Use Literacy Logs to Bring Rigor to Classroom
Middle School Students Learn to Love Reading Using Reflection
Nov 8, 2008
Rigor has become a key word in education. Another hot button is the use of mulitple intelligences. One way to raise the level of rigor in a classroom and allow for a variety of intelligences is to utilize literacy logs. Literacy logs are a wonderful way to induce an adolescent to read. While using the logs, the student becomes engaged and interested in what he or she has read. Learners also become focused on conveying to the teacher why the book is either good or terrible. These are not traditional book reports!
Introduction to Literacy Logs
A teacher introducing the literacy log concept should take time to prepare his or her class for the additional work. One way is to explain that for the next few weeks there will be no "surprise" homework. Once the students are done cheering, go ahead and explain that there will be homework assigned on a weekly basis. This allows the student to pick which nights he or she is able to do the homework, which fosters responsibility as well.
How the Literacy Log Works
Each week, students are required to read anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours outside of class. Instead of DEAR (drop everything and read), the literacy log concept forces the student to interact and engage with the text. Students are required to either keep a response log as they read, or they must answer some questions after they finish. They also keep a log of the time spent reading, which the parent must sign. The logs are turned in weekly, giving the teacher an opportunity to quickly correct any mistakes a student might be making.
Rigorous Questions
Questions are generally broken down by genre and force the student to think. Examples are as follows:
Mystery Questions
- How does the author build suspense? Find a passage that demonstrates your answer.
- Have you been able to figure out the book is going to end?
Nonfiction
- Why did you choose this book?
- What did you learn from photographs and charts?
Fantasy
- How does the author allow you to enter the book's world? What pictures does he or she paint of this world? Is the world realistic? Or is it completely a fantasy?
- Do the characters face real-world issues?
General Questions
- What is the setting of this book?
- How does this setting influence the characters in this week’s reading?
- What have you read about this week? In one paragraph, summarize what the book is about.
- Do you like the protagonist in the book? How is the protagonist like you? Different from you? Did the character face a conflict? Was the conflict EXTERNAL or INTERNAL?
Other genre questions can be easily developed as well. Students should also be allowed to use multiple intelligences in their responses. For example, an artistic student could draw a picture of the main conflict, while a musical student could compose a song depicting what happened in the reading. Literacy logs allow students to use a wide variety of intelligences. Students may also suggest questions themselves.
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