Not Too Much, Not Too Little

Is There Logic Behind These Numbers?
by Meryem Kennedy

If you are familiar with Readers and Writers Workshop, you probably already know what the 20/20 Vision is: Publish 20 pieces of writing and read 20 books a year. This is a goal for students to push for.

The first year I started implementing this in my ESL classes, I had some problems with student reaction to the enormous amount of books they were expected to read. To decrease their anxiety level, I told my panic-stricken ones, "This only translates into 5 books a quarter (9 weeks)." Needless to say this helped.

However, when the panic died down, I had to deal with kids would choose the skinniest books and be done with reading in 3 weeks instead of reading for the whole 9 weeks. I also had the sincerely interested kids who wanted to read books like Harry Potter of 400+ pages but were scared that it would be the only book they would read. Then of course there has been the problem of how many words a book has on a page and how many pages are filled with illustrations instead of print.

Taking all these things into consideration came up with this clever solution: For my Intermediate class, I expected them to read 500 pages a quarter for “B” grade in the Reading Performance category in 3P grading system. 500 pages was based on the level of books these students can read and understand. Most of the books for Intermediate English Language Learners are more or less 100 pages. This way, students would not be scared to pick longer books if they were really interested in them. On the other hand, those who would try to trick themselves out of reading by picking shorter books would have no place to hide.

The next part of the “sweetening” of the bitter pill, if you will, comes from chunking the reading task into days. After students have gotten used to the idea of 500 long pages, I do another math problem on the board for them. In 9 weeks, counting the weekends, there are more than 50 days. If they are to read a mere 10 pages a day, that would guarantee them an “Above and Beyond” (or an “A”) by the end of the quarter for their reading performance, assuming they have really read the books throughout the quarter.

When the time for 3P conferences comes, it is as easy as stretching out on a Lazy Boy to determine what the student deserves for a performance grade. If a student has finished more than 600 pages, they deserve an “Above and Beyond.” I use the following table to easily determine their grades:
Above and Beyond = 600 +

• Basically Fine = 500- 599
• Could’ve Done Better = 400- 499
• Didn’t Try = 300- 399
• Forget About It = 299 or below

To help motivate the students, I ask them to fill out a book log everyday with just the page numbers they are on. I use the class roster for this. If they start a new book, they initial NB. That way they get to see how they are progressing from day to day and what they can do to catch up or excel.

Once all this is in place, which is basically the first couple of days of Readers Workshop, then I begin to whet the students’ appetites to the real joy of reading.

Comments

[Steve Rasmussen]

I love when kids keep track of their own stuff.