Book Clubs

This summer I was excited that a group of friends and I resurrected our book club. While our book club doesn’t completely mirror the book clubs in my classroom, it reminds me how important it is to emphasize that literacy is social and that there are some authentic book club norms and social behaviors that students can practice that will help them outside of school.  Below are only some of the considerations that I kept in mind while planning for and supporting book clubs in the classroom.  

Preparing for Book Clubs
Determine Books to Support Unit of Study	Is the unit genre-based or skill/strategy based? Ensuring you have enough texts at students’ various levels Some book clubs, students are reading the same text, which means they will need to be at a common reading level. Some clubs are structured differently, for example in Nonfiction Research Clubs students may be in a club with others at different reading levels.  To prepare for these clubs, we begin to organize Text Sets (and as students research, they can add to the text set) that have books, articles, websites, videos.
Offering Choice	In my classroom, I would do book talks a week or so before beginning Book Clubs.  Students then had the opportunity to hear about what options were available that supported the upcoming unit and could take some time to see which book was 1) the most interesting 2) at their “just right” level. Students then gave me their top three choices and then I would help organize who was in which club.
Prereading Considerations	When I taught a Historical Fiction Book Club unit, I built time in prior for students to engage in pre-reading research to build their background. We used photos, videos, short stories/ picture books.  This enriched their experience navigating their book club books.
Ownership of Clubs and Logistics
Setting expectations / norms	I put this in the hands of the students; but we had grand conversations regarding general norms for “clubs / teams”.  Book clubs set goals for themselves and had opportunities to reflect on their group goals as well as how they are supporting one another’s individual goals. Below is a link to a video that demonstrates how to coach a small group to prepare for their book club conversation. LINK
Managing the reading	I would have students organize their pages per week or pages to read for their next meeting. Most book clubs were in one book for about 6-9 school days.  They would then move into a different book together.
Coaching into Clubs	I would spend time during mini lessons teaching to support book clubs, but most of my coaching took place while book clubs met. It can be helpful to show students an exemplar of a book club meeting.  When I have used the following video, book clubs have processed and reflected on their structures to ensure their book club was functioning productively. LINK
When clubs meet	In my classroom, book clubs “formally” met about twice per week for a portion of my workshop time.   However, during my daily teaching share, or closure portion of the workshop, book club members would have structured conversation time.

Teaching and Supporting the Writing Process

It is important to teach students how to cycle through the writing process.  Here is a resource that might support students in monitoring their progress in a Writing Workshop.  I have used this tool as an anchor chart and have also provided this as a handout that students kept in their writing notebook.

Writing and Reading Workshop Classroom Management Considerations

This summer I have had the privilege of working with a number of educators who are preparing to implement either a reading or writing workshop next fall.  After discussing the structures and components of a workshop model, many begin considering the management tactics and considerations necessary to support student engagement and foster student independence.  Below are some of the considerations to support strong management within a workshop model.  I believe that the management norms in place should:

• Support students understanding the predictable nature of a workshop
• Foster student agency and independence in their work
• Emphasize that all students feel safe to take risks within the learning community

MIni Lesson

Bringing your class together for the mini lesson

• Teaching and practicing transitions
• What materials are needed?
• Mentor Texts
• Anchor Chart
• Demonstration notebook

Establishing long-term partnerships, research teams, and clubs

• Consistent spots during the mini lesson
• Practice and model how to turn and talk

Independent Reading or Writing Time

Sending students off to work: The transition from mini lesson to work time

• Teaching students how to transition from ML to work time
• Giving strategies as to how to get themselves reading or writing

• Assigned reading or writing spots
• Goal Setting Techniques
• Teaching and modeling how students can rely on one another for support (use of partnerships)
• Use table conferences and strategy lessons to support productivity of the class
• Leveraging your link portion of the mini lesson so students goal set and have a plan of action
• Pausing students during the mid-workshop interruption to help refocus or offer new inspiration
• Teach and support reading and writing stamina

I would love to hear your tips for classroom management in a Reading or Writing Workshop!  Please add to the comments.

Resources: Calkins: A Guide to the Common Core Reading Workshop