Marc Helgesen's System

Students put this form on the inside covers of their reading notebooks. They list all the books they read.


This is the form Marc's students use for their reaction reports. They glue copies of it into notebooks which are collected weekly. The reading levels roughly correspond to EPER levels F - A (F-level 1, A=level 6)


When I started doing extensive reading, I had books at the upper levels worth more point. I found this had the opposite result of what I wanted. Students who found reading difficult would often go for high level books because they got more point. So I flattened the page weighting after level 3. That way, the interest level of the story (higher levels stories are deeper, more complex and therefore more interesting for learners who can handle them).



Grade *Weighted pages read Grade *Weighted pages read
991501 - more 79851 - 875
981451 - 1500 78825 - 850
971401 - 1450 77801 - 825
961351 - 1400 76776 - 800
951301 - 1350 75751 - 775
941251 - 1300 74725 - 750
931201 - 1250 73701 - 725
921176 - 1200 72676 - 700
911151 - 1175 71651 - 675
901125 - 1150 70625 - 650
891101 - 1125 69601 - 625
881076 - 1100 68576 - 600
871051 - 1075 67551 - 575
861026 - 1050 66525 - 550
851001 - 1025 65501 - 525
84976 - 1000  
83951 - 975  
82925 - 950  
81901 - 925  
80876 - 900 * Before adding SRA's and stars


A form like this glued to the inside cover of each book makes it easy for learners to find out what their peers think of each book.