How To Set Up Book Clubs in the Classroom
Starting a book club in your classroom can help engage students in reading. Book clubs foster conversation and a sense of community as each student reads the same material and discusses it with his peers. Deciding how to divide students into small groups to form book clubs can be tough, since each one is at a different reading level. There are many ways to start book clubs. Choose the type of club that best suits your classroom and students' needs.
Instructions
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Divide students into small groups so that they will be able to engage one another in conversation more easily. Introverted students may have a hard time taking the initiative to speak up in class, but may thrive in small groups. Extroverted students will learn to listen intently to their peers instead of demanding everyone's full attention. Groups of four to eight students work best for book clubs. Depending on your students' reading abilities, you may put more advanced students in one group so that they may read more challenging material, or you may create groups of students with a mix of abilities so that they may learn from and complement one another.
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Choose a book for your students to read first in their book clubs. Set a deadline to have certain chapters completed and schedule a book club meeting for that date so that students know when they will be expected to be able to talk about the book.
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Give your students at least half an hour but not more than an hour to discuss the book. Allow them some freedom in the structure of the book clubs. If they get off topic, gently guide them back to the subject matter at hand, but let them guide their group discussions as autonomously as possible. Suggest creative ways of sharing what they read with others, such as making a dish that relates to the book's subject matter and bringing it to class. Students are more interested and engaged in activities that they help plan, so let each group choose its own book and plan associated activities.
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