"We try to direct club discussions as little as possible because we know children will invest more if clubs have the same allure and power as a tree fort" (pg. 403)
Characteristics of Book Clubs:
- Four group members
- Kids have some input in who they want to work with, but teacher has final say
- Students reading at roughly the same level
- The groups select the books with guidance from the teacher at times
- Clubs meet for two twenty to thirty minute conversations a week
- If they meet too often then they don't have as much time to read at school and they don't have time to gather momentum and experience the excitement of meeting as a club. It becomes too routine.
- Should finish the book within two weeks of starting
- Some teachers allow the club members to assign the homework and readings themselves
- Students are discouraged to reading ahead
- They are expected to read and write to prepare for the club discussions. The teacher or the club members have input on what to write.
Preparing for Book Clubs-When do you know the kids are ready?
Kids need to learn the following before starting book clubs:
How to choose just right books
How to talk about what they're reading
How to have conversations about books
Relating conversations to the text-how to choose topics that are central to the text
How to use sticky notes and prepare for a conversation about the book
How to reflect on a conversation and contribute to what other people say
Good idea is to show students videos or snippets of conversations from other book clubs
The teacher's role in book clubs- Conferrin and Coaching
- The teacher should move from group to group and spend between five to ten minutes observing and conferring
- The teacher takes notes of the observations and look for signs of engagment among the group members
- The teacher should give club members a strategy to impove their book clubs. For example, conversation moves or ways to work together
Great quote, Jessis! To make reading and the discussion of reading as alluring as a tree house! My husband used to deer hunt and talk about how serene the atmosphere was...up in the tree stand, looking over God's creation, with only the birds to talk to. I immediately told him that most women would LOVE to spend time in a tree stand/tree house...no phone (in the olden days, girls), no kids needing help; just a book and peace and quiet.
ReplyDeleteDuring our traditional reading group discussion, students usually answer questions with little time for reflection, so our discussions rarely scratch below the surface. All this to say...Book Clubs (that tree house experience)give readers opportunity to read at their own pace, reflect, take notes, and time to question what they've read. They'll be digging so deep, we may find them popping up in China!
If we can convince some teachers to relinquish control and to teach our students to conduct their discussions using the suggestions you listed above, comprehension will come through these deep converstions held in the treetops!
I, too, like the quote, Jesse. Are book clubs like reading circles? We used to have reading circles going on in the middle schools but they have gone along the wayside. We had groups of four students all of whom were reading the same books of their choosing; they were reading around the same levels and had assistance choosing the novel by the teacher. They met once or twice a week and discussed the characters, plot, etc. of their books. It was a very valuable experience for the students.
ReplyDeleteIt has been several years since we have had reading actually being taught at the middle school level (at NWMS anyway). It has been left up to the Language Arts teachers to incorporate reading into their programs. I, personally, would like reading to be a separate class taught by ALL teachers including Related Arts. All teachers can read and with some professional development and support from the coaches, we could accomplish this. It would demand 30 minutes in our schedule and the teachers could not use it as a study hall or what ever they choose to use it for. It MUST be a true reading class. It excites me to think about what can be achieved if we are actually allowed to do it. Imagine that coming from a 25 year veteran of teaching math but it is true.
Book Clubs would really get middle school kids engaged in reading. Teachers should have the final say in what students read, but I do think that it's important to allow students to have some amount of choice so that they will read books that interest them. Older elementary and middle school kids want to feel independent and grown up. Allowing club members to assign reading and homework assignments would do just that. Of course teachers would want to monitor those assignments and then have input in the writing in response to the reading. This could prove to be a very successful approach to reading and writing for older students.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Cindy, that this is something we need to incorporate into our middle schools. I like the idea of the club members assigning reading and homework assignments which would accomplish meeting their more mature side. I can just see some of the writing and hear the dialogue taking place with this kind of clubs.
