Category: Comprehension

The Benefits of Book Clubs

A book club, a group of individuals that read and learn from activities related to a book, should be structured to meet the needs of the participants. A book club might meet once a month or daily. Students may choose the book club to join or the teacher might develop the book club. A book club may be comprised of two or more individuals. The number participants for each club will affect the possible activities and intimacy of the group. The types of activities that can be incorporated into a book club are endless. Developing a weekly calendar of book club activities may be helpful, like Monday—read aloud, Tuesday—collaborate. Book clubs are typically introduced around Grade 3. Although, I have worked with groups of Kindergartens that would have benefited from book clubs or small group instruction using a book.

Choosing books for book clubs can challenging. Understanding what type of information, you would like students to glean from the book can be helpful. Asking and answering a few questions before making the final decision may also be helpful. Questions like, Who will enjoy or become engaged in this book? Or What type of information will students learn from this book? Will the information be black and white or will students have to inference the meaning? What is the purpose of this book choice?

Students can benefit from book clubs in multiple ways—a few are described below.

  •  Improve reading fluency. Students usually have an opportunity to take turns reading aloud, listening to group members read, and to following along as others read. Some groups of students will be able to accomplish the task of reading aloud others may need a “coach” or teacher to facilitate.
  • Broaden and deepen their vocabulary bank. Students are usually introduced to “new “or unfamiliar words in each book that they read. Teachers can pre-teach words before they read. Students can identify and write the meaning of new words during tasks related to book clubs. Students may benefit from learning the synonyms and antonyms of the new word. Students may also benefit from attaching a picture to the new word. The new words can be added to a “dictionary” for them to use as reference later. Student discussions related to the “new” word(s) can increase the clarity of the meaning and retention of the word meaning.
  •  Improve comprehension of written words. It is important to note that “a word may produce all degrees of erroneous meaning for a given context, from a slight inadequacy to an extreme perversion” (Thorndike, 1917). Every student will gain different information or insight from a book, as every student has a different environmental background. Some students will need to learn the meaning of words before reading to be able to comprehend the words within the book, others will not need this information to digest the words. Group discussions about the meaning of a passage or book usually increases comprehension.
  • Develop better writing skills. Students can learn and practice how to formulate written responses to questions related to the passage or book. Students can journal their thoughts or a summary related to the reading.
  •  Improve oral verbiage skills. Students can learn the correct pronunciation of words. Students may learn how to have a “healthy”, but respectful discussion about the book. Students can learn how to formulate questions to ask during collaborative work. Students can also learn how to digest others’ opinions or facts into new questions.
  • Development or improvement of research skills. Students may develop research skills through activities related to book clubs. Students may learn where to find information related to the book, like where to find words meanings or what are windmills. Students can formulate questions related to the book and then interview another person who is knowledgeable about the subject matter.

The following books are resources that you may find helpful in developing and maintaining book clubs. Breathing New Life into Book Clubs by Sonja Cherry-Paul and Dana Johansen is primarily for Grades 3-8. This book was published by Heinemann in 2019. The book gives practical ideas for developing and utilizing book clubs. Some of the ideas can be used during literacy small groups, teacher led or independent work. The second resource that you may find useful in developing book clubs or reading groups is The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo. Her book includes practical instructional ideas related to developing skilled readers. Happy book clubbing!

Reference
Thorndike, Edward L. (1917/2015). Reading as reasoning: a study of mistakes in paragraph reading. Baltimore: Warwick & York, Inc. Reprinted by ForgottenBooks of Englan

Instructional Notes of Grade 4 Writing Assignment-differentiating, scaffolding

I was substituting in a Grade 4 classroom at a Title 1 school, where most students qualified for free meals. I had substituted in this classroom a few times before, so I was familiar with their learning abilities. Many of the students were English second language (ESL) learners. Most of the students were at-risk for literacy.

