Student Book Clubs

My main objective every year is getting students to truly love learning. This is no easy task- and every year I have to take a leap of faith in to student led book groups. 

Our Literacy block is long- I dedicate a chunk to direct instruction but find it absolutely necessary to dedicate at least 20 minutes to these book clubs. And year after year, my students make tremendous gains. This year- and I kid you not- my class had a median iReady growth score over 271% with all students reaching their yearly expected growth goals and most student reaching their "stretch growth."

How did we do it?

I trusted them.

In my classroom book clubs are:

• Fun
• Engaging
• Student Led
• Driven by student choice
• A time for students to engage in often deep discussion.
• A time for me to informally check in with student groups and engage in conversation my self.
• A time purely dedicated to peak student interest in reading.

In my classroom book clubs are not:

• Formal assignments.
• Meant to be formally assessed.
• A time for me to force kids to answer surface level questions.
• A time bogged down by writing.

In the beginning of the year, I set students up for success with a whole group shared reading. I usually go with Frindle because it a high interest quick read that students find highly engaging. I teach them how to discuss the novels and we model what I want to see in book clubs. This first book is highly structured and loaded with direct instruction of the behaviors I want to see when I eventually release all control and trust the kids in their own book clubs.

Next, I put the kids into homogeneous book groups and offer a selection of independent reading level books for them to read. In this round, I meet with the groups twice a week and lead the discussion myself. I will sometimes assigning short writing assignments tied to the instruction we are learning in class. For example, if we are discussing character traits as a class, I will have them apply that learning by independently reading a section of the book, and then writing a short paragraph about the character traits of one character. For my lower groups, I might do this with them when we meet.

As the year goes on, I slowly release control with the end goal being I want this to look like an adult book group. The sole purpose being I want the kids to love  what they are reading and engage in conversation with their peers.

As the year goes on, I put together groups based on student interest- not level. Again, the purpose of these groups is to get kids to love reading. If a struggling reading wishes to join a book club with a book far beyond their independent reading level, I let them join that book club and support them with audio books.