I've graded your book talks - those of you who have turned them in - and I want to congratulate certain students on their excellent work. These students all received a high 3 or a 4 on their book talks.
382:
Tommoi
Shannon
383:
Regina
Dunessa
Tiona
Aharon
361:
Stephan
Keisha (perfect score!)
Octavia
The rest of you are on your way to achieving high 3s. This is only Book Talk #1; you still have plenty of time to improve throughout the year.
Most of you still have yet to turn in a book talk. Remember -
- You should be finishing an independent reading book and writing a book talk every two weeks.
- The book talk and the Sourcebook are worth 40% of your grade.
- If you are reading a book that is very challenging, or a book that is very long, you may write two or more book talks on the same book. For example, you would write one book talk on Chapters 1-18 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and another book talk on Chapters 19-36. See me ahead of time if you think you need to do two book talks on the same book.
Showing posts with label book talks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book talks. Show all posts
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Book Talk example
In my last post, I reminded all of you of the importance of turning in your book talks. I also published a grading checklist to guide you in your reading your writing. The following is an example of a book talk that would earn the full 40 points in this class:
Title: Reluctantly Alice
Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Information about the author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor experienced several embarrassing moments in seventh grade. Alice’s adventures in this book are based on some of the author’s experiences.
Summary: Alice McKinley has one goal for her seventh grade year: she wants everyone to like her. Unfortunately, she runs into several problems that make this goal difficult to achieve. Her main conflict has to do with Denise Whitlock, a big, ugly eighth grader who’s always bullying Alice. Denise teases Alice for having a dead mother and laughs if Alice falls down in gym class. One day, Denise and her friends corner Alice and try to make her sing the school song. Alice doesn’t want to because she has a terrible voice, and the eighth graders threaten to dunk her head in a stopped-up toilet. Alice’s brother Lester stops by the school and rescues her just in time, but after that, Denise’s bullying gets even worse. Eventually, Alice figures out how to solve the problem. For an English class project, Alice picks Denise to be her partner, knowing that Denise will have to be nice to her in order to get a good grade. At first, Denise ignores Alice and refuses to answer her questions. After the girls meet a couple of times, Denise starts to be nicer to Alice, and they finish their project and get a good grade on it. They even find out they have something in common: neither one feels completely comfortable within her family. Alice loves her father and brother but misses her mother, and Denise is the youngest of six kids and feels unwanted and unloved by her parents. Alice and Denise solve their conflict and act nice to each other from now on.
This is the main conflict of the book, but Alice experiences other problems as well. She and her ex-boyfriend Patrick accidentally embarrass their history teacher and work on a special project for class to make it up to him. The school newspaper prints an interview with Alice, and she gets into a fight with both of her best friends, Pamela and Elizabeth, after they feel jealous of the attention Alice is getting. She arranges a date between her father and her pretty English teacher, Miss Summers, without telling either adult what’s going on. They wind up liking each other, but Alice’s father tells her not to interfere with his love life anymore. Alice also tries to help her brother decide which of his two girlfriends he likes best; this conflict remains unsolved, and it looks like Lester will have to juggle between Marilyn and Crystal for several Alice books to come.
Connections: I made a text-to-self connection when Alice and her friends found out that the seventh graders would have to sing the school song on Seventh Grade Sing Day. Alice and Elizabeth were horrified by the idea, but Pamela thought it would be nice to sing in front of a crowd because she has a good voice. If that happened to me today, I would probably react the same way that Pamela did.
Recommendations: I recommend this book to girls between ten and thirteen; the subplot about Lester and his girlfriends is inappropriate for anyone younger than ten, and girls older than thirteen would find it babyish. I think some boys might enjoy the book too; they might think Lester and Patrick are funny. This book is the third in the Alice series, so if people want to read it, they should read the first two books beforehand: The Agony of Alice and Alice in Rapture, Sort Of.
Title: Reluctantly Alice
Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Information about the author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor experienced several embarrassing moments in seventh grade. Alice’s adventures in this book are based on some of the author’s experiences.
