From Jonathan:
Ben-
Got a few questions to throw out to the PLC, re: FCR (Free Choice Reading):
1) Do you use FCR @ the beginning of class on a daily basis?
2) If so, for how long? (include how long class time is)
3) What are your sources for reading material?
4) What are the overall effects of starting class that way if you do so?
5) Other thoughts to share?
For me, we have been in school since Aug. 9. I started doing regular FCR last week, Sep. 10 as part of the daily “routine.”
To answer my own questions:
1) Yes, I use FCR (almost) daily.
2) For 10 minutes (out of 94 minute block classes which meet for a semester)
3) Right now, pulling from “Epic!” (www.getepic.com) . I have created different “collections” for them to choose from, from Novice, to Intermed., to Advanced.
4) I usually believe that starting this way often “soothes the beast” as a colleague of mine put it. Gets the students into a chill way to simply interact with a text of their choosing in the TL. No quizzes or tests or required vocab list making from their reading… they just read.
HOWEVER, I wonder if sometimes it lulls them into a state that may be too relaxed so that when I jump into the next daily routine of the “Una charla en ingles” (The “Town mtg.” of 2-4 min. in English), I am shocked that more do not take the opportunity to speak… again, in English.
5) Since I do not have a classroom, it also helps me to have that routine in place so that once I have traveled to the classroom and that beginning bell has rung, it allows me to collect myself, get things set up, etc.
I have been wondering about shifting this FCR into a different, though still daily, time in the class instead of the beginning, opting to “DIVE RIGHT INTO the creative process” from the beginning bell.
Thanks in advance to any who are willing to share thoughts?