Welcome to Seventh Grade READING!

NO MORE READING LOG HOMEWORK!  We're done for the year!

Independent Reading Project
students will be working on them in and out of class from now until June 1st!

 Get a copy of the Project Guidelines for Reading 2:    independent_reading2_project_2012spring.docx

Get a copy of the Project Guidelines for Reading 1:   independent_reading_project_2012spring.docx
 

 Studies have consistently shown that students who see modeled reading (parents reading newspapers and books, teachers that read aloud and guide students' literary discussion) become strong readers themsleves.  BE A GOOD EXAMPLE and let your child(ren) catch you reading!

My goal for 7th Grade English Language Arts is to encourage ACTIVE READING.  This year we will focus on reading and discussing a large variety of material from many sources.   Please consider allowing your child to purchase the novels we will be studying, since that will allow them to really "get to grips" with the literary works and write notes, underline, highlight, tab, and generally make an academic mess in their texts. 

Several highly regarded studies have shown that students who can mark up the work as they read have higher retention rates and achieve greater depth in understanding meaning within the material.  In fact, Harvard University emphasizes "critical reading" for all incoming freshmen, and has published "Interrogating Texts: 6 Reading Habits to Develop in Your First Year at Harvard" to help their students learn how to engage with a text.  This guide stresses, "Mark up the margins of your text with WORDS: ideas that occur to you, notes about things that seem important to you, reminders of how issues in a text may connect with class discussion or course themes."  Please see http://hcl.harvard.edu/research/guides/lamont_handouts/interrogatingtexts.html for more detailed information.