Writing and publishing a book review can be a really neat experience for a student. It gives that child the chance to give his/her own opinion and thoughts on a favorite book or article. I think it's also an opportunity to make a recommendation on whether the text is worth reading or not. This sort of activity can give a child a sense of ownership. Most book reviews are done by adults so letting students write them is a way of giving those students some say in their own learning. In my classroom, we have daily book clubs where the students meet. They are run like literature circles. They read the same book, discuss it, give thoughts, ask questions, and then can give opinions on what they liked or disliked about the book. I haven't tried it yet, but a great idea would be to have each of them write a book review on the book and post it on the classroom blog or website. That way, other students in the class can read the reviews and make a decision on whether or not to read that particular book. They could even ask questions or make comments. Each book club could write their own reviews of their books. By the end of the year, the blog would be filled with great book reviews. This is another great way to utilize a classroom blog. The blog could be solely dedicated to book reviews. When students are reading what other students are posting, they are reading a different type of text than what they normally would read. They are reading something that was created by a person of the same age. They may think: "If he can write a review, I can write a review." It's a confidence builder. Parents could also read the reviews as well as other teachers for their own classrooms. A great article/website for learning how to set up a blog or ideas for student blogging is Ideas For Student Bloggings From….How Do You Do What You Do!
A few examples of kids' book reviews: Planet Book Club, Spaghetti Book Club,DogEared Book Club.
The biggest obstacle that I face when having students write book reviews is them giving away the ending! This is a mini lesson that I have to hit early! Also, I have students who try to retell the whole book. I try to model for students to write a summary that would fit on the book jacket. Get people interested with your opinions, but don't give away all of the good parts! One mini lesson that I have done is to write expert comments like authors do on the back of books. Students like to get the quotes and make it look professional!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter's teacher did audio book reviews, and I loved hearing my daughter's review. You can hear Calla's review here http://tinyurl.com/3rwup7m
ReplyDeleteNice blog!