Reading Log Alternatives

Created so that students would listen to the first chapter and be enticed to read the rest of the story. Could be used for reader response or literary analysis journaling or students could create one of their own.

A collaborative project in the making between the media specialists from Cheney, Heritage, and Liberty. This is something we hope to roll out sometime this fall. Participation during a synchronous meeting could be logged for accountability.

This simple, free, and accessible video discussion experience is a fun way to talk about and share books. Flipgrid allows students to easily record themselves talking (video and audio). The teacher can post question/s to the grid and share the link with her students.

Example of how one teacher uses Flipgrid for reading accountability

Create a book blog in Schoology for you and your students to participate in. Model examples and provide potential questions to encourage students to get talking about their books and trying new ones.

List of Discussion Questions

Use Goodreads as a fun way for students (13 and older) to find new books to read, add books to shelves, rate & review books they have read, and update their reading "status" to show their reading progress, as well as their thoughts as they are reading. Create a digital culture of reading by having students add you, each other, and even their favorite authors as friends to see what everyone else is reading. It's like Facebook for books!

Tips on using Goodreads in the classroom

Using their iPads, students can periodically or at the end of their books create a video book review to post on Schoology or Flipgrid. Students could respond to each other's reviews as well.

Mini book review handout

Students can write and submit book reviews to be posted on Destiny, our school's online book catalog, for other students to read and benefit from. These could also be printed off and placed in library books as bookmarks.

Mini book review handout

Students can write a book review and post it on Scholastic’s Share What You’re Reading. Students can share what they are reading and discover new books based on their peers' recommendations.

After reading a book, invite each student to share his or her reactions to the book in a letter to the book's author. If students write to authors who are still alive, mail the letters…or submit students' letters to the Library of Congress's Letters About Literature program.

Easy to remember journaling instructions:

Passage – Choose a powerful passage from your book that caught your attention, moved you, or made you wonder.

Connection – How did you personally connect to the text? What did it remind you of? Are there any other books you have read that are similar to this one? Tell stories.

Illustration – Draw or create a picture or infographic that represents this book.

Students can screenshot an interesting page of their book and add a written, oral, or visual annotation as to why it was chosen. They can share what they read on Schoology or social media. Using Book Creator, Pages, Snapchat, Instagram, or even a class feed in Schoology, students can snap pictures and annotate as they read. This can be scaffolded with prompts or independent where students share what they want in each post.

Examples and how-tos

More info from Follett

Students in CMS Grade 8 ELA and Darla Breitling's classes are using Teams on Wednesdays for short book talks. Students are held accountable for their independent reading while being exposed to a bunch of peer-reviewed books. It is also an excellent way for students to practice speaking and listening skills.

Some techniques being used are:

• teachers generate new questions for students to answer each week
• students take notes on other students’ presentations; then, students post a response in Schoology to books they found interesting
• after students give their talks and respond to at least one peer, they can log out

Hand-drawn or digital posters can be fun options for book reports: https://classroom.synonym.com/book-report-poster-ideas-5989908.html

Students can use iMovie to create enticing book trailers to share with their peers.

Example lesson plan

Example Book Trailers

Students can create fun, interactive reading journals using Wakelet (free website). Students can post text, videos, links to articles and book reviews, and more in a Wakelet collection. Think of it as a big digital hangout where they can talk about a book.

Simple strategy where students choose 5 quotes from the book that best illustrate the author’s message, insight into a character, or conceptual understanding. These quotes almost always lead to excellent reflection and discussion in the classroom.

Ask students to race against the clock to see if they can summarize their books in six seconds or less. It's harder than it sounds!

Watch these examples:

* Leigh Bardugo, author of Wonder Woman: Warbringer and Shadow and Bone

* Harry Potter edition: favorite YA authors give Harry Potter a try

* Nic Stone, author of Dear Martin and Clean Getaway

Basically, the challenge is just to review a book in 10 words (6 if you want to make it more challenging). If done well, 6 or 10 word summaries accurately convey the plot and deeper themes of a text, and pique the reader's curiosity about the book.

For example:

Property of the Rebel Librarian:

Shhhhh! June started a banned books library...in her locker!

Want more information?

Students create a podcast book review or talk using GarageBand on their iPads that can be shared with their teachers and peers.

Laina Stapleton Lesson Plan

Common Sense Media Lesson Plan

Students digitally create or hand draw artistic interpretations of the novels they are reading, pulling out important ideas from the books' pages and sharing them through images and words.

More information:

Follett

Cult of Pedagogy

Digital One-Pagers

A free account on Reading Rewards will allow you to manage a group of 70 students and run reading log reports. Students can earn custom awards that you set up inside the program, like fun activities online or homework passes. A reward program could be set up in conjunction with the library as well!

Students challenge themselves to:

1. Read a book about a character who doesn’t look like you or live like you.
2. Read a book about a topic you don’t know much about.
3. Read a book in a format that you don’t normally read for fun. This might be a chapter book, a graphic novel, a book in verse, a picture book, or a hybrid book.

If they really want to go for the gold star, they can read a book that fits all three criteria! a reward program could be set up in conjunction with the library as well!

Students can use this simple tool for creating digital reader response books of their own, such as journals, book selfies, wordle reflections, reading portfolios, scene summaries, and more.

https://bookcreator.com/2018/05/free-ebook-15-ways-use-book-creator-reading-responses/

https://library.ncte.org/journals/EJ/issues/v87-1/3517

your ideas with your media specialist so we can add them to this listing!