November 26, 2003
I have assigned books for high school students and have done it two different ways that seemed to work well. One way had the students take their copies home, and I kept a classroom set of the book for in-class reading and group work. (It took longer, but students were all reading in class and the slower readers could keep up at home.) Another time I only had a class set out for in-class reading. If the students really wanted their own copy and asked me for one, I let them persuade me to check a copy out for home. Really, I wanted everyone to want their own copy, but have found that when students feel like they are getting special treatment for being allowed to check out a book, they take better care of it and do the reading that is required. The successful students go to the library or bookstore to get a copy for home, but the students that struggle a bit were the ones I was trying to get through the book.