I have lucky to be in on many innovative educational ideas. I have seen the rise and fall of educational concepts. It has been an interesting time. One of the best ideas I have seen, and practiced, is the use of Literature Circles, or Book Clubs for kids. It is also one of the most under utilized strategies with teachers. Let's take a look at why!
Book Clubs for Kids
Literature Circles, or Book Clubs for kids, have probably been around longer than we can imagine. I can retrace my experience back to my first year of teaching. I taught Fifth Grade and had this great idea from college to try out. My peer teacher was extremely innovative and agreed to let me try them out. She was a steady novel user herself-in fact, she still is a novel user! (More on that in other posts!) I had used novels right along with her, mainly to get the most band for the buck! My Brother Sam is Dead is a great example of this most bang moment! This amazing novel teaches the American Revolution from an amazing view point - that of a Revolutionist who also put his life on the line for his family, all told by his young brother who was not fighting in the War. Great stuff - but I digress! So, I gather the texts I wanted to use - The Secret Garden, Alice in Wonderland, The Jungle Book, and Huckleberry Finn. These books were not a huge jump for my students - in fact, because of what we were reading, they fit right into our class. I created a project too - they had to write a summary for each chapter and draw a picture to create a Big Book for a younger grade! All was great - but I had NO IDEA what I was doing! This was totally unstructured talk with a random project. I would rotate and listen to them. They would all write a summary! Great, but with no real results. No real ability to "see" what I needed to see from them. And, so, like so many others, I gave up this very "innovative" idea and stuck to what I was learning from others - the use of really great literature with the whole class. Until...
Balanced Literacy!
Yes, about ten years into my teaching career, Balanced Literacy was launched. It was during this time that "Guided Reading" was introduced to us and it was quickly pushed aside by those that I taught with. In fact, it was a somewhat verbal assault on the instructor of the course. But, she would not be pushes aside so easy. Over the course of our year's worth of classes, she began to make headway - with BOOK CLUBS for kids! She quickly moved from the idea that small readers were for all students into reading novels with older kids. This brought buy-in! In fact, she brought us to the point that students in 2nd grade and beyond SHOULD be reading real literature in the form of NOVELS! And that's where she found acceptance and understanding! And that's why I don't do Guided Reading in my classroom - in ANY grade I've taught! Instead, I do...
Book Clubs!!
Literature Circles, or Book Clubs for kids, soon became a big hit with my students! Why?? Well, there are a number of reasons! Here's some:
- They offer student choice! We all know that it is hard for teachers to give up the idea that students can choose their own books. However, that is part of what Book Clubs for kids offer. Choice gives a student more buy-in. That means more time on task, a connection to social-emotional learning, a willingness to have cooperative behaviors, and just a better chance to have fun with their reading.
- They provide a chance for differentiation! That's right! You can offer a variety of reading levels and topics in one Book Club for kids. Or, you can go with a theme and offer a variety of levels of reading opportunity! The opportunities are endless!
- It provides a purpose for reading beyond the idea of taking a test! YES! It is real, it is engaging, it is opportunity! Real literature is used. Kids want to read when the book engages them-so pick quality with PURPOSE! Understand what and why you have picked that text to use with them! And, opportunity is present. Opportunity to get students involved and loving a book for what it is and what it does for them as a reader!
What Book Clubs for Kids are NOT!
I shutter when I hear Guided Reading- for real, I do. Because it has become what it should not be. It is, in it's current form, Round-Robin Reading Groups. Student groupings don't change, they are stuck in a cycle of boredom (and so is the teacher), and we are assessing everyone for fluency OVER AND OVER! (Why?? WHY?? If they are fluent-move ON!) We don't boost their reading past what we "think" they should be doing! Reading is NOT A LEVEL! Therefore, Book Clubs are NOT Guided Reading!
Book Clubs for kids are NOT a free-for-all either! There is structure and planning in Book Clubs. Students have roles and expectations- all of which they must be ready for. It takes practice and work, but students can quickly learn the hows and whys when presented with opportunities to lead!
Book Clubs for kids are NOT ungraded! There are many ways to grade Book Clubs. Be open to ideas for grading, even from the students. They know what should and should not be going on in their groups and will be honest about their behaviors and reading.
Book Clubs for kids are NOT unguided. I carefully scaffold my Book Club instruction. I start the same for every grade, no matter what grade I have taught Book Clubs in, 1st through 5th. When they learn the ropes, they learn quality Book Clubs!
So, now that you are intrigued, I'd love for you to join me in learning more! I'll be posting some Blog Posts and sharing some over on my Facebook Page! Stop by and follow me there for my live discussions about Book Clubs! And, let me know more about what you'd like to learn by leaving me a comment below!
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2 comments:
Yes, whilst I initially disagreed with your philosophy, I read the magic words “What guided reading has become!” (and was never intended to be, in my vast teaching experience).
I’ve never called my class reading Book Club, but with your translation, it may well have been. However, may I just add my opinion about Guided Reading that you may / may not accept, but please consider?
We humans (read, students in this case) don’t always know what we don’t know until it is introduced in a form that we can understand. Hence, guidance is vital to add to our learning base. As teachers we need to take time out to introduce new conceptual learning and build on prior learning in a spiral (call it what you wish) of guided learning, yes?
Astrid- Thanks for your comment. You have many fine points in your comment. I think it is important to do both, guide and inspire to read and respond. However, my experience within the classroom settings I've observed Guided Reading in, is it has just become a Round-Robin system again. Even The Sisters (Daily Five) point this out. If you are just reading and talking about the text without doing something more, you are technically just Round-Robin reading. There has to be more! And, when we focus on fluency over and over again, then we build word-callers! That's why I LOVE Book Clubs so much. I can guide and I can support, as I point out in one of my other posts-5 Things You Should Look for During Book Clubs! It's a huge dance, one that can be balanced and carried out-plus build the love of reading and the structure of doing so in chapter book format-which is missing in Guided Reading!
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