You Are What You Read Quick Guide for Teachers

Following the launch of Scholastic's Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life. literacy campaign, You Are What You Read was created to provide a social networking site to facilitate and support the reading community. Teachers, parents, and kids are all invited to join and kids will find their own special area on the site with its own identity. All are invited to submit their "bookprint" -- five book titles that have informed your life in a lasting way.

This guide equips you with talking points and materials to initiate your students into the online reading community. It also includes a Sample Letter for Parents to let them know about the program and how they may support your classroom activities at home. For projects and information relating to lower grades, please refer to the full Quick Guide for Teachers and visit You Are What You Read -- for Younger Readers.

STUDENT ACTIVITIES

Bookprints Tell Your Story

A bookprint is the mark that a book leaves on our lives, shaping who we are and who we become. As described by Dr. Alfred Tatum, professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, our textual lineage is a reading and writing autobiography, which shows that who you are is in part developed through the stories and information you’ve experienced. Once your students have created their bookprints on the site, give them a chance to explain to the class what is special about each of the books that they chose.

Use the easy "5 Book Titles I Love" worksheet to help students share their thoughts about the books that are important to them.

Call for Bookprints

Within the You Are What You Read Web site (www.youarewhatyouread.com/kids), students can select their own bookprints – the five books that are most special to them. Once your students have shared their bookprints with the rest of the class, they can find out the bookprints of their families and friends outside the classroom. For example, ask students to find out the five books that have special meaning for their parents or caregivers. They can record the information, then report it to the class. Ask students to make observations about their findings. What kinds of books are popular? What are some of the most popular titles?

Three Things

Knowing which books other students have loved, and why, is the best recommendation for what a student might chose to read next. Invite your students to expand on their bookprint. Have them each write the name of the books they love and three things that they liked about each book. Have the class work together to publish a newsletter. Distribute it to other classes, or post it on your school web site.

Share a Page

Sometimes, just a single passage from a great book can be so entertaining, so humorous, or exciting, that it sums up the whole book. Have your students select a passage from one of their favorite books to share with the rest of the class. Have each student read out loud from the text. The rest of the class can decide if what they heard was intriguing enough to make them want to read the book.