They Hate Reading... But it's Okay! #busedu

Ever want your classes to read? You assign an article, they sit there and read it, maybe you have them write a short reflection... and you move on. They might have read it. Some read it quickly and others probably never finished. Some understand and others just move on. 

I've even heard teachers say they don't assign textbook reading anymore because they don't read it anyway.

Sound familiar?

I recently read about Reciprocal Teaching (or Reciprocal Reading) in the classroom. I am teaching a Business Communication class and need them to read nonfiction articles in this course and learn how to apply them, but I know that students do little reading these days. And, I also know that they tend to skim over unfamiliar words and zone out when reading (even when reading in groups).

But, I love this idea. And, I borrowed the worksheet from Literacy in Focus. It worked great for my class, too.

Let me be clear:  This didn't require a whole lot of prep (but more than it will in the future because I wanted to communicate expectations) and the students were reading a TWO PAGE ARTICLE. That's it. But, they were really digging into the article. As I told them, to do this correctly, it will take about 30 minutes. And I meant it.

I picked groups today (with the promise they could in the future if they behaved) and they got to move around in the classroom (circles, sit on floor, whatever) so that the group could work together. Each group member got a worksheet to complete (look at my Google Doc for the instructions as I gave it). 

Here's the Google document with the steps for this activity (you'll need the Literacy in Focus worksheet, too) and links to the four articles they analyzed today along with the "vocabulary" words I picked (I printed one article for each group with those words underlined). 

It actually went well. They all participated. Everyone had to lead at some point. Everyone had to speak to their group members at some point. This is a group I struggle with, too. But, I was upfront that at their age, I know they don't read much, I know they skip over unfamiliar words, and that I wanted them to change that. When you aren't taught how to "really read" for comprehension, it's hard. This gave them a process that make it easier to do (and they paid attention and did what they were supposed to for the entire class period).

I plan to do these every few weeks. Take a look and let me know if you've done something like this before in your classroom.