So, yet again today, book clubs were a total flop.
a) most of the kids didn't have their books
b) lots of kids abandoned the books-either because the book was confusing or not interesting (compelling was Dexter's word)
c)they don't know how to have a conversation about their books. I think they need specific questions to answer, or specific roles. But how do I do that if I'm making the book club optional. So then these kids have to do more work? That'll go over well, I'm sure.
I asked kids, how they thought we could make book clubs better. How to get kids to find books they like and stick with them.
Ideas they had were:
Less confusing, more compelling books
reading books with just one partner
reading a few books by the same author
actually having a discussion
So, one thought I had was going back to short texts thing and maybe doing some fishbowl discussion. Because one thing that worked well in 7th grade was reading a short story (which I actually read aloud) and then having people be the characters and ask each other questions as the characters, like my character salon.
I've also been focusing on teaching a specific skill. So I did some with questioning and now I'm doing visualizing. We did it one day with read aloud, which I'd like to do again. Then I put it on their reading log eval today, where I had them write one phrase they liked and draw the picture that they got in their mind. I'm having them do that again on their reading log. What this also does is step up the requirements for weekly reading, making it easier for me to tell if they're actually reading and if they're getting the big ideas.
But, this doesn't necessarily help me get the resistant readers to read. Hrmph.
Today I also had them do a reading survey. Wow. super interesting. "I hate reading" except, I like the hunger because it wasn't boring.
"If you like reading, that's an awesome talent, if you don't, you can't change that."
This is the more interesting thing to me. Do I need to focus on how people can actually become better readers. I really need to do an interview with him before the next meeting!
Bascially, I think people either are good readers or they aren't. That was
a) most of the kids didn't have their books
b) lots of kids abandoned the books-either because the book was confusing or not interesting (compelling was Dexter's word)
c)they don't know how to have a conversation about their books. I think they need specific questions to answer, or specific roles. But how do I do that if I'm making the book club optional. So then these kids have to do more work? That'll go over well, I'm sure.
I asked kids, how they thought we could make book clubs better. How to get kids to find books they like and stick with them.
Ideas they had were:
Less confusing, more compelling books
reading books with just one partner
reading a few books by the same author
actually having a discussion
So, one thought I had was going back to short texts thing and maybe doing some fishbowl discussion. Because one thing that worked well in 7th grade was reading a short story (which I actually read aloud) and then having people be the characters and ask each other questions as the characters, like my character salon.
I've also been focusing on teaching a specific skill. So I did some with questioning and now I'm doing visualizing. We did it one day with read aloud, which I'd like to do again. Then I put it on their reading log eval today, where I had them write one phrase they liked and draw the picture that they got in their mind. I'm having them do that again on their reading log. What this also does is step up the requirements for weekly reading, making it easier for me to tell if they're actually reading and if they're getting the big ideas.
But, this doesn't necessarily help me get the resistant readers to read. Hrmph.
Today I also had them do a reading survey. Wow. super interesting. "I hate reading" except, I like the hunger because it wasn't boring.
"If you like reading, that's an awesome talent, if you don't, you can't change that."
This is the more interesting thing to me. Do I need to focus on how people can actually become better readers. I really need to do an interview with him before the next meeting!
Bascially, I think people either are good readers or they aren't. That was
Hi Dina,
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking a lot about your inquiry. Over the break I downloaded the small group conversation you, Isabelle, and Ruth had at the December meeting. It was frustrating in that there was a problem with the sound, so it is going to be difficult to use as an example, which was mostly my goal in downloading and listening to it just then. But listening to what you were saying (which was possible even with the sound problem) got me thinking about the puzzle of: if a student is engaged in a book, and interested in it, and likes it, then why the heck wouldn't he finish reading it? Or, more generally, the (pretty well-accepted) assumption that students will read more if they are enjoying what they are reading, and are engaged in it, and liking it ... and they will then become better readers. Your evidence was questioning that assumption.
This is exactly the kind of evidence that makes classroom inquiry so crazy-making, and also what makes it so valuable: the questioning of the assumptions that underly accepted teaching practices.
You were wondering, in the small group conversation, if what you should be asking is: how to help students become engaged in reading, or how to help students improve their comprehension? If these two are separate, which one is more important?
Then today I read your newest blog entry. What seems to be happening is that you are developing a much deeper understanding of what it means to help students become engaged in reading. What kinds of conversations do they need to have to support their engagement? What kinds of books do they need to have access to? and other questions that bear on engagement. At the same time, I think what you are doing is incorporating the comprehension piece into the engagement piece. Is this right? Where you are saying "do I need to focus on how people become better readers?" ... with the implication that part of not being engaged is that a student isn't succeeding in the comprehension part of reading. So maybe it isn't only: engagement leads to more reading leads to better comprehension, but also comprehension leads to engagement leads to more reading.
It seems to me that one thing you are doing is building a culture of reading in your classroom, in having people write to each other about their books. In this way, you are using students' engagement with each other to make reading more interesting to them. So it is not just engagement with the book, but engagement with a peer around the content of a book, or books.
It seems as if you are working on: strategies to support engagement, strategies to support comprehension, and strategies to build a culture of reading ... and also what is the relationship among these? There is also the question one student brought up of whether or not you can change if you don't like reading. Maybe that is a self-perception issue?
Claire