grade them on three aspects of this project.

1. The depth, creativity and analysis of their posts.
2. The quality of their comments on their peer's blogs.
3. The way that they link their blog to the web/on-line community.

I teach reading to 8th graders so they would be the guinea pigs for this project. For kids who already enjoy reading, I think this project will allow them to share what they love in a new way and act as a resource for other students. For kids who are less excited about reading I hope this project will introduce them to new reading materials and allow them to find things they're interested in reading. I believe all students will benefit from learning the skills involved in creating a blog.

Check out my Independent Reading Sample Blog here.

Ideas for a Final Project

This year in my reading class students created a noteshare notebook where they kept track and reflected on a variety of non-fiction readings. These readings came from on-line articles, magazines, textbooks, and newspapers. Students seemed to enjoy choosing their own readings and templates for reflection. I would like to expand this project by having students create a blog where they keep track of all their independent reading assignments. I usually assign 6 or 7 novels per year in addition to the non-fiction readings.

Blog entries related to the novels might include reflections on their reading, vocabulary words, links to related current events or related novels, or links to personal experiences. Photos and video could definitely be incorporated.

In order to monitor their blog reading, students would link blogs that they follow to their own blog. They would also be responsible for making posts about the blogs they read and linking to those blogs.

I wonder if I could create a blog template, or create a sample blog about a class novel that we have all read and include some posts about the blogs I read. This might be a good way to kick off the assignment.