Independent Reading Class
Independent reading is designed to prepare students for college by increasing their knowledge, enhancing their appreciation of classic literature and improving their reading skills and speed.
Students are required to read books from a specific list including one per quarter from a list of classic literature and then take electronic quizzes to earn points toward a grade.
The teacher will meet with each student early in the semester to set reading goals. Each student's goal depends upon his/her ITED reading grade equivalency score.
In addition to reading and quizzes, the first quarter of the semester, students must journal about one of the books they read. The journal should include predictions and information the student learned from the reading including material such as historical perspective, faith development or moral behavior. The student should journal at least five times writing a minimum of one page each time.
Second quarter, students must create a portfolio of writings. The portfolio must include four parts. These parts include three original papers: one on plot development, one on the importance of setting and one on theme. Each paper should be a minimum of one typed page double spaced. The material for each paper can come from one to three novels.
The portfolio must also include a list of 20 new vocabulary words that the students have found in their novels. The vocabulary paper should include the word, the sentence in which the student found the world, no more than three separate definitions with the correct definition for the word as it was used in the novel underlined, and the word used correctly in an original sentence created by the student.
Also during the semester, either quarter, each student must present an oral presentation of the development of a character about whom they have read in one of their novels. The teacher will share more information or model a discussion before students begin this assignment
The reading goal and quizzes will account for 50% to 75% of the student's grade. The journal will count for 25%. The portfolio will count 25%. The oral presentation will count 25%.
Any student caught cheating will earn a zero on that assignment and
an F on his/her report card for that quarter. The student's GPA will continue
unaffected, so the student should continue to work honestly the rest
of the quarter. Students who cheat are expected to tell their parents themselves.
The teacher does not do this job for the student.
