Independent Reading

Overview Books Independent Reading Weblog Independent Reading Blog Requirements

Overview

Each quarter of this class you will have an independent reading book to read in addition to the regular curriculum. Independent reading is just that, reading that is done on your own time. For each of these books you will be required to complete a reading weblog and web project.

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Books

You have the choice of many different books for your Independent Reading. Your teacher has copies of most of these books as well as many others that you can check out. Ask to see the book collection. If you want to choose a book not on this list, it must comply with these guidelines...

• your parents and teacher approve it
• fiction (a novel) or nonfiction (biography, autobiography, memoir, or history)
• not a children's book (reading level below high school)
• over 150 pages
• you have not read it before

If you choose a book that is not on the list, you must bring it in for teacher approval.

Books approved by the Hazelwood School District School Board for use.

• Brave New World -- By Aldous Huxley
• The Pigman -- By Paul Zindel
• Tears of a Tiger -- By Sharon M. Draper
• Slam! -- By Walter Dean Myers
• Izzy willy-nilly -- By Cynthia Voigt
• Let the Circle Be Unbroken -- By Mildred D. Taylor
• The Martian Chronicles -- By Ray Bradbury
• Z for Zachariah -- By Robert C. O'Brien
• 1984 -- By George Orwell
• Great Expectations -- By Charles Dickens

If you are interested in any of these books and want to know more, go to Google and look for reviews and summaries for that book.

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Independent Reading Weblog (Blog)

This blog will be a part of your learnerblog.org account. When you create a blog entry, you should categorize it "Independent Reading."

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Independent Reading Blog Requirements

• Each blog entry should be about 200 words or more (minimum).
• Identify the title and author of the book in each entry.
• For graphical options, be sure that you do quality work. Remember this is published online and is public. Represent yourself well.

For your blog entries we will be using the choices created by Dawn Hogue. You will be responsible for 5 blog entries over the course of the quarter. One is a summary, the next three are of your choice, to view your choices for these three, follow this link. The left column "Choices for Fiction" is where you will find your choices for these three entries. Browse through these choices deciding upon three. When you decide upon a log choice, copy (ctrl - c) and paste (ctrl - v) the title and directions into your blog entry. If you choose a blog entry that has you creating some form of art, see your teacher for directions on how to get this into your blog.

Your final blog entry is further down on this same page under "Closing Log Choices." Choose one of the three.

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