The Evils of Book Reports

Whilst surfing the web tonight I found a great article titled "The Evils of Book Reports" written by Dr Scott Mandel in Los Angeles. Obviously from the title of her article she disagrees with the idea of a traditional book report. The reasons she gave are as follows:

• "A MAJOR GOAL OF MOST TEACHERS IS TO GET STUDENTS TO ENJOY READING.
• ALMOST EVERY TIME A BOOK IS ASSIGNED, THE STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO WRITE A REPORT
• STUDENTS HATE BOOK REPORTS
• STUDENTS ASSOCIATE BOOK REPORTS WITH READING
• STUDENTS DO NOT VOLUNTARILY READ"

She believes that reading needs to "become a pleasurable experience--not one associated with a dreaded "book report"!"

I agree with Dr Mandel as one of the main aims of the reading programme in my classroom is to foster enthusiasm for reading and a love of books. Reading needs to be pleasurable and fun.

One of Dr Mandel's suggestions which she has successfully used in the classroom is to:
• "Start a classroom "card catalogue". After each student reads a book, he/she makes a card with a short summary for other students in the class to read. This is an easy way to check on the students reading!"

I thought this was a great idea but I would modify it slightly for my classroom. I thought I may trial a wiki of our favourite books. Therefore the children could write about their books and share them with others. Thanks for the inspiration Dr Mandel!

If you are interested in reading this article it can be found on the "Teachers Helping Teachers" website at the following address:
http://www.pacificnet.net/~mandel/LanguageArts.html (Or click on the site under Miss B's Useful Links)