LIKE what you read. READ what you like.

Some Amazing Students

I’m sitting in first hour right now, and all my students are using a Google Form to write their book log. It’s a simple form that enables me to see what they’re reading, what they’re struggling with, and whether or not they’re enjoying their read. I’m writing now because it’s the way my class works. When I write in my notebook, they write in their notebooks. When I read, they read. Building their literacy skills is truly a community effort. So right now they’re writing so I figured it was only fair that I do the same.

I look around my classroom and they’re all participating. I see varying degrees of typing proficiency. And some students who are more verbose than others. But I’ve also seen every single student, at some point in the activity, look something up in his book. I am excited to see the messages they’re leaving me about their independent reading. This kind of start to the semester makes me think that we’re all going to build on our literacy skills this semester.

This is one of those situations in which, while I say I hate the numbers and they don’t offer a full picture of a students’ literacy skills, there’s some validation in seeing that improvement in assessment score. Maybe because that’s how we’re judged. And it doesn’t feel great when your students don’t show improvement on the assessment and that’s publicly displayed for the entire staff to see.