Book clubs are a great way to get students interested in a subject in an engaging and unique way. Students may have participated in a book club in their English class but, as Subject Matters highlights, book clubs can be a cross-content tool used to engage students in thoughtful discussions related to course material. I think the best part of these book clubs is that they are student-led. When placing students in book clubs the teacher's role is to assist, observe, and facilitate" (Subject Maters, pg. 249). This allows students to lead discussions and talk about the things they noticed in the text or things they personally connected with.
The chapter also discussed an outline that went over the process of getting book clubs started in your classroom, specifically, assigning roles to each student within their book club group. This ensures that all students are engaged and contributing to the discussion. Jobs like, questioner, illustrator, and researcher are some of the few named. I remember doing book clubs in 7th grade and having jobs similar to these. They changed every week so each student in the group had a chance to contribute in a different way.
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Callie, I also think that introducing literature into new subjects could be an interesting and new point of view for many students. However, in my blog I wrote about how some students can be lazy and not do their part therefore effecting the group grade. But over all I think it could be a great new activity to add to different class rooms.
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Callie,
ReplyDeleteBook clubs weren't a part of my education until college, to which I have participated in three this semester. If books were in the classroom throughout my K-12 schooling, they were always in the form of a class novel. I also agree that the best thing about book clubs is that they are student-led, with each student having a chosen role where they can connect with the book. Within my future language arts class, I want to incorporate book clubs because students become masters of their book due to them being responsible for sharing it with their peers at the end. Since there are multiple books, students get to see other student perspectives on their assigned book, making it more likely that they will seek out reading the book on their own.
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