TAYSHAS Speed Dating with our Juniors

 

The Junior ELAR classes are always the first to make it into the library every year.  They have a book talk project due at the end of the first 6 weeks.  The English teachers like for them to "book speed date."  This isn't a new concept, and we have been doing this same activity for 5 years now.  However, last year I decided to exclusively use the *TAYSHAS books, both current and past, for this activity.  Now towards the end of the second day, I was running out of books.  So I let my office aides, the ones who to love to read, pull a few of their favorites to fill in the gaps.  

The years I use the TAYSHAS books are the years more books are pulled from the tables instead of going to the shelves to find Diary of a Wimpy Kid (yes - I have those at the high school level), Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Wonder, The Outsiders, Cat in the Hat, etc.

Having them read 4 books for 3 minutes at a time seems to be enough time for them to form an opinion.  These are definitely not books they would have pulled off the shelve for themselves.  It's nice to see some of them stretch their reading muscles and take a chance on a TAYSHAS book. 

Here is the agenda for the Juniors when they were in the library with me - just in case you need some ideas.  English III Agenda - 1st Library Visit

*Information about the TAYSHAS books