SUCCESS: What really worked for you this year...?

[Laura Gibbs]

For many of us, it's the end of the school year... and summer is a great time to reflect on the year's successes! Please take a minute to share some of your success with everybody here -

* Did you devise a really fantastic project...?

* Did you take your students on a fabulous field trip...?

* Did you gain some new insight into your school, your students, yourself...?

* Did you discover a resource that opened new doors for you...?

* Did you break out of your old routine in an exciting new direction...?

Share any and all details here, so that we all share in your success! :-)

[Mark Pennington]

On back-to-school night last year, I made a deal with their parents: I said, "I won't assign grammar or essay homework, if you will supervise your child's reading-discussion homework." Every parent made positive comments about this approach to homework.

Few parents at the intermediate, middle, or high school levels want or know how to supervise written work. Supervising their child's reading is something that parents support and perceive as valuable. Here, in a nutshell is the homework plan: Students read for thirty minutes, four times per week. Parents grade a three-minute discussion of each reading session. Students lead this discussion with reading comprehension strategy discussion prompts. I use the SCRIP Comprehension Prompts for this purpose.

I got a high degree of buy-in from parents and students. I flesh out this homework program much more on my blog at Reading Homework.