If you know older music, that’s a reading take-off on Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound recording style. What? You have no idea what that means? Well go read it and find out.
What do you meanyou haven’t heard of the Nerdy Book Club? C’mon, man! I’m talkin’ about the
That’s the blog that wan THIS award:
And was nominated for THIS award:
Did I mention that the Nerdy Book Club has its own line of Swag?
[Yup–thanks to a great colleague, I have that mug!]
This is a dual post–also posted on the PolkaDotOwlBlog. Mrs. P, (@polkadotowlblog), my partner in the #rdgPartners chats, asked me some time ago if I would guest post on her blog when she reached 100 followers. She has been dutifully keeping me apprised of her numbers. Now she is at 105 followers and the time has come.
I’m always impressed with Mrs. P’s thoughtful posts, and I’m sure you will enjoy them as well. Click the picture to the left and give her a visit. I’m looking forward to working with Mrs. P and her classes in the future.
Forming reading partnerships and book clubs with young students is challenging. How do I partner the students—By interest? Reading level? Friend requests? And once they are in these groups, how do I help them to set reasonable goals? How can I keep their conversations moving forward? What do I do about the student who doesn’t do his reading.
Surely, there are many questions. But I’m persevering in my book clubs plan because this I believe: Some of the most powerful reading we do is partner reading.
(These pictures are the students reading on the first day after they choose their books. After this first day, reading and preparation is done independently.)
I read for myself all the time. Oftentimes my reading is to find that next great book I can recommend to a student at just the right time. (And with the NerdyBookClub, there are so many options.) But the books that are most memorable to me are the books I’ve had the opportunity to discuss.
My colleague, Brent Peterson, and I read Dead End in Norvelt in patnership. We kept a simple goal of about 100 pages a week (we were doing other reading, of course) and got together during a free period to discuss. These were awesome discussions. [You can follow these links to see our conversations… if you’re really interested.Talk 1. Talk 2. Talk 3.] We came prepared with some Post-it notes and lists of things we wanted to talk about and off we went. The half hour was barely enough time. It was great how we each brought different ideas and insights to the conversation. Brent saw things that I never would have on my own. Discussing a book brought it to life and made it more interesting than it would have been had either of us read it independently.(Who else would have laughed with me about paraffin wax hands and deterring deer with bodily functions?) I think these conversations are why, though the public response to Norvelt has been lukewarm, Brent and I liked it so much. You can get more of a summary of our conversation on ourNerdy Book Club Blog post.
Brent and I also read and discussed Wonder a lot. And then we started passing it along to others to read. My mom read it. Then my dad. Then my sister. Then her book club. Then other reading teachers at my school. Students and their parents. And we read it aloud to our students. (And finally my wife is reading it.) And it was like Wonder became part of the social fabric of my life. It was something I could talk about with anyone around me. Family dinners were filled with conversation of Auggie and Daisy and Via. Being able to thentalk with the Makerof these characters and this WONDERworld was awesome.
And this—THIS—is why I want to persist in pushing my students intopartnerships and clubs. As I’ve told them, book clubs are social opportunities wrapped around a book. (Hmmm… good pearl analogy there.) I want my students to experience the joy of a book coming to life. Of understanding a book better together because they talked about and cleared up confusions and saw things from different points of view. I want my students to know the richness of literature.
So I’m willing to spend an afternoon with the book partnership/club letters they’ve written to me (Name; why I would be a good partner to someone else; my approximate reading level [GRL]; five classmates who would be good partners for me and why) spread out all over the living room floor or dining room table. (“Dad, what are you doing?”)I’m willing to deal with a slacker reader/partner who doesn’t come prepared with the reading complete or Post-it notes ready to discuss. Because I see so many other students benefitting from rich conversations and thought building that they wouldn’t have if they only read independently.
I’m looking forward to next year and getting these partnerships and clubs underway earlier in the year. We are already discussing how to scaffold them—giving students smaller texts with which to practice before diving into a novel. I can’t wait to see my students blossom in their book discussions.
We have a great year of book conversations behind us, a better one ahead—and the state of Book Clubs is Strong.
Your turn: Have you experienced reading as part of a partnership or club? How did it add to your reading experience?
We finished Wonder. After the applause died down, it was time to chat.
In preparation for Friday’s Skype with Mrs. Palacio (OK–she said we could call her RJ, but it feels too informal), we had an end-of-book conversation using TodaysMeet.com.
The students have improved dramatically in their digital conversations since using the site two weeks ago. (Here is the video of our first session.) I was very impressed with their comments and ideas. They even learned the trick of how to string two comments together using numbers (like “1/2” and “2/2”)–just like we do on Nerdy Book Club #titletalk and #RdgPartners Twitter chats.
Here are the students working hard at getting out their ideas.
Here are the transcripts from the three classes. If you’re wondering if TodaysMeet.com is worth trying, scroll down towards the end where the students encourage you to give it a try.
(It might be helpful to know that my questions are in ALL CAPS.
Boy + Bot, written by Ame Dyckman and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino Is a clever book. It has gotten a lot of hype from the Nerdy Book Club, which is where I often find out about great new picture books and books for my students. Without the NBC, Boy + Bot would surely have passed me by. Shame.
In this tale, Boy is out playing when he meets bot. They play, bot shuts down, and boy tries to cure him in very human ways. (Applesauce, Ms. Dyckman? Really?). Then the story twists and repeats itself in a clever way. Though the story line is simple, the structure is interesting and the illustrations capture the joy of childhood play.
It’s interesting to hear 6th-graders’ comments as I read aloud. Some, forgetting that the “intended” audience (I put that in quotes because we know that books intended for youngsters often have more meaning when the reader is older), express disbelief that the boy stumbled upon a robot–that the parents don’t seem to know what’s going on at first, then are OK with it–that the boy doesn’t wake up–that the inventor knows the Boy’s number and where he lives. Others enjoy the fun of the story and catch the clever way the pictures are laid out in repeating patterns as the story folds back on itself. One boy noticed the toy robot in Boy’s room as he fell asleep and surmised that the boy was just imagining the whole thing.
With social media, so many authors are accessible and open to communicating with their readers. I knew Ame was on Twitter (since I follow her), so I gave each class a chance to compile a tweet to her:
And in less than a class period, Ms. Dyckman responded:
Pretty cool, right?
AFFIRMATIVE!
Here are a few more sites that have featured Ame, Dan, and BOY + BOT:
{Eat the Book} 