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THE 5 STEPS of FACILITATING BOOK CLUBS
THE 5 STEPS of FACILITATING BOOK CLUBS
CLUBS
10/27/2022
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1. Choose novels for Book Clubs [see link to Blog] by a common topic, author,
theme, genre, form. When Book Clubs have a commonality, readers can also
meet in Inter-Book Club groups to compare and contrast their novels, meeting
even more standards [see Reading Strategy #12].
2. Presenting the Book/Text Choices:
Book Talk: The teacher presents a brief 3-4 minute Book Talk [see Reading
Strategy #4] of each of the choices.
Book Pass: A book is put on each student’s desk; a different book choice is
placed on 4-5 contiguous desks, then repeated around the room (so students
can peruse a different book each pass). Students are given directions to look
at the front cover, read the back cover, and read 1-2 pages to determine if
they like the author’s writing and if the book is challenging enough, too
challenging, or “just right.” After 2-3 minutes the students pass to the next
student.
Students write down their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices. Book Club membership
is based on student choice (and any other variables the teacher needs to
keep in mind, such as students who do or don’t work well together).
2. TEACHING SOCIAL/DISCUSSION SKILLS
Planning Book Club Reading: Students are given the meetings dates (2-3
times per week) and the ending date, and Clubs plan their reading schedule.
Some Clubs divide the novels by the number of meetings; some like to read
more over the weekend while others would rather read less as they get used
to the novel and then more for each meeting. Five meetings is generally
enough for a novel; readers need a big enough "chunk" to hold a discussion.
Students are to prepare for meetings by reading, jotting responses to the text
read, and preparing a discussion question.
Reading the Book Club novel: This can be accomplished as a mixture of in-
class reading on Reading Workshop days and reading as homework at night
or in study hall. Generally, my students had time to read after the meetings
(see Time Chart above), and we held Writing Workshop the in-between days;
they read at home on those days. If teachers have classes who will or can not
read at home, days in-between Book Club meetings can be used for in-class
reading, and meetings can be held twice a week rather than every other day.
Reflecting on Reading: Students write 5-minute Reader
Response journalings, as or after they read each section, to aid meeting
discussions .
Creating Discussion Questions: Each Book Club member creates and brings
one discussion question to each meeting.
Discussions: I kept discussions to 20 minutes. It is better that they run out of
time than run out of conversation. Teachers should explain their general
expectations for the meetings while keeping them student run.
Reflecting on meetings & discussions: At the end of each meeting, as an Exit
Slip, members individually evaluate themselves and their Club on their
discussions—product (content) and process (eye contact, taking turns,
piggybacking ideas, etc.) See Talking Texts for student samples and
reproducible forms.
Presenting novel to classmates: After reading and holding a final meeting,
each Book Club prepares an After-Reading Presentation to their classmates;
the teacher discusses the rubric, common to all presentation formats, and
ideas for choices.
Book Club members should demonstrate that they have read and thought
about the entire book and how it would most effectively be presented.
Include all major characters, setting, and plot elements: inciting incident,
conflict, climax, resolution.
All Book Club members must have an active part in the presentation.
Presentation should be about 8-10 minutes.
Presentation must be practiced.
Introduce the presentation with the title, author(s), and genre.
Conclude your presentation with a short review, including author’s writing
craft; for which readers this would be a good match; etc.
After the conclusion, tell the audience what your club members learned from
your novel.
Reminder: your audience has not read the novel.
My PRESENTATION RUBRIC (sample):
A percentage of the grade was based on the content of the group presentation
and a percentage was based on individual speaking points.
And strategies for LIBRARIANS who wish to start or work with BOOK CLUBS:
TALKING TEXTS: A Teacher's Guide to Book Clubs across the
Curriculum includes classroom strategies, focus-lessons, and reproducible forms for
facilitating, organizing, integrating, and assessing collaborative, small-group reading
and teaching effective, supportive discussion techniques in Grade 3 through
university classes—strategies that work for all types of text: novels and memoirs,
short stories, informational texts and articles, poetry, folktales, and even textbooks in
all content areas.