The regular classroom teacher had left the task of independently reading a passage and drawing a picture or writing a summary about the passage. Since I was familiar with the learning abilities present in this class, I chose to have students (voluntarily) take turns reading the passage. This may have created some confusion as most could not read the passage fluidly. When we finished reading the passage, I ask them to begin drawing or writing their interpretation of the passage. I usually let students work independently on the assignment before beginning to verbally work through the assignment. (The tricky thing about being a substitute is that it’s not really your job to teach, more to facilitate. Most of the time unless you have the ability to visit a classroom multiple times you do not know the learning capabilities of the students.)

After about 5 or so minutes, most of the students seemed to be lost in how to interpret the passage. I began verbally rereading the passage, one or two sentences at time. I then asked students to verbally explain what the read sentences meant. Students were still struggling, so I began to break down the sentences in phrases and words. I learned that students did not know the meaning of key words. I found myself explaining snow-capped rooves and other items within the passage to help them understand the meaning. I used pictures and the dictionary as sources to help students learn how to research the meaning. Most students were then able to draw a picture of the passage. And one or two students were able to translate their picture into words. I asked those students that were able to translate their pictures into words to read their interpretation of the passage. I used those words/sentences about the passage as examples that I wrote on the board. Students who were still struggling to write their own translation of the passage were allowed to copy, this helps to develop brain connections for writing words. As the lesson moved along students began to relax, which allowed them to process the information into the form necessary to accomplish the task.

Instructional Notes—Analysis of the Lesson
I had taken for granted that most of the students in this classroom would know the meaning of most of the words. The words were of things present in the community. The passage was talking about snowcapped roofs, chimneys, shapes of houses, and fireplaces. Many individuals in this community use fireplaces and wood stoves to heat their home and there is a ski resort within an hour of school.

Students initial lack of understanding could be derived from multiple issues. Students may not have learned the name of those things described in the passage in their native language, in English, or in both their native language and English. Students may also have learning issues that impede them from translating written words into their own words. This may have been the first time for some students to translate a passage into a picture or into their own words.

My point is students should have the opportunity to reverse, learn or review, and then regroup before moving forward again. Many students need to be shown and reshown and reshown how to accomplish a task. Often students need the task broken down into manageable parts, many will focus on the portion that they cannot accomplish and because of anxiety of that part will not accomplish the parts they can do. Most students do not want you to do the work for them. Students usually will begin writing their own words, after many opportunities to practice. It takes time to develop the brain connections necessary for fluid writing.

Development of Reading Connections in the Brain

Translating written language into meaning or the process of reading is like completing a dot to dot picture. The brain has to connect the right dots or take the right highways and sideroads to deeply or fully comprehend written language. The complex process of connecting the right dots begins at conception, as brain connections are organized or cataloged through predetermined genetic design. The original or genetic organization can be altered or changed through a child’s environment.

Individuals are not naturally wired with the connections to process letters into usable information. The brain has to develop those connections to process written letters into useable information, which begins at birth through oral language. A child’s verbal communication connections serve as a reference for the process of developing written processing connections. Some children can more easily develop the right connections to use written language. Meaning they pick up letter names and their corresponding sounds and are able to build words and their meanings into usage information without purposeful instruction. Most children need planned instruction to learn each letter and the letter’s corresponding sound(s) and how to develop letters into meaningful words. Most children also need planned instruction to break down words into sounds and meaning. And some children will need explicit, systematic instruction to fully digest letters, words, and sentences into useable information. Understanding what type of literacy instruction children need will follow in a future post.

References

International Dyslexia Association Conference; Dr. Louisa Moats, Dr. F. Hoeft, & Dr. K. Pugh
Binet, A. & Simon, T. (1916) The development of intelligence in children. Williams & Wilkins Co.
Fowler, W. (1983). Potentials of childhood (Vol 1.) D.C. Health & Co.
Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1966). The psychology of the child. Basic Books.
Vygotsky, L. (1934). Thought and language. MIT Press.

 

 

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