Book Talk in "A Peek at My Week"

    Happy Sunday! That’s right it’s Sunday night (10:30) and I am up blogging. (Linking up with Mrs. Laffin)

I am one lucky teacher to be granted the day off for Veterans Day.   

Also, due to the nature of the “end of marking period assignments”, I have been pretty much in the clear for lesson plans.  My students are all on the publishing stage of their Personal Narratives.  This translates into my kids typing next week and me just going over some finishing touches with one-on-one conferences.  

 Pretty low key.

     Last week was also pretty low key, since we had off on Thursday and Friday for teachers’ convention in NJ.  (TRYING not to boast!) 

Since tomorrow is the last day of the marking period, I had my students present their “Book Talks” on their independent reading books last Tuesday and Wednesday. 
 I offered 5 points extra credit if students presented on Tuesday, a regular grade on Wednesday, and a big fat “zero” if students were not prepared to talk on Wednesday.

( I handed out this rubric/direction sheet a few weeks ago.  I told students that they would need to present it to me at the time of their book talk.  If it was not there for me, I would take 5 points off. )

Luckily, even the students who were not 100% prepared to go on Wednesday were still able to talk about their books.  Also,  most students were almost surprised at how easy this assignment turned out to be as long as they read.  On a personal level, there was some definite relief from this assignment.  I have never done a book talk before, but was willing to try as long as it was kept simple.  I modified a book talk I found online to make it a lot more short and sweet for my 6th graders.  The sweetest thing for me though is that I have to collect NOTHING!  Some students went ahead and typed notes, made index cards, or written notes; still I had told them earlier I want nothing.  I was glowing as I heard some students talk openly and comfortably about their books without any written aid at all!  Of course, there were a few who were seriously shy/nervous about speaking and a few who did not seem to fully comprehend their book.  

But the overall feel from students was that they enjoyed and remembered their stories!  

For those of you who support independent reading in class, how do you handle assessment?  Also, how do you work out nonfiction within independent reading.

Thanks and have a good week everyone!

-Lisa