A great way to keep track of and write reviews for what you read.
Community Review for Goodreads
My Take
I think this is helpful to keep track of what students are reading and to have students write about what they are reading in a low-pressure environment. It allows students to get reading recommendations from each other, to interact with their classmates about literature and express their opinions (it is okay not to like a book!). I think it can also be a really useful tool to use as review for Regents or AP exams, as students can go back and review the books that they read, see summaries and see what they and their classmates have written about a book.
How I Use It
I use this product to follow what my students are reading, keep track of their reading progress, and read their reviews. I have students review what they read for class, which gives them practice with writing about literature and forces students to express their opinions and support those opinions with examples from the text. Students need very specific guidelines for what needs to be included in the reviews and you must follow students to see their reviews. You and their classmates can also respond to reviews, asking questions or for clarification. A downside is that there is no way to monitor student reviews before they are visible, so you have to really trust your students to make a good choice (or build that into the rubric!).