ReplyDeleteBook clubs or lit. circles are not the norm at my middle school either. Reading is mostly encouraged by our reading teacher. Students are either reading a novel independently or sometimes the teacher selects a novel for the entire class to read together. The reading teacher does an incredible job of encouraging students through book talks. Each week during their visit to the library, the teacher and librarian will randomly select a few books being returned and ask the reader to give the class a little insight about the book by sharing his/her thoughts about the book. I feel this type of talk is a good start and will make the transition to book clubs easy for our students. I have spent a lot of time gathering materials and writing grants to create a bookroom at our school. I am hopeful that with a little bit of PD and some support and encouragement my teachers will begin using book clubs in their classrooms next year.
ReplyDeleteAs I am rereading our comments this morning, I find myself thinking about book clubs. What if we had some good non-fiction texts that can help build students background knowledge in science and social studies? This could help with the gaps in background knowledge many students have. This could be a type of frontloading activity to help students with content knowledge. Would it work to use non-fiction text in a book club type setting?
ReplyDeleteM.S. friends, I think RaeAnn's idea to use good non-fiction texts for book clubs would give them opportunity to extend their background knowledge and subject area vocabulary. How about a field trip to your friendly neighborhood elementary school nearest you to see what resources we already have?
ReplyDeleteThe money that I received from the Rotary Literacy Grant went to purchase science and social studies non-fiction books that were recommended by Caleb and Suzie. The books they recommended are great. I plan to use them to frontload to connect to prior knowledge and help with content knowledge. I would love to have more funds to purchase more. Great idea, RaeAnn. I also like the idea of visiting NWES to see what they have. Debbie has offered to help me with those needs. Thanks, Debbie!
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of non-fiction book clubs would be great. In fact the coach who visited our school when we joined Dagget's website recommended 60% of the book rooms and the classroom libraries should be non-fiction.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what reading circles, but it sounds the same. The point of it is for kids to get to read then the opportunity to discuss them with each other. They learn so much from each other.
The quote is so true, because we've started book clubs in our upper grades and I've seen some issues. One teacher had the kids meeting too much and it has became too rountine. It's such a fine line.
60% of the book room should be non-fiction....this is an interesting statistic. I guess now that I have spent time on adding many titles to our newly created book room at LCMS, I now need to shift my focus on finding funds to add some of the non-fiction titles recommended by Caleb and Suzi.
ReplyDeleteUntil I read Ch. 15 in Guiding Readers and Writers, I wasn't sure that literature circles, literature clubs, lit clubs, book clubs, and readers' circles were all the same thing. I thought there had to be slight differences. I'm sure all of you elementary folks are getting a big laugh out of that! Oh well, what I'm learning is just how beneficial these literature discussions can be to our students. We've spent lots of time this year trying to encourage our teachers to think about higher order thinking skills. Book clubs encourage students to participate in higher order thinking such as inferring meaning from the text, drawing conclusions, synthesizing information, forming opinions about texts, etc. All of this while enjoying the reading process!
ReplyDeleteAngela,
ReplyDeleteYou (and any of you others too) are welcome to come on down to NWES anytime and we can tour our bookroom. We are VERY blessed!!! Mr. P has put tons of fundraising and BEP money into making sure that we have anything we need to help us be a better reading teacher. We have lots of fiction and non-fiction to choose from plus a ton of read alouds and poetry. We are also blessed with lots of social studies and science books that we received over the last 2 years. We also have CIM intervention books to use with our comprehension focus groups. Now we are working on beefing up our selection of chapter books for those kids who need longer texts but are not mature enough for the mature themes of most chapter books. We also have a great selection of professional books that we have used for teacher book clubs.
I have seen some great book club discussions conducted both at NWES and at GOES. I see book clubs as a natural part of middle school and I am so excited to know that you middle school ladies are leading the way back to doing them. I think the idea mentioned of a non fiction book club would work well and might also be a way to get your content area teachers to "buy in" and see the benefit of book clubs.
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