I like the author's idea of limiting the number of literary elements and reading skills to teach with one novel. Instead, she recommends using short stories, excerpts or poems for students to learn these skills, and apply their understanding to their independent books. Using one novel can really begin to bore the students and take a long time to get through it. Forming book groups by first planning and selecting one theme or concept is also a good way to begin learning about a topic. I like the book pass, in which students preview teacher chosen books by reading the blurb, the first page, and flip through the book. Students then record a few notes about the book and give it a star rating. Next, they select the top 3 books they would like to read. Finally, the teacher looks at the students' choices to determine the study groups considering their reading levels, known knowledge of the books, and the best fit.
On limiting the number of skills to teach I was a given a suggestion of 3 at a time. When the teachers feel that the student(s) have mastered one the teacher can drop it to monitor and add another skill but always keeping the list at 3 skills at a time. That is not so overwhelming to both the teacher and the student(s).
I like the idea of the book pass also, however, with my sped reading classes, I never have more than 6 kids in any one class, which really limits the way you can configure groups based on similar interests.
I like the idea of book groups. This allows for the teacher to teach certain aspects of text. The groups are then formed by the students. The students are allowed to pick a book from the choices presented by the teacher. She also uses a unique way for the students to figure out what book they would like to read. She uses a book pass in which students get to preview the book by reading the blurb about the book, reading about the author, read a couple pages and by looking at the pictures or other visuals presented in the book.
I also like the idea of the book commercial. This is something quick that the student does to show knowledge of what was read and also gives the other students a book review that may lead them to reading the book also. This allows students to share a book that they have read and loved. The author also keeps track to make sure that each student does at least 1 commercial per grading period and makes sure that the same student isn't hogging the lime light each week.
I like the book commercial idea best of the suggestions given. It is a quick and easy way for students to show that they actually read the book and it gives other students just enough information about the book to decide if they want to read it.
I love the idea of book groups. Teachers can select a variety of books at different reading levels to teach the same concepts. I think it sounds like more work for the teacher initially, but after the first year, adding to the books available would not be overwhelming. A ‘book pass’ sounds like a wonderful way to preview books. I am going to try this with my seniors this spring. They still have some required reading to do and I often make suggestions on books – this will be something new for us to try and see if it works. I am pretty anxious to implement the ‘book pass.’
I also like the book pass that was described in the book. I would like to incorporate it somehow in my language groups next year. Let us know how it works out in your classroom!
I also LOVE the idea of book groups! Great idesa Ginger!! :) I also like the book pass that was described in this chapter. I'd love to hear how it works with your group of kiddos.
The author is very fortunate that she has an extensive class library of books from various genre's and reading levels. I do not have such a library so it is difficult for me to come up with working alternatives. Most are good in theory but putting them into practice can be challenging if the resources are not available. The idea I like the most is the book commercials. Every student in our school has to do one book report per nine weeks as part of their AR grade. This is a new thing mostly due to the increase of writing that the Common Core has implemented. However when helping my son with his book report during the first 9 weeks I asked his teacher, "how are you going to know if the student has even read the book based from the book report? They could write anything and you would not know if the content is correct unless you read all the books your students read, which is impossible." She said that she would not know, they mostly grade book reports on conventions. Interesting when the content is one of the most important parts of a writing piece even according to common core. Books commercials will primarily get the content across, that is a great focus!
There's another example of why book reports aren't the most practical! I also really enjoyed the idea of book commercials. If there is a time set aside at the end of class on Friday, then the students have many opportunities to do theirs instead of having to wait til the end of the 9 weeks. It also assists the teacher in keeping track of what books are highly recommended and by which students.
Yes I dreaded book reports. I think the commerials would take thought and creativity. I saw a classroom where they had a authors chair everday at the end of the day. This allowed students to practice a lot of skills such as speaking and listening. The student sit in the authors chair and told about the book they read at home the night before. The audience got to ask the author any queation about the book. I thought this was awesome way of incorporating a lot of different skills in one 10 minute activity.
