I strongly believe that our students need to read more in schools. They need a chance to read books of their choice for long periods of time without being interrupted for assignments, quizzes, etc.
In my reading classes, students spend 50% of their time doing "Free, Voluntary Reading" (FVR). FVR is a hit with my students - it's easily their favorite time spent in my classroom, including reading, Social Studies, and advisory. As long as students are reading a book, they can read what they want - they can read challenging books, easy books, books they've read in the past, etc. The idea is for students to learn to love reading, rather than thinking reading is a chore that is only done for school assignments.
To make sure that students are reading during our FVR time, they have to turn in one assignment per month. This assignment is called a Letter Essay, written in their reading notebooks. The Letter Essay is hard to define - it's part letter, part book study, and part reflection.
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