[CALIBK12] Results of School-Wide SSR Book

[Waddle, Victoria]

Connie and all,

Well, my school's leadership brought back the vote from their departments that they didn't want to have SSR at all--nor focus lessons, nor ANYTHING. Just add a couple of minutes back into to each class. I was pretty down. Since the school opened, I've wanted to do something along the 'school-wide read' line and can't get any buy in. I thought that when the teachers heard that RCHS did this (below), they would at least consider it, but I don't think our teachers value self-selected reading. I've been pitching it--along with the research to support it--for quite awhile, but folks feel like they have bigger fish to fry (and that's a long story outside the parameters of this listserv).

In the meanwhile, I am working with the English teachers who have summer reading lists--honors classes. I am going to put up blog entries for their choices and they are going to have the kids dialogue about the books on my blog. We thought this would give meaning to the summer assignment which is often disconnected from the rest of the year/curriculum. I will also be blogging "Bless Me Ultima," which is the Academic Decathlon reading this year. The Aca-Deca kids are going to work on some of the themes with me through the blog over the summer. I thought these were fun ideas to share.

Since I have a joint-use library, the public and I are going to have a teen reading club as a joint project. This way, even though we can't get a school-wide read, we can widely advertise some great YA books.

Have a wonderful summer!

Victoria Waddle
Colony High
Ontario


________________________________________
From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu [calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu] On Behalf Of ode2living at aol.com [ode2living at aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2008 5:20 PM
To: calibk12 at listproc.sjsu.edu
Subject: [CALIBK12] Results of School-Wide SSR Book

So, here is an update to my query for teen short story collections for our school-wide SSR book for the fall.

I took 11 possibilities to the leadership council, and we narrowed it down to four books:
The Struggle to Be Strong
Starting with "I"
Who Do You Think You Are?
All Sleek and Skimming

I told leadership that I really wanted students and staff to vote, so I began visiting English classes and doing book talks, then having students vote. After 700 votes (there are about 2100 underclassmen, but with it being the end of the year I only had time to visit about 25 English sections), the winner is  The Struggle to Be Strong! The students are very excited! Over the summer, I will be creating a guide for teachers and suggesting which stories to read together since there won't be enough time to read the entire book. I told leadership that I'd like to get "guest readers" to visit the classrooms (admin, counselors, library staff, etc.), and they liked that idea.

After the reading is done, I'm going to hold a raffle to give away the copies teachers are willing to donate (About 150 copies will be purchased, so I hope to receive at least 30 copies back.). I'm also going to make bookmarks for SSR teachers to hand out that lists further reading if they liked this book.

I'm really excited! Thank you to everyone who has given me suggestions!

Connie Joyce
Rancho Cucamonga HS
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