Literacy: Reading

I’m a Nerd and so is my Husband

As a wedding present, my husband and I were given the recent installment to the iconic Harry Potter series, The Cursed Child, a screenplay inspired from the original story. Before school, we decided to wait to buy and read it because we were focused on the wedding, and after the wedding, when we received the book, we were so focused on school we hadn’t had a chance to start. This weekend the temptation was too strong, and I started reading to pass the time while at work (I am lucky to have a job that lets me read on the clock). I finished it Saturday night, and gave it to my husband to have his turn to read. On Sunday, after my morning shift, he met me at the restaurant I work and we had some lunch. He proudly stated that he finished the book that morning! After expressing how impressive his speed reading skills were, we quickly divulged into an hour long discussion of our reception to the book as it’s own entity and how it related to the series as a whole. We focused on the overall plot, what we liked and what might have been a better direction. My husband brought up implications that clashed with other knowledge he had gained about (spoiler alert) time travel concepts from other sources, and I highlighted the misrepresentations of certain characters and the overall cathartic scenes that I really enjoyed. We debated the social connotations and reflections of our society to theirs, and compared it to the change from the society in the first books (20 years prior to the current installment) and our own world views that have changed over 20 years. We then talked about how it might be translated onto the physical stage, and how we liked or were confused with certain elements of the Potterverse and how it was interpreted into a new medium.

Basically, what my husband and I did during our lunch was deepen our comprehension of our reading by sharing our thoughts and discussing the hidden inferences and details not explicitly outlined in the text. By doing this in depth discussion, both my husband and I have a better understand of what was said (and not said) in the story, and explored new ideas that we might not have uncovered individually (like the implications of time travel).

Which is why it is imperative that students have conversations about their readings in enhance their comprehension of the material. Conversations invite critical thinking, making connections, breed questions, and develop crucial dialogue skills of discussing text.

Conversation is a basis for critical thinking. It is the thread that ties together cognitive strategies and provides students with the practice that becomes the foundation for reading, writing, and thinking. - Ann Ketch

Conversations in the Classroom

Both my husband and I were a part of provincial-wide reading programs in our elementary school (Forest of Reading), which was essentially a book club for children. I remember in my school we had weekly meetings either during lunch or after school in the library with the other children in our age group that were involved and we would just talk about our book that week, guided by a facilitating teacher. Sometimes we just read in the time period, sometimes we had discussions. The wonderful part about the experience was it made us both learn at an early age that reading was more than a solidary endeavor and developed our ability to identify key concepts in our readings, make connections with our personal experiences and how to talk about them effectively. It also exposed us to a variety of genres and styles of writing which not only allowed us to discover and identify our reading preferences, but also impacted our writing skills. By reading all types of genres, we were able to emulate the benefits of each style into our writing, allowing it to develop into a well-rounded craft.

But why keep a book club just as an extracurricular experience? Why not bring those benefits right into the classroom? Book clubs not only prompt conversation and deeper thinking about the reading, but bring with it a sense of community, development of respect to alternative opinions and perspectives, and build confidence in expressing and reflecting on one’s thoughts in a group. All these benefits can not only improve student engagement towards reading, but carry over to all aspects of the classroom.

Starting a Book Club in your Class

We’ve discussed the benefits of a book club, and can see the advantages it can give students. Starting one in the classroom is an fun method to focus silent reading time, increase student engagement and differentiate towards each level of learner. This article introduces some steps that will help start a book club in your classroom. Below I have also outlined some ideas.

First Session:

I would start by creating “meeting groups” based on ability. These groups should be no bigger than 5 students. This is a great way to differentiate for each targeted need of your students. In the first meeting, let the students create a group name, and an outline for meeting expectations. The expectations can be developed by group or by the class as a whole, but should be designed by the students. For the first session, I would assign a book for each group targeted towards their appropriate challenge level and a “bookmark goal” for the next meeting (read a chapter, to a certain a page number, or to finish the entire book). I would then give them a few specific questions to consider while reading. Students would be expected to read their book during silent reading time. In order to help the discussion for the next session, each day they could journal about what they read, or you could pose a general question that they need to journal about. They could also use a graphic organizer or tracker for their daily reading thoughts.

Second Session:

A week (or whatever time period decided on) later, have the second session. Each student should be encouraged to talk briefly about one thought they had about the selected reading. Prompts could be quotes they liked, characters that stood out to them, events that happened that they thought were interesting, things they found boring or offending etc. Once students have gotten their initial opinions expressed, then the prompting questions can begin. They should be thought provoking questions, asking students why things unfolded they way they did, “what if” questions, and most importantly, how the reading connected to something in their own experiences. If time, close with an physical activity (like a craft or game), and/or pose a new question for students to think about while reading the next section/book.

Next Sessions

Once a book is completed, you can assign a new book, or give students a selected reading list that they are allowed to choose from. Each student can select one book they want to the group to read (based on the summary of the book) and groups can cycle through each. As the routine is established, you may allow students to suggest their own books for the next reading (approved by the teacher).

More Activities to Enrich Conversations:

Below are some activities inspired from here, here and here.

Ask each student to develop a discussion question for the group, setting clear expectations of what a good discussion question looks like.

Have students fill out a graphic organizer during the discussion to paste into a journal for record of ideas.

Include external information about the author or time period, book sales, it's role in a series, a genre study etc.

Give each group member a reading role. Each member reads the next session focusing or looking for a specific concept (character development, themes, words, connections to society/history/real life, an illustration of a key scene).

Host a Share with Parents or Reading Fair. Work towards creating a poster board for each book finished, expressing big ideas or evidence of deep thinking, good questions, themes, illustrations, connections etc. that students can share with parents and peers based on their group conversations.

Create a deck of “prompt cards” that students can shuffle and randomly select as journal entry responses or guiding questions for discussion. Or use popsicle sticks.

Guiding Question bookmarks.

If a spark of excitement towards reading and sharing is all that comes from a class book club, I still see a benefit for all students.

Now I want to start or join an adult book club too!