Over the next week, my class and I are going to be talking about “social issues” as they arise in our books–both read aloud, independent reading, and in book clubs. As we starting digging deeper into the meaning of texts, I think it’s really important for students to talk about the books we are reading–as a class and individually.
I have decided to try setting up a “book discussion” system where I put my class in small teams where they can chat a few times each week about what they are reading. These groups will NOT be ability based at all; I want students to be able to talk with other students who may not be in their book clubs regularly and with whom they may not have frequent opportunities to interact. To start, I will sit with the groups because I want to hear what they say and be able to coach a little bit. As the month goes one, I hope to fade into the woodwork! I printed off a list of students (this is a “dummy” copy with fake names) and their groups and have them arranged by color.