Our HS English teacher does require book reports but she gives them options on what to do . Movie posters, book marks, diaramia(spelling?), tell the story in 1st person. etc.
I really like the author's practice of book groups to teach specific skills. I think the students will stay more focused in the small group and will be more likely to learn the target skill. I asked my daughter that is college what she thought of whole group novels because she had them starting in 5th grade through high school. She stated she hated them, never paid attention, and always tried to get out of answering questions. That definitely was not a good teaching strategy for her. She definitely would have gotten better at reading through choosing her own books and completing book commercials or book reviews. I like those two ideas that the author has implemented. I can see how students would react better to those strategies. It is also working on their writing skills which in my school are terribly lacking.
I agree about the small groups. Both of my reading classes consist of 4 students each. I can give my students more individual attention in a group this size!
Yes I have been in classrooms where the teacher reads and the students are not intune with learning. They are quite but their minds are not and they are distractable to everything going on around them. It is hard to meet all levels when you are reading out loud because not all students learn in this style of learning.
I agree Deanna! I like how you asked your own daughter what she thought. What a great way to get an honest opinion from a student who has gone through whole class novels. I'm glad your daughter was able to tell you how she really felt about it. :)
BOOK GROUPS! Iam inspired to travel back to 8th grade and have my reading teacher read this book. Do you know she read the Hobbitt to us for weeks and weeks, as well as the Hounds of the Baskervilles? Then we did worksheet after worksheet over those books. I never listened. I sat and stared at books on the shelves, trying to memorize their titles and authors, mentally rearranging them into the right order. Oh ya, back to the point..
MANAGEMENT OF SETTING UP BOOK GROUPS: I would help this former teacher of mine gather books on the topic being studied. The author used World War II as an example. As I read this, I imagined myself back teaching 5th grade and wondered how I as a teacher would have time to gather all those books. Then I thought of myself as an eighth grade student, who would have loved to gone on a book hunt through the library for my teacher! Aha! I bet you have some eager-to-help students in any class that should do this work for you. Then you could weed out any books you feel didn't fit and explain to your helpers why they didn't fit the bill and praise them for the finding you an appropriate pile of World War II books! (As a teacher, you could add or take away.).
My theory is this would excite kids, build their card catalog skills (or more likely, their library search engine skills)
So I didn't really describe the book groups, but I kind of went forward into a direction of instilling some excitement in reading that would build further as the book talks begin to develop instead of "read, then take a test.
My complete message wouldn't display! As part of a children's literature class, we were to collect a minimum of 10 books on a certain theme. I scoured several libraries to come up with a large pool of books relating to a historical topic that I knew my students would eventually be taught. It would be a great thing for our students to do the same and give students within a book club some options. The prompt that the author used (pg. 129), "Who were your characters and how were they involved in WW2, and what were the short-term and long-term consequences for them?" is something I plan on asking every student now!
I also like the idea of the book commericals. I can see several of my students taking this idea and really building on it. This would allow for more creativity on their part and a deeper understanding of the book. I have heard comments from students about books being read to them by the teacher, and most of them love it! Myself, I don't like to be read to. I can see certain classrooms enjoying different ways of having reading presented to them. Book logs can be used in a way as only to keep track of books read, authors and genres, so a student can reflect on their reading habits. Some of my avid readers have done a log for that type of information. Knowing that they are reading is not an issue.
Since I am teaching Early childhood and did my student in teaching in 2nd grade I really liked the idea of icorporating book groups in order to decide the concept or theme you need to teach. Students select a book to preview that fits into the theme and is able to look at the book to decide if that would be on their top 3 of books to read. I think this is a cool concept because students are in control of what they may be reading within their selected groups. I really like how the groups are determined by interest of the students even though their are other factors in consideration. I think that students feeling the power of being able to choose reading materials is awesome. As was reading this chapter I know how the whole-group reading felt like. In school we did read novels that were of no interest to me. We took a month or two to complete the novel becauase evertything was in class not to be brought home. In some ways that was good because if you did not understand the readings they were usually brought up. I think that you do have to look at the students interest even as young as the preschool age to prepare them for the reading process.
