Friday Favorites: What they are and why they matter

Last year, I had an idea.

In truth, I have a lot of ideas and they happen all the time and sometimes my head can be a very overwhelming place as a result. I'm usually pretty good about immediately acting on my ideas, though, which helps to keep things under control. So last year when I had an idea to create some Keystone-prep materials for my sophomores, I got straight to work and Friday Favorites were born approximately fifteen minutes later.

Every single Friday, my students--both the sophomores and the freshmen--take something known as a Friday Favorite. Essentially, a Friday Favorite uses the opening page(s) of a book I love and pairs those page(s) with an annotation activity and a constructed response.

In the week leading up to Halloween, the tenth-graders read an excerpt from Stephen King's It and had to analyze the importance of rain while the freshmen read an excerpt from Robert Bloch's Psycho and were required to prove that Norman Bates is definitely psychologically abnormal. I have such a fun time introducing my students to books and authors, you know? They've sampled The Help by Kathryn Stockett and The Martian by Andy Weir and The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware. In the weeks to come, they'll read an excerpt from Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and John Irving's The Cider House Rules. They're being exposed to so many different types of literature, old and new, and every now and again one of the students will ask to borrow the book! A few weeks ago, The Singing Artist (that's one of my students) borrowed Shelby Van Pelt's Remarkably Bright Creatures. This past week, one of my nonreaders borrowed my copy of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. Some other students have also snagged copies of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, William Kent Krueger's Ordinary Grace, and Lisa Wingate's Before We Were Yours.

In addition to improving their analysis skills while experiencing new reading material, the students receive other rewards as well. Every time someone scores a 15/15 on his/her paper, that student's name is entered into a drawing. Each week, both a freshman and a sophomore receive a $5 gift card to a venue of their choice. Mary and I have spent a lot of our own money buying these gift cards because we think it's important to reward our students, but sometimes parents and other faculty members contribute to our fund as well! And several local businesses have gone above and beyond with their generous donations. Mr. G's, Garryowen, Bantam Coffee Roasters, The Ragged Edge, Mamma's Pizza, Fourscore, and Olive Garden have all contributed gift cards in the past.

Some businesses are unable to donate gift cards... like Starbucks and Marshall's and Dunkin. And Amazon. The students love Amazon gift cards! If you find yourself frequenting a location that you think the sophomores and freshmen at Biglerville High School might enjoy, and if you happen to have an extra $5 in your purse or pocket, consider purchasing a gift card that can be added to our stash. I did some shopping this weekend and stocked up... along with so many new stickers! (My students appreciate stickers every bit as much as a chance to win gift cards, so I take my sticker acquisition incredibly seriously.) Check out this haul:

(I'm super excited about those fish stickers... they're puffy and kind of shimmery and I think they're going to be very well-received!)

I should probably add that after implementing Friday Favorites last year, my sophomores did an absolutely amazing job on their Keystone Exams and actually THANKED ME for making them do Friday Favorites each week because it helped them to feel prepared for the big test. So in addition to gift cards and stickers, they also receive passing scores, which is perhaps the best thing of all! Yay!