Today, I want to focus on a reading strategy that I am using with my tenth grade English class. On my wikispace, I have several RSS feeds linked into a page. This page updates regularly and allows students to view the most current articles from The Philadelphia Inquirer, ESPN.com, NPR, etc. I tried to present an array of feeds rather than just one. The point of this assignment is to get students reading daily and to encourage reading independently. Also, students are acquiring knowledge about their world. Plus, reading and responding nightly is slowly building your students’ prior knowledge database that they can access on any…dare I say…standardized test. I find this to work best for high school students and especially AP students who will have to enter the English Language and Composition test with a well-rounded knowledge base.
Here is the assignment…
Every night students read one article from one of the five feeds I have selected. You may choose more than five or allow students to add to the feed. They must read the article, and then list three facts about the article, three questions they have about the article, one supported opinion and list and define any new vocabulary words they come across. They type this up in a Google Doc and then post it to their blog.
NOTE: Always remind students to compose their blog posts in a separate forum so they can save frequently in the instance their blogger or word press page goes down.
Students are always told what they have to read, this allows students the freedom of reading something they can select on their own and enjoy. Here is a video that will show you how to set up an RSS feed on your wikispace. Enjoy!