The author had so many good ideas about alternatives to whole class novels! I really liked that she mentioned reading books aloud to students. I think it is so important for students (especially struggling students) to hear a text aloud and listen to a fluent reader read. I also liked her idea on share-reading the book, because it focused on sight recognition of vocabulary because the unknown words are pronounced for them. I LOVE the idea of book groups, based on student interest about topics. I used to use book groups with my middle school students. It really made reading more enjoyable for them. I wish that I would have allowed them a little more choice when picking out the book. One other idea I really liked from this chapter was limiting the number of skills and literary elements that are taught with one book.
I really liked the idea of Book Groups. I loved the example of WW II that she used and how the students learned about it from different perspectives. I also like the book pass idea. I think this would be great to have my students do in my room. Many times they just read a book and don't really say whether or not they like or liked the book. I don't know if they are scared to say that they didn't like or book or what the deal is but I think it would be great to make them realize they are not going to like all books and that's ok. I also like the idea of using short stories or poems to check understanding or teach different reading skills. Many of the students I work with get bored or overwhelmed when we read chapter books. I think that if I used short stories or poems they wouldn't loose interest like they do with chapter books. Plus I would be introducing different types of writing.
I like the idea of Book groups but look at it as book studies or a book club. How many students pass around books when a series catches an eye of a student and pretty soon you see several students reading the same book.
One of the classrooms I've been working with this year does book groups in order to differentiate the reading levels. There is so much differentiation through centers that it does not appear to be a "bluebirds" vs. "blackbirds" categorization. The only part I would augment is making the time to have students present a book talk about their selected novel/story.
At the end of the year, the students are reading American history greats' biographies and will personify them by performing as a wax museum figure. When people come by to hear their information, it is a memorized summary of their biography enacted in character. It should be a delightful time! Several years ago, I had my gifted roster re-enact a person who was important in history (called "Famous Faces") by dressing up --some of them were more enthused than others, but overall it worked well and we presented to the after-school children. I could have only dreamed that a classroom teacher would do this activity, too! We need that oral presentation skill to be reinforced for good life skills.
I love the idea of book groups. You can still have a theme as a whole but there are so many different books that can fall into a single theme. In that way you can get books that are on many different reading levels to differentiate for all student’s needs. After books are read instead of using traditional comprehension tests like AR or written tests have students try and sell their book to the class. They can make ads and create little commercial type clips using things like Antimoto.com. They can make posters or depending on what your theme is you can have a wax museum using characters from your books to tell about the story.
Another option similar to the teacher reading a book aloud to the class is using audio books. I have used these with a couple of my high school classes this year and they have been a real hit. Three of the most recent books I've done this with are: Rules by Cynthia Lord (love this book for sped classes), S.E. Hinton's classic The Outsiders (the audio book really brought this book to life for my juniors & seniors), and I'm currently doing Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson (this will be a prelude to watching the movie, Lincoln). Prior to beginning this book, we watched the video, Monumental Myths, to help them understand that history is not always portrayed accurately.
I like the author's idea of limiting the number of literary elements and reading skills to teach with one novel. Instead, she recommends using short stories, excerpts or poems for students to learn these skills, and apply their understanding to their independent books. Using one novel can really begin to bore the students and take a long time to get through it.
ReplyDeleteForming book groups by first planning and selecting one theme or concept is also a good way to begin learning about a topic. I like the book pass, in which students preview teacher chosen books by reading the blurb, the first page, and flip through the book. Students then record a few notes about the book and give it a star rating. Next, they select the top 3 books they would like to read. Finally, the teacher looks at the students' choices to determine the study groups considering their reading levels, known knowledge of the books, and the best fit.
