How well are students reading their homework - an activity to answer this question.

Today, Friday, students were given a time reading comprehension activity (quiz) that tested their comprehension of piece of reading that we had to summarize in writing and was discussed in class on Thursday. Combined with the summary activity and the actual reading of the article, the only homework in class all week, most students spent between 45 to 60 minutes this week that they READ and summarized the article. There was no other homework from this class that could have interfered with this assignment - divided over three days, this activity took students an average of 15 to 20 minutes a night.

Students were given the actual text as well as their notes that they took from the reading (due Thursday). The Friday timed activity required students to write short answers to 10 questions that followed the body of the text. Two questions required some inferences to be made from the text, and the other 8 questions asked students to find information in the body of the reading. 3 - 4 questions offered key terms or details that originated in one sentence in the reading that offered clear clues where the answer was to be found.

This activity was given to verify which students actually read articles thoroughly all the way through before they do homework assignments, such as summarizing a passage. From the discussion on Thursday, it was clear that several students, despite having summary notes could not discuss basic details found in the article.

Several students were very upset on Friday when I announced that I would actually verify that they read for comprehension for reading assignments.

This assignment follows from a review of the reading scores from our first trimester reading assessment given school wide. It is clear that several students have difficulty reading grade level texts and demonstrating understanding through various types of comprehension and writing activities that are vital to the study of history.

The average score out of 10 points possible was a 6.5 correct. Out of 24 students that took the test, 9 students earned an 8 or higher; 4 earned a 7; 3 earned a 6; 8 students earned scores below a 6. This quiz was not a intended to measure whether the text was thoroughly supported in a number of multi modal methods of delivery - it was a check to see if students are reading for thorough understanding when they have reading assignments. The piece corresponded very well to a three day class simulation about early colonial settlement and warfare between various alliance of Europeans and Native American.

The grade will be posted in Powerschool. If parents have any questions about reading performance scores or this or any other assignment in SS8, please email me.