Cassandra Scharber- Digital Literacies
Elizabeth Edmondson- Wiki Literature Circles
Diana Lapp and Douglas Fisher- It’s All About the Book
Appleman- Critical Encounters in High School English
Harvey Daniels and Nancy Steineke- Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles

Online Book Clubs

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     "What am I really doing to nurture such lifelong learners?"( Daniels 1). What an opener. It continues on explaining that all the practical ways of formative assessment and neat classroom engagements that we've been learning like visual vocabulary, friday quizzes, and the like, all may get us from point A in the year to point B, but they don't necessarily reflect skills of good readers or lifelong learners. Adults choose what they read and when they read it. They connect personally, "drawing on a repertoire of cognitive strategies...to understand tough text" (2). Books and articles are abandoned when they become uninteresting. "In short, "they own reading"(2). 

     So as a teacher, understanding that learning some theoretical applications can be useful, and formative checks and quizzes can help keep students focused, what (along with everything else to remember) to do is remember that your goal is to create lifelong, literate, learners--real readers. Socratic Circles are one answer. This teaching critical thinking, and forces collaboration, respect, and listening skills; it gives students roles and jobs. Book Clubs are another that are often paired with Circles. The books tell us that five to six students are ideal, yet in class, other seasoned teachers mentioned a much smaller number: three to four. So i suppose it really is up to the personalities and different levels of your students. 

     Mini-lessons are apparently key in front-loading Book Clubs of any type. Book clubs require connecting, visualizing, questioning, and inferencing skills. Simply throwing any group of students into an assignment, especially one as important and daunting as Book Clubs (online or physical) is asking for trouble. 

     Daniels goes on in length about how important planning time for book clubs in the classroom is. He even includes charts and diagrams (13, 15) about how one might schedule their classroom sessions to include such a thing. Further down the road it's just as important to create a similar calendar for individual groups (119).Practically fitting this time in may seem difficult, with all the standards, and pressure from parents and administrators to change the world, but this is one major step in those processes. Book clubs are crucial (though not completely necessary) in creating lifelong readers and learners. My Coaching Teacher explained early on to me that whenever I was to teach his classroom that I could change anything that I liked: I could add/remove decorations, change seating arrangements, etc. But the one thing that I could not remove from his periods were the allotted SSR time. This is what I remember in reading about the effectiveness of book clubs and literature circles. Learning and knowing how to read is important. 

     Dr. Vic O gave our classroom the "Find Someone Who" icebreaker at the start of the year (32). I like having students who think that it's a time waster compile a list of the social skills required to complete the sheet as an alternate assignment. Icebreakers and social activities are key in creating a safe and respectable space for circles of all kinds to occur. I think that I would use the Membership grid instead of the other activities though (40). Students hopefully would care more about the people in their individual groups, and there is more time spent with each student. The statistic about emotional/public rejection equating to physical pain is pretty incredible, but if I remember back to my high-school days, not too shocking (43).

     It's such a simple (almost) fix. But i've never thought to simply watch the groups interact and record the skills that they're missing or not engaging with. Starting by having students write and describe what "Friendliness and Support" look like and sound like will seem juvenile, but I imagine subconsciously helps--plus it sets a precedent and set of rules that can be referenced if behavior is off task or inappropriate (50). 

     I most definitely will try out the legal note-passing/ written conversation technique at some point (67). It will probably bomb because it removes the fun from note-passing and just becomes a silent writing assignment. 

     Chapter 6 offers some tips that appeal to me most as a new teacher, "Solving Problems: Students and Groups Who Struggle" (159-177). I like how this doesn't focus specifically on discipline problems, but with other legitimate things like domineering personalities and unpreparedness. Task Lists, Liability Forms, and Poker Chips are all decent ways to combat this before it begins--being proactive is the best management. Backup Questions and extended question lists are also great for students to be able to whip out if they have breezed through the first round of questions, or are stalled for whatever reason (179).
     "Love and social belonging are just as central to our students as they were to previous generations. It's no wonder that Web 2.0's collaborative, co-creative nature and social networking capabilities are so attractive to teens"(Edmonson 44). it goes on to praise Wikis as a platform for collaboration, but from what I understood about wikis, they were just user edited sites designed to host information (Like the StarWars Wookiepedia Game of Throne wikia). Perhaps the author took a more textbook definition of the term, or I have just been using it incorrectly. Regardless, the first few days of digital of community are extremely important-- and much like the start of the physical, brick and mortar year creating that community and making sure the students understand how to communicate and operate within the space is crucial.
     