I like this idea also. It's a great way to integrate other subjects into language arts also.
DeleteOn limiting the number of skills to teach I was a given a suggestion of 3 at a time. When the teachers feel that the student(s) have mastered one the teacher can drop it to monitor and add another skill but always keeping the list at 3 skills at a time. That is not so overwhelming to both the teacher and the student(s).
DeleteI like the idea of the book pass also, however, with my sped reading classes, I never have more than 6 kids in any one class, which really limits the way you can configure groups based on similar interests.
DeleteI like the idea of book groups. This allows for the teacher to teach certain aspects of text. The groups are then formed by the students. The students are allowed to pick a book from the choices presented by the teacher. She also uses a unique way for the students to figure out what book they would like to read. She uses a book pass in which students get to preview the book by reading the blurb about the book, reading about the author, read a couple pages and by looking at the pictures or other visuals presented in the book.
ReplyDeleteI also like the idea of the book commercial. This is something quick that the student does to show knowledge of what was read and also gives the other students a book review that may lead them to reading the book also. This allows students to share a book that they have read and loved. The author also keeps track to make sure that each student does at least 1 commercial per grading period and makes sure that the same student isn't hogging the lime light each week.
Yes, I agree. I think the students would have fun with the commercial, it shows they read the book, and it is quick.
DeleteI thought of book studies for small groups was a good idea.
DeleteI like the book commercial idea best of the suggestions given. It is a quick and easy way for students to show that they actually read the book and it gives other students just enough information about the book to decide if they want to read it.
DeleteI love the idea of book groups. Teachers can select a variety of books at different reading levels to teach the same concepts. I think it sounds like more work for the teacher initially, but after the first year, adding to the books available would not be overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteA ‘book pass’ sounds like a wonderful way to preview books. I am going to try this with my seniors this spring. They still have some required reading to do and I often make suggestions on books – this will be something new for us to try and see if it works. I am pretty anxious to implement the ‘book pass.’
I also like the book pass that was described in the book. I would like to incorporate it somehow in my language groups next year. Let us know how it works out in your classroom!
DeleteRead my idea on preparing for book groups...summary...have your students help gather the books!
DeleteI also LOVE the idea of book groups! Great idesa Ginger!! :) I also like the book pass that was described in this chapter. I'd love to hear how it works with your group of kiddos.
DeleteThe author is very fortunate that she has an extensive class library of books from various genre's and reading levels. I do not have such a library so it is difficult for me to come up with working alternatives. Most are good in theory but putting them into practice can be challenging if the resources are not available.
ReplyDeleteThe idea I like the most is the book commercials. Every student in our school has to do one book report per nine weeks as part of their AR grade. This is a new thing mostly due to the increase of writing that the Common Core has implemented. However when helping my son with his book report during the first 9 weeks I asked his teacher, "how are you going to know if the student has even read the book based from the book report? They could write anything and you would not know if the content is correct unless you read all the books your students read, which is impossible." She said that she would not know, they mostly grade book reports on conventions. Interesting when the content is one of the most important parts of a writing piece even according to common core. Books commercials will primarily get the content across, that is a great focus!
I also really like the book commercials. I think the students would enjoy that much better than a book report and still work on writing
DeleteI love that idea, and was thinking at a younger level kids could create a puppet show book commercial
DeleteThere's another example of why book reports aren't the most practical! I also really enjoyed the idea of book commercials. If there is a time set aside at the end of class on Friday, then the students have many opportunities to do theirs instead of having to wait til the end of the 9 weeks. It also assists the teacher in keeping track of what books are highly recommended and by which students.
