I find the idea of a "Content Area Book Club" to be a really cool idea to use like once during a school year. It is an awesome idea for students to be able to CHOOSE a book in the content area (which automatically makes them want to read it more, because usually they will choose a book that interests them), and then have them discuss it with other classmates. I am a huge fan of students discussing their work, or in this case their reading, with other classmates rather than as a whole class discussion; as someone who used to get nervous talking in front of the whole class, it is less scary to talk to a small group.
Again, like I have noticed in other chapters, I think Math is getting the cold shoulder in the "Content Area Book Club." I think Social Studies and Science teachers could easily incorporate a book club into their curriculum, but as a future math teacher, I am struggling to think of ONE book, let alone enough to give students multiple choices. In my opinion, Social Studies especially lends itself to this sort of thing because many history teachers and historians love primary documents. Adding a novel like The Diary of Anne Frank (which is a primary document) or historical fiction into the curriculum would be a really cool way of mixing in non-textbook reading.
I am not opposed to the idea of a Math Book Club; I am just not aware of enough relevant, grade-level, and USEFUL math books to use. I would not want to add in a book club for the sake of having a book club if I didn't feel like it benefited my students' math skills.
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I also agree that book clubs should happen about once a year. A student should have the chance to engage in a book that they find interesting, and is grade level, and subject appropriate. It never hurts a student to read, but if you start having more that one book club a year than students may not focus on the subject you are actually teaching, and you will have left them unprepared. (72)
ReplyDeleteHey Sarah! I agree that a book club would be very effective for students as it would make them feel in charge of their learning and also help them express their opinions more as they will be discussing with a small group rather than everyone. This will definitely help kids who get nervous with public speaking since they will not be having to talk to the whole class! (109)
ReplyDeleteSarah! Thanks for the thoughtful blog. I agree that Math presents more obstacles to book clubs than other disciplines, but it's still possible, I think. Some of your classmates have suggested in their blogs using the book club format to read shorter texts, like interesting magazine articles. You could even create groups and each group member contributes an article they selected. Does that help at all? Also, regarding the once-a-year thing, if you used shorter texts you could probably do more of them.
ReplyDeleteAlso, regarding that last sentence: You aren't persuaded that improving your students reading ability while--hopefully--getting them excited about math as an academic subject might help their math skills? When we as teachers try to develop a skill, we should think about different ways to approach it--both direct and indirect--and take advantage of as many as we can. #myopinion
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