A lot of you know I’m a former teacher. I’ve spent a total of seven years teaching English, social studies, or some combination of both.
One reason it’s so much fun to teach these subjects is the variety of creative ways you can present subject matter. Both social studies and language arts lend themselves to assignments that allow students to work at their own pace and ability, giving them room to dig deep and explore topics well beyond initial classroom lessons.
While teaching English one year, I designed a reading assignment I called Where in the World are We Reading. Each term, my kids had to read a book located on a different continent, with the option of visiting one place “out of this world” (a fantasy title) during the year. Students marked their books’ settings with stick pins on a big classroom map and kept a record of what they learned in a packet I called a Travel Log.
A few years later, I adapted the assignment for my social studies students. This time around, I drew from my students’ understanding of setting (the time and location a story takes place). I gave kids permission to read anything in a different setting. Contemporary books like PEAK set in the Himalayas, historical fiction like Harry Mazer’s A BOY NO MORE, and biographies all qualified.
Again, kids filled out a Travel Log while reading their books. My seventh graders were required to read two books a term. Fifth and sixth graders read one. Fourth graders could read for extra credit.
Some students chose to focus their reading in one area: I had one girl who read only about the Holocaust. She was able to use what she learned in a Social Studies Fair project later that year. Some decided they wanted to read about a specific country or period in history.
As a teacher, I was deeply satisfied watching my students go deeper and wider in the areas of their interest, learning about history and the world through literature.
For those of you interested in using this reading assignment, I have both the Where in the World Are We Reading and Travel Log handouts available as PDFs at my website. Please tell me about your experiences if you do!
That’s an awesome idea Caroline. And when kids get to pick more what they read, often they are more interested in reading. I know my daughter is.
A very creative idea! Sounds like your students learned a lot from this exercise. Also sounds like you were a great teacher!
Great idea. You could add that students then have to write a short story based on the place that they “visited.” Expand on that learning!
Carol, exactly. There are so many ways you can take the assignment or tailor it to a specific classroom or group of kids.
And…I had one instance of cheating that was every easy to spot: as most of the assignment involves interacting with the text, it’s virtually impossible for kids reading the same book to respond in exactly the same way. Fortunately, when confronted, confessions were quick. 😉
This is a wonderful post, Caroline. I shared it on facebook so all my teacher-friends could learn from it, too. I hope my kids get to be part of projects like this.
Amy
Amy, thank you! I love the way I was able to give my students freedom in picking books and direction while reading.
When I hosted after-school book clubs for my sixth and seventh graders, they came with their travel logs filled out and used them to generate discussion.
What a great idea! This sounds like something my fifth grader sons would enjoy. You must have been an excellent teacher.
Nice…the flexibility within framework provides both form and freedom. I’ll bet the kids loved–and remembered–that year very well.
Elle and Julie, thank you. One of my favorite things about teaching was getting to talk about things I’m passionate about with a captive audience. And when the kids became passionate too, it was wonderful.
If only all kids could have a teacher like you. You were able to tap into their individual interests and personalities. It’s so much easier to learn something when you’re interested in it.
Thank you, Lyn. I always felt if kids could personally connect with a subject matter the learning would last.