DeleteYes I dreaded book reports. I think the commerials would take thought and creativity. I saw a classroom where they had a authors chair everday at the end of the day. This allowed students to practice a lot of skills such as speaking and listening. The student sit in the authors chair and told about the book they read at home the night before. The audience got to ask the author any queation about the book. I thought this was awesome way of incorporating a lot of different skills in one 10 minute activity.
DeleteOur HS English teacher does require book reports but she gives them options on what to do . Movie posters, book marks, diaramia(spelling?), tell the story in 1st person. etc.
DeleteI really like the author's practice of book groups to teach specific skills. I think the students will stay more focused in the small group and will be more likely to learn the target skill. I asked my daughter that is college what she thought of whole group novels because she had them starting in 5th grade through high school. She stated she hated them, never paid attention, and always tried to get out of answering questions. That definitely was not a good teaching strategy for her. She definitely would have gotten better at reading through choosing her own books and completing book commercials or book reviews. I like those two ideas that the author has implemented. I can see how students would react better to those strategies. It is also working on their writing skills which in my school are terribly lacking.
ReplyDeleteyes, I concur on all of your points!
DeleteI agree about the small groups. Both of my reading classes consist of 4 students each. I can give my students more individual attention in a group this size!
DeleteYes I have been in classrooms where the teacher reads and the students are not intune with learning. They are quite but their minds are not and they are distractable to everything going on around them. It is hard to meet all levels when you are reading out loud because not all students learn in this style of learning.
DeleteI agree Deanna! I like how you asked your own daughter what she thought. What a great way to get an honest opinion from a student who has gone through whole class novels. I'm glad your daughter was able to tell you how she really felt about it. :)
DeleteBOOK GROUPS! Iam inspired to travel back to 8th grade and have my reading teacher read this book. Do you know she read the Hobbitt to us for weeks and weeks, as well as the Hounds of the Baskervilles? Then we did worksheet after worksheet over those books. I never listened. I sat and stared at books on the shelves, trying to memorize their titles and authors, mentally rearranging them into the right order. Oh ya, back to the point..
ReplyDeleteMANAGEMENT OF SETTING UP BOOK GROUPS: I would help this former teacher of mine gather books on the topic being studied. The author used World War II as an example. As I read this, I imagined myself back teaching 5th grade and wondered how I as a teacher would have time to gather all those books. Then I thought of myself as an eighth grade student, who would have loved to gone on a book hunt through the library for my teacher! Aha! I bet you have some eager-to-help students in any class that should do this work for you. Then you could weed out any books you feel didn't fit and explain to your helpers why they didn't fit the bill and praise them for the finding you an appropriate pile of World War II books! (As a teacher, you could add or take away.).
My theory is this would excite kids, build their card catalog skills (or more likely, their library search engine skills)
So I didn't really describe the book groups, but I kind of went forward into a direction of instilling some excitement in reading that would build further as the book talks begin to develop instead of "read, then take a test.
That is a very good idea!
DeleteI would love to be in your class, Ginger! As a kid, I always enjoyed helping the teacher, but never was I asked to do this.
DeleteMy complete message wouldn't display! As part of a children's literature class, we were to collect a minimum of 10 books on a certain theme. I scoured several libraries to come up with a large pool of books relating to a historical topic that I knew my students would eventually be taught. It would be a great thing for our students to do the same and give students within a book club some options. The prompt that the author used (pg. 129), "Who were your characters and how were they involved in WW2, and what were the short-term and long-term consequences for them?" is something I plan on asking every student now!
DeleteI also like the idea of the book commericals. I can see several of my students taking this idea and really building on it. This would allow for more creativity on their part and a deeper understanding of the book. I have heard comments from students about books being read to them by the teacher, and most of them love it! Myself, I don't like to be read to. I can see certain classrooms enjoying different ways of having reading presented to them. Book logs can be used in a way as only to keep track of books read, authors and genres, so a student can reflect on their reading habits. Some of my avid readers have done a log for that type of information. Knowing that they are reading is not an issue.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you it would allow creativity. I think the book logs would also give a sense of style the students have for reading.
