I really love the idea of in-class book clubs. In a perfect world, or should I say classroom, this would work so well. Classroom management is going to be a huge piece of implementing this idea. D & Z make it sound great, but I have many concerns about doing this in a class. I worry about the kids not engaging with the texts, talking about non-book related things during discussion time, not talking at all, among other things. I remember last year when I did classroom observations, the teacher was having a hard time getting students engaged in discussing the text they were reading. It was painful to watch, the kids just sat there in a circle while dead silence hung in the air (wait time) and every now and then the teacher threw out a question to try and get them thinking. I really never got a sense that those kids engaged with the text, never mind read it.
Having expressed all these concerns, I should now express why I would advocate for this technique. D & Z did a great job explaining the benefits of book clubs, how to implement them and even assessments. These are the areas where I had many questions, which all were answered by the end of the chapter. The one thing that book clubs do have the opportunity to do is bring students to higher level thinking, which is one of the main goals of common core. Mike and Nancy's assessment for their book clubs included having the students write an essay answering 4 questions reflecting higher level thinking (Daniels & Zimmerman 203). The part I loved about this is, as a teacher, I would have so much variety in my reading to grade. My students' thoughts and ideas would be far more interesting than a bunch of summaries on a book that I've already read.
On to chapter 10... Inquiry based projects are another one of those activities that get students to use higher level thinking, but require a lot of time to do. I'm getting the feeling that the activities and lessons where students will learn best are the time consuming ones that are often not used because of concern that there will not be enough time to "meet the standards." As D & Z explain towards the end of the chapter, it's a trade-off. "We can 'cover' all the material, with most of our students passing a test and immediately forgetting most of what was taught; or we can let a bit of it go - not all, but a bit - and fit these valuable experiences in, so that more of our students deeply understand some topics, and come to value the subjects we teach (Daniels & Zimmerman 230). Well Amen to that! I've been saying that for years, I can cram, study, whatever, and ace a test but the second I leave the classroom, I probably forget almost all of what I just answered. Research based projects have always been where I learn best, probably because I'm immersed and invested in what I am learning.
So, I guess what these two chapters boil down to is that sometimes we need to let go a little from the traditional and get out of our comfort zones (sound familiar???) to really get our students to be those lifelong learners we're always talking about. On that note, I leave you with this picture my friend bought for me this week. My employer displays artwork that is done by special needs students. This time around we have a hearing impaired girl who creates these beautiful pieces. My friend saw this and thought of me and I think it is a fitting closing thought.
The one thing that stuicks out to me most here is that idea of letting some areas of content go rather than trying to cover everything and having most students forget it anyways. It makes me think of that phrase we heard earlier in the year - "Learning is like a river - better to be short and deep than wide and shallow." It's better to teach students few things and help them understand it better than to touch upon everything and end up learning nothing.
ReplyDeleteI also love the way this text addresses the nuts and bolts of implementing their suggestions. I talked about this in my blog, but their suggestions for starting small went a long way into making these strategies feel doable.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your comment about kids discussing non book club related topics, I feel like we can all just agree that is definitely going to happen, but maybe it's not the end of the word. I mean, as adults we all do that in our college classes. I think that if we scaffold and prep, students will have things they want to say about the book. I can't help but wonder what pre and during reading activities, or book club roles, had been implemented in the class you were observing last year.
Hi Michele,
ReplyDeleteI carry some of the same concerns that you have for the Book Club implementation. I know that when I was in high school, it was very easy for my mind to wander when I was with my classmates in a small group discussion. And I will admit that I am still guilty of that today! But since we know it’s going to happen eventually, is there a way that we can use it to our teaching advantage? Besides that, when it comes to thinking about these concerns, I think that the Book Club concept is not a first year teacher activity. I think that it takes an experienced teacher to have the classroom management skills to know how to get their students motivated. Also, I remember that time during classroom observations, and it was basically the teacher pulling teeth with the students to get them to contribute to the discussion. That’s why I think it takes a skilled teacher to do the Book Club idea. I still think it’s a really cool idea though, and I would love to try it somewhere down the road in my teaching career. In my blog I talked about how it can help engage students in a way that the curriculum may not be able to. The students would have the opportunity to have a choice in the classroom with what book they wanted to read. This could be a great way to start the students on a path to reading outside of the classroom!