Summary: Alice McKinley has one goal for her seventh grade year: she wants everyone to like her. Unfortunately, she runs into several problems that make this goal difficult to achieve. Her main conflict has to do with Denise Whitlock, a big, ugly eighth grader who’s always bullying Alice. Denise teases Alice for having a dead mother and laughs if Alice falls down in gym class. One day, Denise and her friends corner Alice and try to make her sing the school song. Alice doesn’t want to because she has a terrible voice, and the eighth graders threaten to dunk her head in a stopped-up toilet. Alice’s brother Lester stops by the school and rescues her just in time, but after that, Denise’s bullying gets even worse. Eventually, Alice figures out how to solve the problem. For an English class project, Alice picks Denise to be her partner, knowing that Denise will have to be nice to her in order to get a good grade. At first, Denise ignores Alice and refuses to answer her questions. After the girls meet a couple of times, Denise starts to be nicer to Alice, and they finish their project and get a good grade on it. They even find out they have something in common: neither one feels completely comfortable within her family. Alice loves her father and brother but misses her mother, and Denise is the youngest of six kids and feels unwanted and unloved by her parents. Alice and Denise solve their conflict and act nice to each other from now on.
This is the main conflict of the book, but Alice experiences other problems as well. She and her ex-boyfriend Patrick accidentally embarrass their history teacher and work on a special project for class to make it up to him. The school newspaper prints an interview with Alice, and she gets into a fight with both of her best friends, Pamela and Elizabeth, after they feel jealous of the attention Alice is getting. She arranges a date between her father and her pretty English teacher, Miss Summers, without telling either adult what’s going on. They wind up liking each other, but Alice’s father tells her not to interfere with his love life anymore. Alice also tries to help her brother decide which of his two girlfriends he likes best; this conflict remains unsolved, and it looks like Lester will have to juggle between Marilyn and Crystal for several Alice books to come.
Connections: I made a text-to-self connection when Alice and her friends found out that the seventh graders would have to sing the school song on Seventh Grade Sing Day. Alice and Elizabeth were horrified by the idea, but Pamela thought it would be nice to sing in front of a crowd because she has a good voice. If that happened to me today, I would probably react the same way that Pamela did.
Recommendations: I recommend this book to girls between ten and thirteen; the subplot about Lester and his girlfriends is inappropriate for anyone younger than ten, and girls older than thirteen would find it babyish. I think some boys might enjoy the book too; they might think Lester and Patrick are funny. This book is the third in the Alice series, so if people want to read it, they should read the first two books beforehand: The Agony of Alice and Alice in Rapture, Sort Of.
Sourcebooks and Book Talks
Just a quick reminder that Book Talk #1 for eighth graders are due tomorrow and Sourcebook checks begin tomorrow for ALL students. If you do not have a Sourcebook by the time I collect them to grade, you will receive a 0 on the assignment. Please take this very seriously, as Sourcebooks and Book Talks are 40% of the grade in this class.
To put it another way, if you have a 0 average for Sourcebook checks and Book Talks, the highest grade you can achieve in my class is a 60. A passing grade is a 65. You will not pass this class without working in your Sourcebook or turning in Book Talks.
Here is the grading checklist I use for book talks:
The title and author are included - 5 points
The information about the author explains how the author’s life influences the text - 5 points
The summary covers the beginning, middle, and end of the book, discusses the main conflict and how it’s resolved, and briefly describes any subplots.
(In the case of non-fiction, the summary should mention the most important things the reader learned from the book). - 10 points
There is a text-to-self, text-to-text, or text-to-world connection to a specific incident in the book using details from the book - 1o points
There is an explanation of whether or not the book should be recommended to other readers. The recommendation focuses on a particular audience of readers. - 1o points
This is how the Sourcebook will be graded:
The Table of Contents is accurate and up-to-date
- 5 points
Every entry is clearly marked with a title and page number
- 5 points
Every entry begins on a new page
- 5 points
Every entry has complete, original work from the student
- 25 points
Good luck!
To put it another way, if you have a 0 average for Sourcebook checks and Book Talks, the highest grade you can achieve in my class is a 60. A passing grade is a 65. You will not pass this class without working in your Sourcebook or turning in Book Talks.
Here is the grading checklist I use for book talks:
The title and author are included - 5 points
The information about the author explains how the author’s life influences the text - 5 points
The summary covers the beginning, middle, and end of the book, discusses the main conflict and how it’s resolved, and briefly describes any subplots.
(In the case of non-fiction, the summary should mention the most important things the reader learned from the book). - 10 points
There is a text-to-self, text-to-text, or text-to-world connection to a specific incident in the book using details from the book - 1o points
There is an explanation of whether or not the book should be recommended to other readers. The recommendation focuses on a particular audience of readers. - 1o points
This is how the Sourcebook will be graded:
The Table of Contents is accurate and up-to-date
- 5 points
Every entry is clearly marked with a title and page number
- 5 points
Every entry begins on a new page
- 5 points
Every entry has complete, original work from the student
- 25 points
Good luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)