DeleteSince I am teaching Early childhood and did my student in teaching in 2nd grade I really liked the idea of icorporating book groups in order to decide the concept or theme you need to teach. Students select a book to preview that fits into the theme and is able to look at the book to decide if that would be on their top 3 of books to read. I think this is a cool concept because students are in control of what they may be reading within their selected groups. I really like how the groups are determined by interest of the students even though their are other factors in consideration. I think that students feeling the power of being able to choose reading materials is awesome. As was reading this chapter I know how the whole-group reading felt like. In school we did read novels that were of no interest to me. We took a month or two to complete the novel becauase evertything was in class not to be brought home. In some ways that was good because if you did not understand the readings they were usually brought up. I think that you do have to look at the students interest even as young as the preschool age to prepare them for the reading process.
ReplyDeleteThe author had so many good ideas about alternatives to whole class novels! I really liked that she mentioned reading books aloud to students. I think it is so important for students (especially struggling students) to hear a text aloud and listen to a fluent reader read. I also liked her idea on share-reading the book, because it focused on sight recognition of vocabulary because the unknown words are pronounced for them. I LOVE the idea of book groups, based on student interest about topics. I used to use book groups with my middle school students. It really made reading more enjoyable for them. I wish that I would have allowed them a little more choice when picking out the book. One other idea I really liked from this chapter was limiting the number of skills and literary elements that are taught with one book.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the idea of Book Groups. I loved the example of WW II that she used and how the students learned about it from different perspectives. I also like the book pass idea. I think this would be great to have my students do in my room. Many times they just read a book and don't really say whether or not they like or liked the book. I don't know if they are scared to say that they didn't like or book or what the deal is but I think it would be great to make them realize they are not going to like all books and that's ok. I also like the idea of using short stories or poems to check understanding or teach different reading skills. Many of the students I work with get bored or overwhelmed when we read chapter books. I think that if I used short stories or poems they wouldn't loose interest like they do with chapter books. Plus I would be introducing different types of writing.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of Book groups but look at it as book studies or a book club. How many students pass around books when a series catches an eye of a student and pretty soon you see several students reading the same book.
ReplyDeleteOne of the classrooms I've been working with this year does book groups in order to differentiate the reading levels. There is so much differentiation through centers that it does not appear to be a "bluebirds" vs. "blackbirds" categorization. The only part I would augment is making the time to have students present a book talk about their selected novel/story.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the year, the students are reading American history greats' biographies and will personify them by performing as a wax museum figure. When people come by to hear their information, it is a memorized summary of their biography enacted in character. It should be a delightful time! Several years ago, I had my gifted roster re-enact a person who was important in history (called "Famous Faces") by dressing up --some of them were more enthused than others, but overall it worked well and we presented to the after-school children. I could have only dreamed that a classroom teacher would do this activity, too! We need that oral presentation skill to be reinforced for good life skills.
I love the idea of book groups. You can still have a theme as a whole but there are so many different books that can fall into a single theme. In that way you can get books that are on many different reading levels to differentiate for all student’s needs. After books are read instead of using traditional comprehension tests like AR or written tests have students try and sell their book to the class. They can make ads and create little commercial type clips using things like Antimoto.com. They can make posters or depending on what your theme is you can have a wax museum using characters from your books to tell about the story.
ReplyDeleteAnother option similar to the teacher reading a book aloud to the class is using audio books. I have used these with a couple of my high school classes this year and they have been a real hit. Three of the most recent books I've done this with are: Rules by Cynthia Lord (love this book for sped classes), S.E. Hinton's classic The Outsiders (the audio book really brought this book to life for my juniors & seniors), and I'm currently doing Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson (this will be a prelude to watching the movie, Lincoln). Prior to beginning this book, we watched the video, Monumental Myths, to help them understand that history is not always portrayed accurately.
ReplyDelete