Student Accountability for Small Groups and Book Clubs

One of my ongoing goals is to help students keep track of their participation in small reading groups and book clubs.  It helps give some of the ownership to them and takes away the need for me to constantly remind them of their responsibilities.

I have used the Small Group Points Sheet for several years with great success.  It works much like a rubric, allowing me to clearly state my expectations ahead of time. It also provides a sort of checklist for the student.

 

You could print one for each student or use it to keep track of an entire group's progress. I print it double-sided and collect points until both sides have been filled. Since I see my small groups at least every other day, it usually takes about two weeks to fill. I then tally up the points for each student and calculate their participation grade. 

This Small Group Points Sheet is editable, so you can change the categories to suit your needs. The example below is geared towards small reading groups and book clubs. You can pick up a copy by clicking here. 

Do you have a system for small group accountability?  I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!

Author Study/Genre of the Month: Jacqueline Woodson

In the past couple of years, I have started to do a "genre of the month" during reading class.  This is loosely based off of The Book Whisperer.  By the way, it is a fantastic and quick read that you won't regret buying.  I highly recommend it!

February's author is Jacqueline Woodson.  The genre of the month is Poetry.  I thought it was a good genre, considering April is National Poetry Month.

As with the other months, I put out a bunch of his books to be displayed for the entire month and I choose one to read aloud. Woodson doesn't often using the traditional rhyming patterns, but she does use rhythm in her books.  It mimics a conversation or monologue, especially in Locomotion, which I read aloud.  I love discussing how this is still a form of poetry, even though it doesn't sound like what we're used to thinking of when we think of poetry (heavy rhyming).

Some other greats:
The Other Side
Show Way
Peace, Locomotion

I also have websites available for students to research Woodson  and find more books that they want to add to their "To Read" lists.  Harper Collins Publishers has this website called the Author Tracker and Reading Rockets has many more authors on this site.

 

Do you have a genre of the month or an author study?  I'd love to hear what you do with yours!

Hiatus for the Arrival of My Bundle of Joy

I am writing this in advance of the birth of my baby boy in February.  I love sharing my teaching experiences through this blog, but I have a feeling I may not have time for it once the baby is here.

So...I'm apologizing in advance for either my absence of or sporadic blogging until this fall (maybe a bit later).

In short, I love all of you that read my blog.  So keep checking back.