Don

1
Dont Let a Dead Writer Plan Your Summer Reading
Program

• A Plan for Making Summer Reading Fun for Middle
  School
• and High School Students

2
Why Reading Should Be Fun

• Free and voluntary reading will increase a
  students reading comprehension, writing
  abilities, enjoyment of reading as well as a
  means to increase reading achievement scores.
• Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) is defined as
  reading because a student wants to read. 1
• Various studies demonstrate that students who
  read outside the school during the summer and off
  school hours shows clear indications of reading
  achievement. 2

3
Why Reading for Pleasure?

• Not a New Idea.
• Linda Williams in her article Summer Belongs in
  the Hands of the Students-Celebrating Choice in
  School Reading Lists talks about how reading the
  classics or dead white man literature may
  stifle a students motivation for reading.
• Proponents for this side of the debate consider
  reading itself more important than reading
  particular titles.3 She advocates that classics
  were never really meant to be read by teenagers.
  
• They were intended, Williams promotes, for
  adults and the literate classes of the day.4

4
Why Reading for Pleasure is Such a Good Idea

• If readers are not allowed to read for
  pleasure or if reading takes too much effort,
  readers may become frustrated and quit reading
  altogether! 6

5
Summertime Learning Losses

• Studies clearly show that all students
  demonstrate a significant learning loss equaling
  approximately one month on a grade level
  equivalent scale during the summer months.7
• In the presentation paper, What if Summer
  Learning Loss Were an Education Policy Priority?,
  the authors of the paper argue that summers
  remain an untapped resource for school districts
  and communities as a means to close achievement
  and performance gaps occurring over the
  summer.8

6
Making Summer Reading Fun-Plan Objectives

• To introduce the concept of reading for pleasure
  over the summer months by including more current
  and popular fiction
• To introduce concepts of literary criticism
  through the development of a book review
  magazine. This project is designed to work in
  conjunction with the summer reading program.
• To encourage reading for pleasure and to promote
  ongoing reading by introducing student-led,
  informal book talks on books found within the
  summer reading list.

7
Teaching Team Collaborations

• Language Arts
• Technology Department
• Fine Arts Department
• Library Media Center

8
Plan Goals

• With the support of a collaborative teaching
  team, students will create the following
• Summer Reading Booklist
• Student-written book reviews
• An Editorial Board which will review content of
  reviews.
• Student-led booktalks
• Student-prepared book review magazine with online
  element
• Student reading journals.

9
Project To Do List
Language Arts Department Build a summer reading list. Select a common piece of literature and order class sets. Identify editing and style guide. Develop lesson plans on editing and reviewing activities. Library Media Center Build bibliography for editing, book review and booktalk resources. Check collection for availability of reading list choices and enhances where necessary. Develop lesson plan on booktalk activities and magazine publication.
Technology Identify software needs and familiarizes self with software. Develop lesson plan on creation of online magazine. Fine Arts Build list of resources on magazine layout possibilities. Identify possible layouts for class review. Develop lesson plan on graphic design for publications.
10
Initial Planning
February Meet with Teaching Team members to outline project boundaries, duties and deadlines. Develop and implement survey for student poll on summer reading list books. March Develop summer reading list based on poll. Develop rubric and time lines. LMS reports on resources needed and available.
April Technology provides plan on developing online magazine feature. Language Arts shares plan on editing and book review resources. Fine Arts presents plan on magazine layout. May Fine Arts develops student promotional brochure to present project. Kickoff begins.
11
Pre-Summer Planning Phase
May Introduction of Summer Reading List and Summer Reading Kickoff Party May Short Booktalks Given. Summer Booklist distributed. Editorial Board selected.
May Student Editorial Board meets and plans board responsibilities and review selection criteria. May Students required to read one common book and a editing style guide as per teaching teams selection.
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• 1. Language Arts and Library Eighth Grade
  Standard 4 Writing Process, 8.3.2-8.3.5,
  8.4.7-8.4.9
• 2. Creation a Book Review Magazine
• Language Arts Development of review structure
  and format Writing of the reviews
• Standard 4 Writing Process, 8.3.2-8.3.5,
  8.4.7-8.4.9
• School Library Selection of materials, resources
  on book reviews and strategies for writing
  reviews Standard 4 Writing Process, 8.3.2-8.3.5,
  8.4.7-8.4.9
• Art Department. Development of the magazine
  format and layout
• Technology Department. Development of the
  magazine by using computerized formats. Standard
  8.4.6
• 3. A Student Editorial Board will be established
  by Language Arts and the Library to review and
  oversee the completion of the project. It will
  also edit the magazine within a predetermined due
  date. Standards 8.6.4

13

• 4. Book Talk-Eighth Grade students will lead a
  series of book talks based on the books and
  subsequent reviews from the summer reading list
  during the schools middle school lunch hour.
  Standards 8.7.1, 8.7.2-8.7.9, 8.7.10-8.7.11.
• 5. Other Standards Impacted during Project
  Duration
• Students must take into account the following
  issues for list development
• Intellectual Freedom
• Age Appropriateness
• Censorship and Banned Books
• Book reviews Standards 8.4.4-8.4.6
• Appropriateness within the school culture
• Standards 2-8.2.1, 8.2.4

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Summer Expectations for Students
June Begin summer reading. Students required to read approximately 10 of list. July Reading of common piece of literature. Work on reading journals.
August Journal articles include readers overall impression of book in two to three paragraphs.
15
Fall Implementation Plan
September Begin learning and development of magazine format and layout. September Students identify books for review. Book reviews are written by students. October Students learn editing skills, participate in sample editing exercises. October Continue participation in sample editing exercises and edit one book review.
November Creation of computerized online magazine. November Publication of magazine, online and in written format. December Promotion of magazine through booktalks. December Distribution of magazine to student body, LMC and local public libraries.
16
Project Assessment

• Create and implement a student survey regarding
  the above described project. These surveys will
  be evaluated against reading comprehension scores
  for that particular year.
• Conduct another survey to develop a list of
  summer reading choices for the upcoming summer.
• Students conduct own assessment by conducting
  informal focus group talks with small student
  groups.

