There are many ways to calculate the estimated reading level of a writing sample. We will look at a series of methods used to determine the reading levels for different student age groups. Teachers can use these methods to determine whether new material is suitable for their class and also…
Category: Reading
Book reviews and comments.
Books, books, and more books. We live surrounded by books. We could try to cull books from the boxes, or even the shelves. We have pulled some books for donation or to sell back to a used bookstore, but we rarely part with more than a handful of books. The…
Some readers, especially passionate fans of particular authors and series, revel in complaining about adaptations of their beloved works. Not us. We appreciate that an adaptation might lead to re-readings by the fans and new readings by a few in the audience. Susan rereads Jane Austen, often right after we…
Statistically speaking, we read a lot. Our children read a lot. We are a book-loving house of readers. We used to visit the local library and support its book sale during the summer. We had let our daughters browse the book fairs at school, too. Once of twice a month,…
I read a lot of books about the evolution of textual production: books about the making of books. Though I own far more books on typography and lettering, books are where typography goes to work. Currently, I’m reading Keith Houston’s The Book. I want to order Houston’s Shady Characters to read, too. I…
Readers love books, and we certainly own a lot of the physical variety. Holding a book in your hands remains a special experience. However, you can only take a book or two with you most places, and sometimes you end up wanting a book when you don’t have one nearby.…
We recently moved into a new house and it was a reminder that we want (I’d argue we need) library-style, built-in bookcases complete with the rolling ladder system. Boxes of books were among the heaviest, and therefore most expensive, possessions to relocate halfway across the continent. Supposedly, we had 85 boxes…
We love to read, but there’s never enough time to read all the books on our lists. Listening to audiobooks offers an alternative, especially since I (Scott) drive an hour each direction to the university at which I teach and I work out for 30 minutes at least once a…
“I need to read 100 books this year,” our daughter declared at the start of her kindergarten year. At first, I thought this was a misunderstanding, but it wasn’t. Our local elementary school uses the Accelerated Reader (AR) program. They count books read. They check the levels and log them.…
Stories fall into a handful of traditional structures. Many scholars have addressed this from disciplines ranging from anthropology to writing studies. Stories are about conflicts, inner and outer journeys of growth, and there are a limited number of potential conflict models. Likewise, a character either grows towards good, remains the…