Assignment

Choice Reading Marking Period 1 Project

For this marking period you will choose books of interest to you to read both at school and at home.  You are required to read at least 75 pages per week (Monday to Monday) and to create a blog where you will post weekly responses to the book you are currently reading or write comments on other students’ blog posts.  You are required to complete at least 2 books per marking period (although you may complete far more based on the length of your books). Completion due dates are:

Friday, February 20th

Friday, March 13th

The blog posts will be assessed each week.  Each blog post is worth 10 homework points and is evaluated on the following criteria:

• Did you thoughtfully address the prompt?
• Is the blog post well-edited, with standard spelling and grammatical conventions?
• Is it completed by the date (Friday of each week)?  Late posts will not get credit.

You will also get 10 homework points each week for meeting the class reading goal, which is a minimum of 75 pages per week (Monday to Monday).

Title each post with the blog post number (even if you missed one), and the title and author of your book. For example, your first blog post should be titled:

Blog Post #1--The Art of Racing in the Rain--Garth Stein.

Blog Post #1---Due Friday, January 23rd

For this week, I would like you to get your blog set up, and I would like for you to study yourself as a reader.  As you complete your reading this week, observe the following items and write about them in a 200-word response.

Step 1--Set up your blog.

• Sign up for Blogger (Use your school email address and password)
• Select a theme, fill out the “about” page and send the URL for your blog to Ms. Martell
• Here is a handy tutorial about Blogger: https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/1623800?hl=en
• Or, for those visual learners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7pnoop48W8

Step 2--1st Blog Post

1. Time yourself when you read.  How long does it take you to read 15 pages?
2. Describe at least one of the places where you read this week.  What does it look like?  What sounds do you hear as you are reading?  Try to use imagery to paint a picture of that place.
3. Describe what your mind is doing as you read.  Can you picture the action on the page like it is a movie?  Do you hear the words in your head? What are you thinking about as you are reading?
4. Is the book that you chose this week for you?  How do you know?
5. Take a picture of where you read this week and include it in your post.

Blog Post #2--Due Friday, January 30th

For this week’s reading response, I would like you to work on a reading strategy that good readers do: making connections.  Select one of the numbered prompts below and write a 200-word response to your current book.

Strategy: Making Connections (Using what you know to understand the text)

1. Write about the connections you see between the book and your world, another book you have read, a film you have seen or a song. Add pictures or links to the things that you connect this book to.
2. Make connections between the characters and the people in the real world they remind you of.
3. Connect the events in the book to historical or current events. Add pictures or links to the things that connect to the book.
4. Many books connect to social or larger issues.  What issue does your book connect to? Make a links to article or information about the issue.
5. Which character would you most like to be in this book?  Why?
6. Did this section make you laugh, cry, cringe, smile, cheer?  Explain.

Blog Post #3--Due Friday, February 6th

Step 1:   What do you notice about the author’s style of writing?  

• What person is the book in (1st, 2nd, 3rd)?  
• What makes the author’s writing interesting.  How does he use description, figurative language, sentence structures?
• Include on great line from the section you read this week.

Step 2:  Respond to at least three classmate’s blog posts.  Have you read the book that they are reading?  Do you agree with the connections that they are making with their book?  Do you have something to add?  

Blog Post #4--Due Friday, February 13th   

For this week’s reading response, I would like you to practice using an active reading strategy.  Chose one of the numbers below and write a 200-word response to it!

Determining Important Ideas (Being able to tell the main ideas and what the author considers important)

1. What is the most important word in the book?  Explain.
2. What is the author of this book saying about life and living?  What is the theme of the book?  How do you know?
3. Write down the most important or interesting lines from the section you read and write about what those lines mean to you.  Why do they seem so important?
4. Make a Wordle of the most important words http://www.wordle.net/

Blog Post #5--Due Friday, February 20th ***First book completion due date!!!

For this week, I would like you to write or speak (in a video that you upload to the blog) a book review of your completed book.  Here is a link to two helpful examples. You book review must be-

• At least 200 words written out.
• Contain enough background information so that the reader can understand the book but not be a summary.
• Contain your opinion of the book backed up with evidence and examples.
• Extra Points for posting your review to Goodreads or Amazon.  Provide the link to the page in your post.

Blog Post #6--Due Friday, February 27th

Part 1:  Post three pictures and one word that capture the setting of your new book

Part 2:  Read and respond to at least three people’s reviews.  Ask a question, describe whether you agree or disagree with their assessment of the book or comment on something they did well in their review.  If you receive any unkind comments on your blog, please let me know immediately!

Blog Post #7--Due Friday, March 6th

For this week’s reading response, I would like you to practice some of the skills that we have been working on.  In a 200-word response, please discuss the following points:

• The author’s tone.  Is it comic, serious, sarcastic?  Give an example from the text that backs up your opinion.
• Some of the major moods of the text.  Give an example from the text that backs up your opinion.  Link to an image, song or poem that conveys a similar mood. q
• Give one example from your book of an effective metaphor, image or simile and explain why you think it is effective.

Blog Post #8--Due Friday, March 13th

For this week’s reading response, I would like you to focus on making inferences at places where the author SHOWS not TELLS.

• Provide three direct quotations from your book.  After the quotation, tell what you inferred from the text (what the author showed, not told you).  

Blog Post #9--Due Friday, March 20th ***Second book completion due date!!!

Visualizing & Summarizing--create a picture collage of images that represent your book. And a 50 word (and only 50 word) summary of the text.  Include main characters and major plot points.  Focus on how you write to keep it at 50.