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Daily Lesson Plan

InstructorAnd Room #:	Date & Start-Stop Times:  40 Min	Subject and Block/Period: English 1 CP		Unit and Topic: Book Club introduction
Essential Questions: 1. What makes a good book club? 2. What are the roles of a good book club?			SC Standards/PACT/Common Core SC C&CR ELA- Inquiry; Principal of Reading; Meaning; Context; Craft; Language, Craft, Structure’ Range; Complexity
Items to Display as Agenda:  (Activities) Celebrations Book Pass Group Assignments Group Meeting
Lesson Procedures: (Introduction, Development, Conclusion) Intro Celebrations Journal Topic: If you just wrote a novel and you were trying to convince young students to read it, without telling them that you were the author, what would you do? What would the cover look like? How would you sell it? Share responses 10mins SSR 10mins Development Give spiel about starting book clubs, the benefits gained, and how these will be student-led--they have the power. 5mins Show video of what good/bad book clubs look like 10 min Have students break up into random groups of 4-7 and conduct book pass circles, having them fill out form similar to one used by Dr. Styslinger in class (with a rating system and title recording, etc.) 15 min Guide students in call/response discussion and determine as a class the major texts that will be used for the book clubs (number may vary based on class size but usually it should be 3-7 different books) 5 min Pass our/share guided and helpful prompt questions for book club discussions Conclusion Have students meet with their groups/ the students who chose the same book as them Students will create a reading calendar for the individual book clubs and begin reading  Homework Read assigned portion of their book club books
Materials and Resources:Book Club/Pass novels; videos of good and bad book clubs; guided prompt/question handouts; patience; book pass grading/comment sheet
Assessments and Assignment: Were the students all able to complete the book pass sheet, join an appropriate group, and come up with a reasonably paced reading calendar for their group?

     

     

  Additional Artifacts that were used to scaffold online book clubs by having students reflect on the canonical text, digitally: 

     

     

Allen, C. (2006). The book club companion: Fostering strategic readers in the secondary classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 
Cassandra Scharber - "Online Book Clubs: Bridges Between Old and New Literacies Practices"
Diane Lapp and Douglas Fisher - "It's All About the Book: Motivating Teens to Read"
Elizabeth Edmondson - "Wiki Literature Circles: Creating Digital Learning Communities"

Book Clubs

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     So the opening of this book goes into detail describing the important factors that define a book club and make them run efficiently: approximately 6 readers per group, weekly meetings, systematic discussions, books (and other texts) based on reader choice, and implementing a variety of open-ended discussion questions. All of these things directly translate into the high school classroom fairly well; being an adult-book club organizer seems much like teacher preparation for certain lessons.
     Book Clubs and Reading Groups are different things. Round Robin reading isn't even always the best way to perform--the performance aspect of reading aloud is a tricky minefield for a lot of struggling readers or shy students; old habits die hard. Unlike that, the reading for book clubs takes place mostly outside of the meetings. The passages read aloud during clubs are by choice "and in the service of interpretation" (Allen 7).  Thinking about last weeks reading, this format seems like a legitimate way to foster talks about literature, as opposed to group discussions or reading circles that lead more with guided or seeded questions, much like a majority of classroom instruction. The open-ended based discussion tends to heavily favor each individual's reader response; in fact, book clubs are breeding grounds for reader responses.
     To speak more on the community and defining factors of book clubs, when working with another format, the rules and puzzle pieces of the different individuals are all easily recognizable, both during the sessions and for whatever final product that it may yield. With book clubs, due to the functions and mingling that occurs between the members, "tracing an individual discrete contribution is almost as impossible as identifying the single shade of blue in an impressionistic painting"(13). Where as literature circles are more task-based and short-term, book circles hold more longevity, community, and flexibility. Even when one chosen novel is done with, readers can take turns suggesting another.
     "It's always up to teachers to make use of theory and research that can serve as a framework for our teaching"(17). Like older readings mentioned, Everything we do is somehow based in theory--so make sure they're the right ones.
     Students need certain things to thrive and learn--what kind of environment do they need (obviously a safe one), more specifically what needs to present in their reading environment? As a follow up question: What can book clubs offer in this regard? One answer: access to books and time to read them. "For the same amount that a school would spend on a class set of The Adventures of Huck Finn...teachers can select a small number of titles that are unified in some way (e.g. by theme, issue, author, genre) yet still provide a range of books, students can pursue books according to their interests and abilities" (19).  Students also get self-expression a social interaction. As much as i would love for all my students to devour Hamlet and learn all the rules of grammar--there is more to (high) school than that. Socializing kids for the real world is a very important aspect of school--learning how to live with and associate with others; book clubs help with that.
     Something I really enjoy from this book is the notion that students get from book clubs, not just time to read and reflective opportunities, but that book clubs allow real reading instead of school reading. For some who're reading this, the two may not seem different, but for many (struggling) readers and students whose passions lie outside of English content, most reading isn't done (at all, or) for pleasure. One might be inclined to bring up reader response theory's strength here by saying that allowing such honest and open reflective spaces increase the connection to, and therefore growth and pleasure to reading. Taking this farther, "even when the content of a text is familiar, activation students' prior knowledge can help them become invested in a text before they read it...pre-reading strategies are ideal for the first book club meetings"(30).

