Day 6, 50 minutes

Teacher: Miriam Gueck

Subject Area: World Literature and Composition
Grade Level: 10
Unit Title: Welcome!
Lesson Title: Introduce: Weekly Goals, Reading Rates, Outside Reading Homework; Visit School
Library
Objectives:
Introduce how to calculate Reading Rates and Weekly Reading Goals
Introduce Weekly Outside Reading Homework Assignment
Create and Share with Teacher: Reading Rate Tracking Spreadsheets
Modified Lesson: Due to a fire drill in the middle of class, we will not be able to go to the
library. I will instead encourage students to visit not only the school library but other
libraries in the area as well on their own.
Standards:
Standard 2. Reading for all Purposes
2.3.a. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grades 9-10
reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. (CCSS: L.9-10.4)
2.3.b. Demonstrate understandings of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
(CCSS: L.9-10.5)
2.3.c. Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading,
writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering
vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. (CCSS:
L.9-10.6)
Standard 3. Writing and Composition
3.3.f. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products,
taking advantage of technologys capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and
dynamically. (CCSS: W.9-10.6)

Key Quote from Penny Kittles Book Love:

I dont want to improve the stamina of just my lowest-skilled readers but to challenge
my strongest readers to read more widely and deeply than they have in the past. I need a
way to measure independent reading that empowers and encourages students to
improve their skills at a pace that honors the efforts of all the readers in the room. (p.
28)
The slideshow I use in this lesson
quotes Chapter 3 of Book Love directly.
***In Book Love, Kittle states Students record their rates in their writing notebooks, which I collect
so I can record individual rates in my own records. (p. 28) I am adapting her recommendations from
this chapter almost holistically, but Im changing this part. I had a mini-heart attack when I thought
about collecting everyones interactive notebooks and searching for their reading rates and keeping
track of them. Theres a better way. In Kittles classroom, students are already recording their own
rates - on paper. I will have my students record their own rates - electronically, on Google Slides,
shared with me. Bonus to doing it this way, I always have it. Whenever we have in-class silent

Day 6, 50 minutes

reading time (which I anticipate will be twice a week), I will remind students to update their reading
rates if they are reading a new book. Another key quote: Contrary to what some believe, students
are honest. Will students cheat? Yes. How many? Remarkably few. My students know I value
honesty and want to help them. They also know they can catch up on the weekend, so they do tell
me what theyve read each night. (pp. 29-30)
Materials/Resources Needed:
Outside Reading Book
Sticky Note
Interactive notebook
Teachers computer
Smart board/projector
Students laptops
Anticipatory Set:
As students walk in, their Do Now will instruct them to read their outside reading books. When the
bell rings, I will start a 10-minute timer. The Do Now instructs students to place a sticky note in their
book, and on it, to record their beginning and ending page numbers for the 10 minute duration, and
number of pages read in that time. (The Do Now is embedded on this weebly page.) (10 minutes)
Activities:
Make sure you recorded your beginning and ending pages for your ten minutes of reading, and count
how many pages you read in those ten minutes. Write down the number of pages.
Set your books aside, and login to Google Classroom. Leave your laptops open, and please face them
to the front after youre logged in. Ill know youre ready for the next step when everyones laptops
are facing forward.
We will go through the slideshow I prepared on our classroom Reading Goals. (It is embedded on this
weebly page.) I will show the slideshow on the Smart board/projector. Students laptops are ready to
go because we will use them in the middle of the slideshow. Please see the slideshow.

Notes for Slide 5: For current book youre reading; says nothing about you as a reader
Im trying to establish a measure to make the homework reading Im going to assign fair to all
A typical English class assignment may take one student 20 minutes while the exact same assignment
takes another student 3 hours; THIS IS REALITY. And Im aware of it.
In order to make my assignments more fair, we need to determine an individual reading rate, and this will
determine how we calculate your weekly reading goal.
Notes for Slide 12: Reading for two hours a week outside class is essential for your stamina as readers. It
is a reasonable expectation. It should be pleasurable - but it has to happen. If you meet your reading goal
for the week, you get full credit. If you fall short, you get partial credit. Theres no formula, it is my
decision, and I may negotiate with individual students. A student who reads anything at all never gets less
than 50 percent.
You are expected to find time to read during the week. Sports and/or other responsibilities are parts of

Day 6, 50 minutes

your schedule. If you have to, you can catch up on the weekend. I do not accept excuses that you cannot
find time. You can. And you will.
(A majority of Kittles students beat their reading goal almost every week all year.)
Every Sunday night, or Monday morning right before school for you procrastinators, record how many pages
you read in the previous week in the spreadsheet you created in Google Slides. Dont forget to record the
date and book title as well. At this time, record your goal for the coming week.
My students quickly lose interest in the grade as they find books they want to read. (Kittle 33)
Questions?
Next week will be our first week for reading homework. Your homework this weekend is to record
your weekly reading goal for the coming week in the spreadsheet you just created.
(20 minutes)

Goals are important. When investigating what teachers can

do to boost motivation, Quirk and Schwanenflugel (2004)
found: Researchers advise practitioners to help children
self-set goals that are challenging but
reachable...Accomplishing these goals may bolster the childs
belief that, with effort, he or she can become a better reader.
(Kittle 29)
With the 20 minutes we have remaining in class, we are going to the library. Bring your interactive
notebooks and something to write with; I want you to have fun exploring the library and updating
your To Read Next lists.