The Bald and the beauties met on the 19th December for their second meeting of this year. Jenny was the presenter and Bev was the facilitator. Joseph, Bev, Canan, Jenny and Gökçe were present at the meeting. The Consultancy Protocol was used. All members participated in the discussion equally and made valuable contributions, although it could’ve been better if time hadn’t been limited. Topic discussed: Is home reading useful?The meeting was held in two parts, first being 2010-2011 Academic Year or so called ‘Trial &Error’ session, and the second being 2011-2012 Academic Year. Throughout the meeting we discussed the specific problems of Grade 9 home reading situation.
In the first section we examined, analyzed and commented on previous year’s plan and students’ production. (Book Titles: ‘I am David’ by Anne Holmes & ‘Red Sky’ by Elizabeth Laird)In the second part of the meeting, the following points were discussed. (based on the novel ‘Across the Barricades’ by Joan Lingard)1. Timing & Weekly schedule Only 2 hpw + all sorts of descriptive writing, all sorts of formal letters, assessing good and bad points, a narrative, all sorts of essays, a survey report and a film review !!!
2. How to fit it in
‘Hey, I thought this was a Writing course!’
3. Assignments
Why? What ?How often?
4. Deadlines
Whose responsibility: Teacher’s? Students’?
5. Checking Assignments
When? Where? And then what?
6. Copying from peers/ Plagiarism
How can we get students to make better use of technology?
7. The choice of material
Boys? Girls? Genre? Length? Pacing? Theme?
8. Production ‘’It seems that I am doing more work than my students are!!!’
Conclusions It was agreed that ‘Reading’ in a ‘Writing’ class and trying to fit something that doesn’t belong into your class is tricky. We all agreed that students reading one book for a year will grow bored with it. We all shared experiences of having to make sure that the students are reading the book at all.
Suggestions
· Match the book / story / topics with the writing units to be more practical and save time.
· Do not spend a whole year on one book and finish it and be done with it.
· Ask the students to analyze not what they read but what they write about what they read.
· From time to time switch to differentiated texts.
· Ask students to read smaller sized portions.
· Let the students choose their own texts.
· Do the tasks on a monthly basis so that students stay interested and focused.
Evaluation of the protocol: It was suitable for the issue discussed.
Jenny Chavush
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