"To enter texts successfully, our students need to be able to do more than simply decode them. They also need knowledge about text structures and the disciplinary habits of mind it takes to comprehend them. The degree of help they need from us depends upon their familiarity with the genre at hand, the author's adherence to its typical conventions, and what we're asking them to actually do with the text" (31)

     Students need help when authors throw them curveballs. They need help when their own brain throws them curveballs. Teachers need help too. The community that arises from book clubs works to battle all of these notions by being able to compare with peers, having conversations and then reporting out from their groups to the class give firsthand responses that can be interpreted and commented on yet again. 
     I once heard a colleague mention that a teacher of his said that he wasn't doing book clubs and all that fun stuff, because he didn't have time. So where, do they fit in the year? How can we make them fit as teachers? Rule number one: always be flexible. Now jump to what O'Donnell-Allen calls the "Adventure" section (56). Have some goals that are more than just reworded state standards. What do you really want your students to get from these? If we don't reflect as a teacher when crafting these lessons and events, how can we expect our students to?
     Assessment is a very real thing.  The texts highlights an example of a teacher who physically checked off his standards on a class list when they were met--he was concerned about the impending standardized tests for his students. Backwards Design is important here, by identifying "end points indeed suggessted pathways" (60). To be effective, the teacher will need to assess students' immediate needs as readers as well as identify the tasks the'll be expected to complete by the end of the book club cycle. By doing this, it will better illustrate the response tools and texts needed to help meet these individual goals. 

See page 62 for example

     Kids need books, so kids need book talks, book previews, and exposure, exposure, exposure. Teaching students how to pick out a book is step one. Read passages aloud, and group students by race and income level--just kidding. But honestly, the groups are important because that's where the conversation and club will actually occur, so it's important to think about things like, "How might I match the student who tends to dominate discussions with another student who can hold their own?" and "How can I balance students' needs for intellectual challenge with emotional safety?" (70).
     Make a schedule and make ground rules. Have the students create them, because they will more than likely be more strict and involved than yours may initially be. 

Use and implement response tools/activities on pgs. 78-89

So why book clubs? Book clubs acknowledge the constraints of standards, curricula, and testing by "putting adolescent readers' needs first"(15). They help with community, real reading, and meta-cognition. They allow for a safe and productive environment to learn, and grow as a reader, writer, thinker, and learner.

Do:
     In all honesty, I can't wait to try this with my internship B class (or if that is unsuccessful, then during my first year teaching). Book Clubs seem incredible. They get students reading, idealling they help them understand and find a love of reading because they hopefully choose books of interest and actually read for pleasure. I am excited to model the Book Selection/Check-Out discussed in the Lapp Article (very similar to what Dr. Styslinger exhibits for us regularly).
    All the fun fantasies aside, teaching still has to have assessment, meet goals, and hit standards. Just because students visit their book clubs weekly doesn't always mean that the teacher can just accept that everything is going perfectly--we are still there as the intructor for a reason. Below I have linked a planning chart of sort that was modeled in the Allen book. Starting a project, especially one as large as class Book Clubs without planning, is planning to fail.
Book Club Pre-Planning

Milner, J., Milner, L., & Mitchell, J. (2012). Bridging English. (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
Milner, J., Milner, L., & Mitchell, J. (2012). Bridging English, Developing an oral foundation (pp.90-101). (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Probst, R. (2004). Response & analysis: Teaching literature in secondary school (2nd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. pg. 71-100Styslinger, M., & Pollock, T. (2010). The Chicken and the Egg: Inviting Response and Talk through Socratic Circles. Voices from the Middle, 18(2), 36-45. Styslinger, M., & Overstreet, J. (2014). Strengthening Argumentative Writing with Speaking and Listening (Socratic) Circles. Voices from the Middle, 22(1), 58-62. 

Fostering Talk Around Literature

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     I absolutely love Probst's metaphor about going to the movies. Sometimes as teachers, academics, and lovers of literature, it's easy to get caught up in what we love and think that our passion is shared with everyone. Not that uniqueness is a reason to give up on certain students (because you should never!), but it's important to always center yourself and make sure that even if they forget the sterotypical English qualities of something, that the students will still be able to talk and think critically. This is important whether they are reading The Odyssey or The newest Michael Bay hollywood blockbuster.

