Almost every year students are required to read a book as a class, whether it is in a reading class or an ELA class. Reading a book in class may take up to a few months while students review what has happened so far through projects and worksheets.
“We tend to pick up things we know so sometimes when you are asked to leave your genre you will find that you enjoy [the new genre] too,” reading teacher Dawn Dammann said. “I think throughout the year we are building on what you have learned since kindergarten and really since you started reading.”
Throughout the book, the class will usually do numerous worksheets and have many discussions. Teachers can have students read the book on their own, have it read aloud by the teacher, listen to the audio, or read with partners.
“I like when we read with a partner because you get to talk about the part of the book you are reading,” eighth grader Isabel W. said. “The audio can mess up what a character sounds like in your head, as every character sounds different to everyone.”
Students are not allowed to use books read in class for their required AR testing.
“Most people can’t find a book so it would be easier and better to do an AR test on the books we have to read as a class,” eighth grader Reagan W. said. “I think they are only giving us worksheets due to the fact that they don’t think we are reading the story.”
Classes take several weeks to read a short book because they only read a few chapters at a time and only within the class period each day.
“My opinion is that we read all at once,” seventh grader Deven S. said. “You can comprehend more than if you just read a chapter and discuss it then wait to read until later. [Teachers have us do worksheets] because they want to make sure everyone understands what the book is actually saying.”