April+1st+meeting

Type in the content of your new page here. Novel Committee April 1, 2009 Present at the April 1st meeting: Leanne Brown, Leah Wessman, Mary DeBiasio, Amanda Kuzminski, Lisa Weinstein, Melissa Domico, Lynn Zeder, and Laura Berry. Absent: Linda Kane; Pam Hodgson; Alaina Bochenek, Cheryl Anderson, We began the meeting with the questions, “Why do we teach novels? Are they important?” A lively discussion followed with the key points being: Some of the concerns with novels is the amount of time that is devoted to teaching novels. Some of this is because of the lack of sufficient copies of novels to send home with students. We must also incorporate non-fiction reading into book studies and in content areas. We must also check that all students are exposed to all genres during their time in junior high school. To that end, 2 genre will be decided upon (this was done in the past and will be reviewed) and each grade level will be responsible for the assigned genre. How to bring novels to the approved list: Fast Track: With the adoption of the Prentice-Hall series, many novels have been approved on a preliminary level. It is proposed that if a novel is on this list it should be approved at a expedited form for the list. For new novels/books the new book form will be completed by at least 4 readers, one being an administrator and one being a parent or Board Member before the book is put on display and presented to the School Board for approval. We have adopted a new form/procedure for this process. It is proposed that student fees at the junior high school be increased by approximately $10.00 so that 2 novels/books could be purchased for the students to keep. In this way students could write in the books and use CRISS strategies. For the 2009-2010 school year it is too late to increase the fees, but District may be able to fund one book per child at the junior high school level to determine the success of this proposal. A survey is being developed for the junior high school teachers to gather information about novel use and other topics of interest. New way to distribute novels was also discussed. Would a system where books would be crated and/or checked out of the media center be easier to work with? In this way teachers would have enough books and the students would be responsible for the book. A survey of junior high school LA teachers will be conducted. We will meet again after the survey is completed.
 * Novels go so well with content areas such as social studies they can bring together a lesson. Novels can set the background knowledge, and relationships between people countries and events.
 * Novels can be used to teach such things as plot, setting and other Language Arts areas.
 * A novel brings a ‘time period’ to light.
 * The human story-other people’s business….get lost in a book.
 * Learn how to love a book….read a book.
 * Emotional connection with a character, it is OK to love/hate a character in a book.
 * It is a good way to teach students how to stick with something and complete it.
 * Link to current events.
 * Vocabulary in context with different ways to use words.
 * Develop life-long readers.