A few years ago, I saw a piece on 60 Minutes that reported on the “flipped classroom.” It had an interview with Solomon Khan, and it highlighted how teachers were assigning his videos for homework in math classes, allocating class time to provide guided practice as students worked their way through math problems and exercises. It flipped the traditional structure of a math lesson in which students listened to a lecture in class and worked on the problems for homework.

It had me thinking about how one could flip an English class. Typically, students read a novel, play, poem, etc. for homework and come in to class the next day to discuss the reading. So I thought, what if I flipped that? What if students read in class and discussed for homework?

What I developed and have refined over the years in my independent reading/blogging unit.

HERE’S MY RATIONALE FOR THE UNIT:

We are at the point in the year where two important things are happenning:

1. My students are seniors and this is the time of year when senioritis begins to rear its ugly head.

2. We are also at the point in the year in which students have a strong enough foundation in literary analysis that they should be able to do it independently.

With this unit I can stave the incoming wave of senioritis, provide my students with intellectual independence, a chance to demonstrate close reading skills, and the means to own their learning all at the same time.

HERE’S HOW I SET IT UP:

On the first day of the unit, the school librarian and I do books talks and pitch novels written in the past 50 years that are AP worthy. Students are not limited to these books but she and I are conveying that the best works are not limited to classics written hundreds of years ago. We are encouraging them to see believe that there are plenty of living writing creating interesting works that will appeal to them. Some works we talk about include Kite Runner, All the Light We Cannot See, The Handmaid’s Tale, Let the Great World Spin, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

On that first day I tell them that this will not be like most units they have experienced in an English class. I tell them that traditionally they have been handed a book by a teacher, a book that they did not choose but one that was assigned to them. I tell them that they typically had no choice in what they were ale to write about, a teacher almost always assigned an essay topic for them. I tell them that for most of their lives they have had to follow a reading schedule and stay at a certain pace. I tell them that we are throwing all that out the window in this unit. In this unit they get to pick the book that THEY want to read, not one that someone else tells them they have to read. I tell them that THEY get to choose what they write about each night, not an assigned topic by the teacher. I tell them that THEY can read at their own pace and set their own reading schedule.

Saying all these things are vital. I am building a confidence in my students. I am implicitly telling them that I believe in them. I am conveying that they have the maturity, skill, and capacity to be indpendent of me. I am building an atmosphere in which their thoughts and decisions matter. And I can tell you this, it does go a long way in their willingness to take risks and develop a style all their own.

The next day we set up each student’s blog. I use EduBlogs. There are other platforms but it has worked for me and I see no reason to change. Students love the fact that their blog is their own space. They can design it however they want and it really adds to the ownership factor. It is not about what I want, it is about them developing their own learning environment that is a reflect of them, not a teacher’s desires.

Here are three sample images:

HERE’S WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE:

On the first day of reading I have an annotation station set up in the front of room. Students can take Post-It notes, index cards, or page flags to use while they read. Some students love to annotate while they read because it keeps them focused. Others hate to disrupt the reading process and would rather reflect at the end. I encourage them to do whatever works best for them.

We read for almost the entire period. That time in class may be the only quiet, uninterrupted time a student has to read without cell phone distraction or parents/siblings interrupting. I stop the students with five minutes remaining in the period, giving them time to jot down notes for a blog post that night or continue reading if they are at an interesting point in their book.

At first it all felt odd to me because I was not in front of the room teaching. But something more important is happening. 100% of the students were reading each day. At this point in the year, if I were to assign 20-30 pages for homework, I doubt I would come close to that percentage. Another crucial thing is happening. I am not telling them what to think about their book. They have to figure it out for themselves. This goes a long way in many of them developing a relationship with the book that they are reading because they are owning the experience.

Each day that the students read, they blog for homework. The blog is their platform to demonstrate what they are learning. I am constantly reinforcing the idea that I want them to demonstrate a deep understanding. I want them to have a personal connection with their book. I want them to own their own learning. I also stress the importance of platform. Blogs are more casual than formal essays. They can experiment with voice and style, as long as they don’t sacrifice insight.

HERE ARE THE LOGISTICS:

• The unit lasts 3 weeks.
• The students are reading 3-4 days a week in class.
• They will write a total of 10-12 blog posts.
• Each blog post counts as a homework grade.
• I have 62 AP Lit students this year. I do not have time to read every word of every post that students write. But I do skim each, reading those that catch my eye.
• I used to comment on as many blogs as I could blogs but that led to some students feeling left out if they blong did not get a comment.
• Instead of commenting, if a student had a post I really liked, I try to see before class, after class, or in the hallay, and just give them a few nice words of validation.
• The unit ends with a final assessment. Students write a formal essay using 5 previous Q3 prompts. Students get to pick the prompt that best suits their novel.

HERE’S WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THE UNIT:

• I know that every student is reading because I can see it with my own eyes.
• With the blogs, students are writing with greater frequency than they have all year.
• Most students enjoy the time to read in class and the freedom of the blog platform.
• Most students do like their book and value the opportunity they are given to pick a book of their own.
• Students welcome the chance to experiment with voice.
• Students form blog buddies. A group of friends all read the same book and are talking about where they are in the book all the time.
• Students consistently vote it their favorite unit of the year when I do end of the year surveys.

If you would like an example, here’s a link to one of the blogs from last year:

Lolita blog