I know there must be other teachers out there that struggle to get students to read. I also know there are other teachers out there that are subjected to the same whine from multiple students in one day: "I don't know what to read nexxtttt!" Or another personal favorite: "I can't find anything to reeeadddd!" (My students are very good at extending that last one-syllable word to a 10-second sound. :)
You can point them in the direction of the library or steer them toward your personal collection, but that whine is inevitable from students who don't know much about picking books yet. They haven't figured out which authors they like, which genres are most enjoyable for them, or what section of the library they'll find their next great read. Even the best readers are sometimes at a loss as to what to read next. And if the majority of your classroom is filled with students who lack reading experience, it's time to turn to another venue to help students find their next book.
In a past post, I talked about Scholastic's Book Finder. This tool is great for teachers, but students can use it, too. It is helpful when a student thinks of a book under their reading level that was enjoyable, but maybe needs something that's a bit more challenging. But that wizard might be a bit confusing if students don't know or care about their reading level; they just want book suggestions! Below are some of my favorite sites for helping students figure out what to read next.
1. Amazon. If a student knows of a book he/she likes, find that book on Amazon. Afterwards, scroll to the middle of the page (right before the reviews) and find the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought." It should look something like this:
I used John Verdon's Think of a Number because I recently read it and found it amazing, but of course, you can change the book to suite your needs. Amazon gives a list of about 20 different books that are similar in nature. This isn't a tried-and-true method for finding a book, but sometimes it works!
2. Barnes and Noble. Again, search for a book that was enjoyed. Scroll down and read the "people who bought this also bought" selections. Again, I used John Verdon's Think of a Number and Barnes and Noble produced 13 other book titles in which I might be interested.
3. Shelfari. If you read my post about using Shelfari in the classroom, then you're probably already familiar with this website. But just in case you're not, let me explain: Shelfari is a social networking site for book lovers. It is an affiliate of Amazon, so if you have an Amazon account, all you have to do is activate your Shelfari account, using your Amazon username/password. Using Shelfari to find your next book works very similarly to the Amazon or B&N approach: scroll down to where it says, "Amazon Customers Who Bought This Book Also Bought" and read the list it gives you. Using the same book as mentioned above, Shelfari gives me 6 book titles, as seen below.
But you may notice some other things above that list. There is a "More Books Like This" section, but you have the option of filling that in yourself. So you can help contribute to others' book suggestions once you find the right book. This could be a valuable tool in the classroom!
Another thing that Shelfari offers is "tags," which are shown in a word-cloud-like fashion in blue, just above the "Links to Supplemental Material" heading. When you read this blog, you have the option of looking at the "harvest categories" on the right side of the page. Those are really "tags," but I changed the heading to match the theme of my website. :) The bottom line is that tags are useful in categorizing things, and can be used to find items quickly. So if a student found Think of a Number on Shelfari, might notice "thriller" displayed prominently in the blue word cloud. If thrillers interested the student, clicking on that tag would take the student to a whole list of thrillers. When I clicked on "thriller," I was taken to a page displaying a lot of Dan Brown and Stieg Larsson books. The possibilities are endless; just keep clicking until you find a book that sounds interesting!
4. Book Seer. I used this with my high school students last year because it was the most cut-and-dry of any of the book wizard websites. There is really only one page to the Book Seer, and you are met with it upon arrival to the website. There are two blanks to fill in: the name of the book and the author of the book. Type them into the blanks and press the arrow and you're taken to a list of books that are similar. For instance, if I use the above-mentioned book like so:
One thing I used to enjoy about Book Seer was that it took recommendations from Amazon and LibraryThing. Unfortunately, it's not taking recommendations from LibraryThing anymore, so it may just be easier to use Amazon or Shelfari to find your next book. But the layout of Book Seer is one of simplicity that anyone can appreciate.
5. What Should I Read Next? This allows you to type in the name of a book or the ISBN number in order to get suggestions for future reads. When I typed in the book I've been using for this entire post (Think of a Number by John Verdon), I was given no search results, which is a bit frustrating. But when I tried Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, I was given a long list:
FYI: the picture above only shows a fraction of the books listed by What Should I Read Next? so you have lots and lots of options! Always good.
These technological tools are a good way to get students started on reading books they enjoy. Eventually, students can start recommending books to other students!
How do you find book suggestions for students?
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar