READ AN INCLUSIVE VARIETY OF WRITTEN TEXTS AND RECORD THE READING EXPERIENCE
[Unit standard 12905 [v.3]    Level 2    Internal    Credits: 4]

INTRODUCTION 
Over terms 1, 2 and 3 you will read a range of texts at home and in class. Make sure that you bring a text to school with you as there may be some class time available for reading.   Do not leave all the reading to term 3.  Read two or three texts a term.

1.  WHAT DO I HAVE TO READ?
You must read at least NINE texts. These could be books that you read for your own enjoyment/interest or texts that you read as part of the class programme such as a theme study. You must select most of the texts, as well as read all of the texts yourself. Texts which the teacher reads aloud to the class cannot be included.
You could include a novel and a short story collection studied by the class if you read them yourself. 

2.  CAN I READ ANY OTHER BOOKS I LIKE?
Not quite.  As the standard is about reading an ‘inclusive variety’, you will need to make sure you cover:

Three different categories.  Choose from the following – drama, autobiography, biography, other non-fiction, pre-20th century text, poetry anthology, extended magazine articles, novels, collections of short stories.

More than one cultural perspective.  This could mean that the writer comes from a different cultural background or that the text is written with a different cultural viewpoint.  Aim to include texts by Maori writers. 

A gender balance.  You should have a mixture of female and male authors and male and female viewpoints.

Critical reputation.  Two of the texts should have established critical reputations.  Evidence of critical reputation might be a mention in a book about writing, nomination for an award, or praise from another recognised writer.  Critical reputation could be for the author or the text.  You need to indicate specifically what establishes this critical reputation. You might highlight a section of text printed from a website or write out a relevant part of a review. Material from the book’s blurb is not suitable.

SOME WISE WORDS…
If you are unsure of your choice for any reason –ASK YOUR TEACHER BEFORE YOU START TO READ. 

3.  HOW SHOULD I RECORD WHAT I HAVE READ?
Write a response for each text.  This should give your view[s] on some aspect[s] of the text.  You could answer questions such as:
What point of view does the author hold on an idea or theme raised in text? What is your opinion on the author’s view?
What links could you make between ideas in this text and either other texts you have read, or your own experience?
What did you learn from the text?  
How did you react to an aspect of the text? (eg to an incident, or a scene, or setting, or narrative technique, or issue)
What aspects of a particular character interested you and why? 

You must support your opinion with at least two specific details from the text.  Remember it is not a plot summary.  If you have read a collection of short texts such as poems you should write more than one entry or include your response to more than one text in your entry. When you have written your first response ask your teacher to check it.  You may be asked to redraft  part of it to meet the standard.  Look at the exemplars below to see what is appropriate for a log entry.

Your teacher will also discuss your reading with you from time to time.  These conferences will take place regularly during the year so bring your log and responses with you to class.  Your teacher will choose at least one text and ask you to expand on what you have written in your log. You may be asked questions about other aspects of the text.  

EXEMPLARS 

No Credit
Title:    Pride and Prejudice
Author:   Jane Austen
Type:  Pre-20th Century
Date finished:  22 March
Personal response  I found this book hard to read, not because of the words, but because of the story.  The whole book was about finding a husband and a few scandals that went with it.  The book was 400 pages of five females gossip, especially the mother the only thing she cared about was money, and being better than the neighbours.  I thought it was a pathetic book and I didn’t enjoy it all.

Credit
Title   Daggers 
Author Roger Green
Type  Fiction
Date finished: 20 Feb
This novel is about a girl called Caroline and her discovery of the ‘family secret’ when she goes to visit her Great Aunt who is on her death bed.  I thought that the title for this book is quite misleading when looking at the text as a whole.  When you first glance at the book you think it is going to be quite gruesome because of the title ‘Daggers’ and the picture of the bright red blood when really the ‘daggers’ refers to Caroline’s ‘deathly stares’ that she inherited from her Great Aunt Clara and there is no actual deliberate murder in the book.
I felt sorry for Caroline as her relationship with her father was not very close or strong.  Throughout the book she refers to him as the ‘fossil’ and doesn’t agree with her father’s outlook on life as being money, money, money especially when he doesn’t care if Aunt Clara dies because he knows that it will all go to him.  When they are in the solicitor’s office she describes him as ‘an old faulty money bag himself.  Soiled and soggy, ready to be chucked away.’    

HOW SHOULD I RECORD WHAT I HAVE READ?
You need to keep a log of your reading. Head the page with the date you finished reading the text, the title, the author ,the text type and source if it has part of a bigger publication like a magazine article.  
You should have your current wide reading text with you in class. 
You need to keep a log of your reading. Make a list of the NINE texts using this log template.

Title:	Opinion / personal response:	
Author:		
Text category:	Supported by two relevant details from the text:	
Date finished:		

Title:	Opinion / personal response:	
Author:		
Text category:	Supported by two relevant details from the text:	
Date finished:		

Title:	Opinion / personal response:	
Author:		
Text category:	Supported by two relevant details from the text:	
Date finished:		

Title:	Opinion / personal response:	
Author:		
Text category:	Supported by two relevant details from the text:	
Date finished:		

Title:	Opinion / personal response:	
Author:		
Text category:	Supported by two relevant details from the text:	
Date finished:		

Title:	Opinion / personal response:	
Author:		
Text category:	Supported by two relevant details from the text:	
Date finished:		

Title:	Opinion / personal response:	
Author:		
Text category:	Supported by two relevant details from the text:	
Date finished:		

Title:	Opinion / personal response:	
Author:		
Text category:	Supported by two relevant details from the text:	
Date finished:		

Title:	Opinion / personal response:	
Author:		
Text category:	Supported by two relevant details from the text:	
Date finished:		

Assessment Schedule  Wide Reading Unit 12905 version 3 
Read an inclusive range of written texts and record the reading experience (Level 2)

Tasks	Element	Evidence
(The answers or performance
expected from the students)	Judgement 
(A statement that defines the standard to be achieved)	Std Met	
2	1.1	Eg: 9 texts:
♣	‘Pride and Prejudice’ Pre 20C fiction
♣	‘Daggers’ fiction
♣	‘I am Not Esther’ NZ fiction
♣	‘Closed, Stanger’ NZ fiction
♣	‘The Wait’ short story from student writing anthology ‘This Other Place’
♣	‘Michael King’ Listener feature
♣	‘The last seven months of Anne Frank’ non fiction
♣	’8 Minutes’ hyperfiction text, through EOL.
♣	‘Feed’ science fiction
	The reading log contains a minimum of NINE written texts from at least three different categories.
It demonstrates
¬	regard to gender balance
¬	more than ONE cultural perspective.		
2	1.2	Eg: (1 of 2 examples of critical reputation:)
highlighted sections of print out from http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/bealefleur.html established Beale’s (and ‘I Am Not Esther’s)’ critical reputation. NB: C.R. could be established for either text or author.
	Critical reputation established for TWO texts or authors from NINE texts in log.		
3	1.3	Personal response: 
See ‘credit’ exemplars in activity.	A personal response is recorded for EACH text. Each response includes at least TWO specific details about the text.
The log is dated and records title and author of each text.
		
3	1.4		Response to at least ONE text of teacher's choice shows text has been read, by convincing discussion of the text.