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Suggested Resources

• 1. New York Times Book Review, Book Page,
  Bookmark and Pages magazines for review by
  students.
• 2. Other professional review magazine resources
  such as Horn Book, School Library Journal, VOYA
  or Book Links. Students may use online sources
  of these publications.
• 3. Book review websites such as readingrants.com,
  teenreads.com, teenink.com, bookreview.com,
  amazon.com and other sites identified by
  students.
• 4. Editing guide. A good guide might be
• Venolia, Jan. ReWrite Right! Your Guide to
  Perfectly Polished Prose. California Ten Speed
  Press, 1987, 2000.
• 5. Guide on booktalks by Lucy Schall.
• Schall, Lucy. Booktalks and More-Motivating
  Teens to Read. Connecticut Libraries Unlimited,
  Inc. 2003.
• 6. Indiana Standards for Language Arts,
  Technology.
• 7. A guide on intellectual freedom and
  censorship Intellectual Freedom Manual.

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Sample Summer Reading List

• The House of Spirits
• How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents
• Before We Were Free
• Band of Brothers
• Empire of the Sun
• THWONK!
• Haunted The Role of a Mediator
• Tears of a Tiger
• Jim the Boy
• The House of the Scorpion
• Shattering Glass
• Fat Kid Rules the World
• Roots
• The Autobiography of Malcom X
• October Sky/Rocket Boy
• Born Confused
• Seabiscuit
• First Part Last
• The Secret Lives of Bees

• Tears of a Giraffe No. 1 Ladies Detective
  Agency
• Lonesome Dove
• Endurance Shackletons Incredible Voyage
• Walk Two Moons
• The Wings of Merlin
• Killer Angels
• The House on Mango Street
• Milkweed
• Troy
• Year of Wonders
• Witness
• Fever 1703
• Birds of Prey
• Wolverine The Origin
• Quiver Green Arrow
• Pedro and Me
• Rainbow Boys
• Cheaper by the Dozen
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle

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Sources

• Krashen, Stephen. The Power of Reading-Insights
  from the Research. Colorado Libraries
  Unlimited, Inc. 1993.
• Reed, Arthea J.S. Comics to Classics-A Guide to
  Books for Teens and Preteens. New York Penguin
  Books, 1988, 1994.
• Fairchild, Ronald and Matthew Boulay. What if
  Summer Learning Loss Were an Education Policy
  Priority? Presentation for 24th Annual APPAM
  Research Conference, November 9, 2002.
• Williams, Linda. Summer Belongs in the Hands of
  the Students-Celebrating Choice in School Reading
  Lists. VOYA, December 2003, Pages 368-371.
• Williams, Linda. How I Spent My Summer
  Vacationwith School Reading Lists. VOYA,
  February 2002, Page 416-421. Found at
  http//www.voya.com/WhatsInvoya/SummerVaction.html

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Sources

• Schall, Lucy. Booktalks and More-Motivating
  Teens to Read. Connecticut Libraries Unlimited,
  Inc., 2003.
• Vendolia, Jan. ReWrite Right! Your Guide to
  Perfectly Polished Prose. Berkeley, California
  Ten Speed Press, 2000.
• Other resources
• Shin, Fay H. Motivating Students with
  Goosebumps and Other Popular Books A
  Self-Selected Reading Program for Middle School
  Students. CSLA Journal, Volume 25, Number 1,
  Pages 15-19, Fall 2001. Found at
  http//vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.proxy.ulib.iupui.edu/
  hww/results_singl/jhtml
• Kellerstrass, Katherine. Summer Reading
  Program. Illinois Libraries, Volume 82, Number
  1, Pages 43-56, Winter 2000. Found at
  lthttp//vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.proxy.ulib.iupui.edu
  /hww/results_singl/jhtml
• McCaffrey, Meg. Summertime and the Reading is
  Easy. School Library Journal. Volume 50, Issue
  1, Page 44, January 2004. Found at
  http//web13.epnet.com/DeliverPrintSave.asp?tb1_
  ugdbsf5hCafh2Cmih2Ce...
• Young Adult Library Services Association. Teen
  Reading. Teens vote for favorite young adult
  book. American Library Association. Found at
  http//www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teenreading/teenstopt
  en/2003teenstop.htm
• Hubert, Jennifer. Reading Rants-Out of the
  Ordinary Teen Booklists. 1998-2004. Found at
  http//tln.lib.mi.us/amutch/jen/
• St. Pius X Catholic High School. Aspire!
  Program 2003. Atlanta, Georgia. Found at
  http//www.spx.org/faculty/library/summer/9gr.htm