Our short story unit continues! By reading various short stories, we are getting more practice at our reading comprehension and summarization skills. These skills have proven to be invaluable for success across subjects in school; professional, productive, and civil discourse into adulthood; and engaging as a lifelong learner, so we will continue to develop these throughout the year even as our genres change.
To make the most of our class time, texts are being assigned in class and expected to be read independently at home. This allows each student to read at their own pace, without pressure from classmates, and with their own unique reading strategies. This practice also allows students to practice executive function skills like time management, prioritization, organization, and recall. By reading at home, we can use class time to answer comprehension questions, discuss elements of the text, and collaborate to make connections that we cannot independently make without the various perspectives our peers bring.
Reading at home also allows the opportunity for parents/guardians to get involved!
- Whether you see your student actively reading the text or if they sneak away to their personal reading nook/cave, ask them about the stories they are reading and what kind of reading environment they prefer.
- You could ask your student what short story we are reading this week and if they can tell you what the major plot points are.
- For sixth and seventh grades, you could ask your student to describe Jane from “Stay True Hotel” and/or how the settings in “Stay True Hotel” and “First Law” are different.
- For eighth grade, you could ask your student about the roles of imperfection and science in “The Birthmark” or how the relationship between the main characters may be similar/different in current times.
Keep reading into next week to see what we are engaging with next!
