It was interesting to read chapter 6 about assessments in book clubs. Thus far, I have seen very little formal assessment within book clubs. The fourth graders in our class my CT had as third graders last year. She is able to walk around the room and listen to different conversations and hear them read and makes a mental note of it. Sometimes she jots down notes but she has an amazing memory and is able to recall constantly to explain how she knows certain things to me. After reading about the "I Can" statements in the chapter it made me think of something my class did last week. As a whole group, the class came up with "will do's" and all wrote them down in their journals. They are very similar to the "I Can" benchmarks. The only difference is they also incorporate appropriate behavior will do's which helps with the management of having so many different groups. The students all have a copy of them and we also made copies that are laminated and each group sits it out in the middle of their group during book club to help remind them. This week, my CT is planning on pulling each group to do a more formal assessment to see how each student is progressing. I am anxious to see how this will work.
After reading the chapter on classroom management I was surprised to see how many questions you must ask yourself before implementing book clubs in your own class. I think because my CT has used book clubs every year the whole process of setting up the clubs and establishing guidelines was all very smooth and quick. I did not realize how much more complex it is to do for your first time. We use our book clubs to supplement Making Meaning. They work together hand in hand in our room. Therefore, our theme for book club is the same as the theme for our unit in Making Meaning. For example, in Making Meaning we have been reading personal narratives. All the books the students are reading in their book clubs are personal narratives. One difference in the book clubs in our classroom and what is described in the book is the grouping. Our clubs are 4-5 people and diverse in gender, ethnicity, interests, and personalities. However, our book clubs have students reading in groups with students of similar reading abilities. Each group is made up by my CT. Each group has students reading the same book which is all at their "just right level". I am not sure if this will stay the same throughout the year or if this is just how we are running the first unit in order to assess the students. I think it would be interesting to try the fishbowl activity within my classroom during book club. It would be a really good managing tool if I found a group who was working exceptionally well together, I could demonstrate the fishbowl by having them in the center of the bowl first. This would show the rest of the class a productive book club all while introducing the concept of a "fish bowl" to them simultaneously.
I know you had mentioned before in class that your CT works closely with another CT in your wing of the school. Do they ever do any co-teaching? In my room, our book club groups are mixed based on reading levels and I think this is beneficial because the students are not always working with the same people.
ReplyDeleteThats neat that you had the students come up with "will dos" in their journals, as a way of setting goals. I think it is so important for all students to set goals to work towards, ones that are not always just assigned by the teacher. Some of them are interesting to read and really prove the students put a lot of thought into them.
I completely agree with your statement about the difficulty of establishing book clubs in a classroom and creating norms for students to follow that will let them run effectively. It's a difficult task to teach students how to have conversations with each other about what they read. So much of the discourse students are exposed to in school is teacher-centered. When they first begin in book clubs, students often get off topic or don't allow everyone in the group to have a turn talking.
ReplyDeleteLike your CT, my CT also has the class divided into four reading groups based on level. They have done some guided reading in these groups early in the year, but later in the year each group will read a different novel and take part in a book club format. I will be interested to see how my CT manages these small group discussions later in the year? What have you seen your CT do to establish norms for book clubs and guide students to have productive discussions? How do the students at lower reading levels do in their groups?