Literature Help Wanted

[TheAutumnOak]

I am wondering about how long it takes your 7th or 8th grade students to read a book such as The Hobbit or Treasure Island?...How long would you expect to spend reading and covering one book?...This of course is in addition to the reading your child does for other subjects...

Thanks so much in advance...

[mommymilkies]

It really depends on the kid.  My 8th grader read Jane Eyre in less than a week.  Same with Treasure Island.  The Hobbit, though?  That one takes us f o r e v e r to read.  I can read the whole LoTR trilogy before I finish The Hobbit.  :lol:

 

ETA: I pre-read or go through the book for reading level, complexity, and interest before asking a certain time period for a book.  My kids like book discussions so they try to go through at a good pace, however sometimes interest just dies.  My 7th grade son finds Summer of the Monkeys too racist (one reason we're reading it-to talk about race relations) so he's dragging through it not wanting to continue.  He's doing about 5 chapters a week, maybe.  I wouldn't assign him a chapter a day of The Hobbit, probably, unless he was into it.  But I'm pretty laid back with literature.  We go through a lot of books together, but any time I assign readings it drags the time out.  With my 8th grader, I give her a list of books I would like her to read.  She looks through them to decide what to read in what order and we discuss them when she finishes.  She's an avid advanced reader, though. 

[Lori D.]

Totally agree with Mommymilkies.

 

It really does depend on a combination of factors:

- the student's reading abilities

- the student's level of interest in the book

- the complexity of the work (choices language, sentence structure, depth of themes, ideas and allusions)

- the layout of the book (size of type, how closely set it is)

- how much work beyond just the reading is required (i.e., will the student also have to write answers to questions, look up vocabulary, annotate in order to write a reader response or essay…)

 

Not that it means anything, but… DSs here not highly motivated readers; both are very average readers in "speed". DSs did the classic works in Lightning Lit 7 and 8, we read them aloud together and discussed as we went, which is slower than silent solo reading, and we read approx. 1 chapter or about 12-15 pages a day, so about 60-75 pages per week. (DSs were also assigned lighter books as solo reading, and did some reading for other subjects as well.)

 

On the other hand, when highly motivated and interested, DSs can fly through a book. When not quite 10yo, DS#2 devoured The Hobbit in about 3 days -- just to show you the contrast with Mommymilkies very different experience with the same book! ;)

 

I guess, for middle school, depending on the student and the book, I'd shoot for scheduling 3 weeks for something like Treasure Island or The Hobbit, which would be about 50 pages/week for Treasure Island (low end of page amount, but there is some older vocabulary/sentence structure to wrestle with), and about 100 pages/week (high end for page amount) for Hobbit. That would be about the range I'd personally be shooting for -- 50-100 pages a week for solo reading, or for Literature, with average and/or unmotivated readers.

[TheAutumnOak]

Thank you both...This is the kind of info I wanted to know...

[Harriet Vane]

For junior high, I usually plan 50-75 pages of reading per week. This is about right for my son; my daughter was able to handle a heavier reading load at that age.

 

I also try hard to cap off a book at 3 weeks. I will only go to four weeks if the book is really special.

[Harriet Vane]

Just looked at my copy of The Hobbit. It has 300 pages. For a high school student or an advanced reader, that's two weeks of reading, and maybe a third of discussion and a larger writing assignment.

 

For a junior high student, I would push for a minimum of 75 per week. I love this book a lot, so it would be fine with me to go for four weeks. However, if the student is enjoying the book, I might push the student to try for 100 pages per week if I thought they could do so and still enjoy (not feel pushed).

[TheAutumnOak]

This is very helpful, thanks...I am trying to get him prepared for high school work next year, and we need to step it up...It helps to know what others expect because I don't think I expect enough of him...

[Harriet Vane]

This is very helpful, thanks...I am trying to get him prepared for high school work next year, and we need to step it up...It helps to know what others expect because I don't think I expect enough of him...

 

In high school, you will want to shoot for 75-125 pages per week of reading, depending upon the complexity of the work. You will also plan 12-15 units per year, most of which are novels, and others of which are collections of poetry, short stories, and essays.

 

[Lori D.]

This is very helpful, thanks...I am trying to get him prepared for high school work next year, and we need to step it up...It helps to know what others expect because I don't think I expect enough of him...

 

Sometimes it helps to look at the schedule or table of contents for actual middle school / high school Literature programs (where you are actually ALSO spending time studying, analyzing, and writing about the work, so adds time to finishing that book) to get a feel for what is "average". (I will note that while DSs did LL7 and LL8, just to keep them reading, I also required them to read at least one book -- historical fiction or other at/slightly below reading level -- as solo reading (no work done with that book) every 4-6 weeks.)

 

Here are examples of what middle school Literature programs require:

 

Memoria Press = 4 units per year

- gr. 6 = 4 novels (1 per unit)

- gr. 7 = 3 novels, 1 Shakespeare play (1 per unit)

- gr. 8 = 2 novellas, 4 short stories, 1 Shakespeare play (Medieval works more often done 10th-12th gr.)

 

LL7 (for grades 6-8) = 8 units:

- 4 novels (4 units)

- 2 short stories (2 units)

- 3 poetry units (7-8 poems per unit)

 

LL8 (for grades 7-9) = 12 units:

- 5 novels (5 units)

- 1 novella (1 unit)

- 3 short stories (3 units)

- 3 poetry units (7-8 poems per unit)

 

EiL Intro (for grades 8-9) has 9 units:

- 5 short stories (1 unit)

- 5 novels (5 units)

- 1 novella (1 unit)

- 2 plays (2 units)

 

 

Harriet Vane gave an example of amount of high school Literature -- her students were able to handle more than we were able to manage. For example, in 9th grade, DSs could handle less than in 11th or 12th grade. Also, Ancients (also done in 9th grade) we did less because the works were more distant in time and more difficult to get through. Also, one year (American Lit.), we heavily focused on short stories (24 stories in 6-7 weeks) and poetry (5 weeks), so that left less time for novels -- so we only did 4 novels, but we also covered 3 novellas and 3 plays in addition to the 10-12 weeks spent on short stories and poetry.

 

Examples of amount for high school Literature (reading AND studying) from Lit. programs:

 

EiL = 9 units (year long programs)

- American Lit = 6 novels (one VERY long), 1 novella, 1 autobiography, 1 story story unit

- British Lit = 5 novels, 2 novellas, 1 play, 1 short story unit (8 short stories)

- World Lit = 7 novels (two VERY long), 1 play, 1 short story unit

 

Lightning Lit = 4 units for EACH SEMESTER

- American Early 19th cent. = 2 novels, 1 autobiography, 1 essay, 1 short story, 1 poetry unit

- American Late 19th cent. = 2 novels, 2 novellas, 1 short story, 1 poetry unit

- British Early 19th cent. = 4 novels, 1 essay, 1 short work, 1 poetry unit

- British Late 19th cent. = 3 novels, 1 play, 1 essay, 1 short story, 1 poetry unit

 

 

Hope that helps! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[TheAutumnOak]

That does help...You are the best Lori D. :-)

 

Thanks so much you guys...