Reader Profile and Response

Each semester, I have my students write their reader profile-- the books they most and least enjoy and why.  Click here for more explanation and examples.

I then have the students switch profiles with each other, and as their first official RA assignment, suggest at least 3 titles for their classmates.

As I have said in the past here, this is a great assignment for two reasons:

1. The best way to learn how to help readers is to spend the time really identifying why you like to read what you like to read.  How can you possibly help decode someone else's reading tastes if you have never tried to decode yourself.
2. By blindly swapping profiles, the students are able to get a real life example of a patron, but since it is in writing, not an actually person hovering over them at the desk, the students can take the profile home and spend their time with the resources without pressure.  They have time for trial and error; they can fail safely, learn from their mistakes, and then succeed. It builds confidence for the rest of the semester.

I have just finished grading their 2 part assignment, and, having received permission, I would like to share the tandem who had the best example of a profile and a response.

• Here is the link to Elizabeth's profile.
• Here is the link to Melissa's response.

Both are accessible on Google Drive without sign-in as long as you use the link provided. Please let me know if there are technical problems.

If you are interested, you can use this link to pull up past student profile and response examples.

Thanks to Elizabeth and Melissa for agreeing to share their work too.