"With other subjects the problem may not be so acute, but the teaching of literature must be grounded in the students' responses to the text, so they need the opportunity to articulate those responses" (Probst 73).

     Adopting the reader-response theory, whether you personally agree that it is altogether dominant, is important for a number of reasons. The students' productions as they interact with the texts are what give the classroom concepts identity and substance. Probst mentioned "parroted observations" which don't equate to learning and in fact, show that the student failed to test his or herself against the text...so we need to get the kids to really push themselves with questions, with talking!

    "One of our goals for the literature classroom is to invite students into the ongoing dialogue about significant issues that is our culture" (Probst 80). Much like the movie analogy suggests, teachers are preparing students for intellectual dialogue- without the assistance of teachers. Thus, it's important to guide the students towards each other and remove the tendencies to follow and agree with the easiest opinions.

"When comments on papers consist of little more than approbation or correction, students come to see them not as part of a dialogue about their writing progress, but as a final, authoritative judgment of their work."

     When getting students to interact, teachers may need to rethink and/or redefine what it means to be a teacher (temporarily) in order to get students honestly discussing and reflecting. Like balancing the line of being a students friend with their authority, it can be done. My student comments were actually a point of critique at my most recent internship. Having a conversation about student's writing is extremely important. I need to learn that if this means taking an extra day to grade and comment on papers, then thats ok. Alternatively, short conferencing or tech apps can be used as well. 

"As Bleich says, 'feeling precedes knowledge'"(Probst 91).

     As cheesy as it sounds, in times of discussions, Socratic circles, and the like, teachers have to be facilitators more than lecturers. It's important to help stimulate students with careful prodding and encourage them to share and reflect.Even with a knockout lessons and frontloading with instructions and guided questions, if the students don't feel comfortable opening up or answering whatever questions that you've come up with, then the reflection and discussion will fall flat. How to do this? "the teacher may find herself talking about her own responses, lecturing...or arguing with the students about their interpretations" (Probst 91). 

     Teachers shouldn't worry about their classroom weight being diminished from this style of teaching; it should be celebrated when instructors lift student responses up. Furthermore, "the demand that the teacher respect student responses is not a demand that she ignore her own" (Probst 92). We can always serve as models that lead students to their own answers instead of supplying them from us.    It's important not to steal a students response or talking time in the classroom-it may be the other opportunity all day to fully reflect and respond.

     After completing a story students don't typically 'beg to showcase their knowledge of the book in a voluntary five-paragraph essay, and they certainly don't want to prod, pull, and dissect every square inch of the novel for hidden meaning and symbolism" (Styslinger 36). The chicken and egg analogy is incredibly clever when thinking about this topic. Students cannot talk about a text without also thinking about responses, responses being a means of communication.

     Socratic circles are dope; they encourage voice, respect for peers, and structure--all while allowing students to still truly speak their mind. As the articles hint at, they help facilitate meaningful discussion for texts that may be too daunting otherwise. They do need scaffolding though. There are a few great examples of short videos that demonstrate successful models of Socratic Circles on TeacherTube that I would show the class before attempting one. In fact, the scaffolding would probably take more than one entire class period to prepare for. Stys&Pollock discuss how sometimes, even in perfectly executed circles, students still "cling to the text like a life jacket," engaging in superficial discussion (Syslinger 40). Ways to combat this are to reach deeper into the hot button issues that everyone has something to say about, like love or parental relationships.

     I appreciate the Oral Tradition article and how it prompts teachers of English to expand their curriculum and classroom to include deliberate talking and listening lessons and activities. Not only is this beneficial for reasons of reflection, textual communication and the like, but it also greatly strengthens classroom community-something that should be important to everyone. Talking leads to community, community leads to better talking, better talking leads to better learning.

Do:
     Response Statements are important and asking students to respond to a work for 5 minutes, immediately after they have finished it without dictating form. "no one else will have said anything with which they can simply agree; they will have to being, by themselves, the labor of conceptualizing"(Probst 75). When dealing with quick-write responses, or responses in general, Probst pushes that the more intellectually vague and general ones may be the best to start with in order to stimulate discussions. This is less likely to intimidate or alienate others with specific examples or allusions. 
     The text goes into detail about numerous ways to discuss a student's writing. I particularly like the idea of small groups focusing on one student's paper/assignment at a time, and the author can only take notes and remain silent while his/her peers are discussing their paper.

Frontloading a Socratic Seminar with Video