Book Clubs

Overview

Students practice making and finding meaning in their reading through a book club model. Students' Motivation to read can increase when they choose their own books, and time to discuss questions, observations, and connections in a social environment can help build Background Knowledge, Genre Knowledge, and Vocabulary.

Use It in the Classroom

Watch as these fourth grade students talk about their questions and observations about the books they are reading. As they discuss the books they have chosen, they animatedly engage with one another, sharing Background Knowledge and making inferences and predictions that strengthen Verbal Reasoning.

Using a workshop model can help support student discussions. Teachers can give a short lesson focused on a particular type of question or discussion, give students time to try this in their own discussions, then come back together as a group to reflect and share, supporting Metacognition.

Design It into Your Product

Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.

See how Bookopolis allows participants to rate and review books that they have read. These reviews and ratings create a global Literacy Environment and expand readers' Social Supports, as they share books with peers all around the world.

Designers can provide a full library of texts to be used in a book club and ways for students reading the same text to post questions and thoughts as they read with features like shared annotations. Another design idea is to embed audio or text-to-speech options, allowing all students to access the text and participate in discussions.

View References

Resources

Below are additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.

Examples

Learning Clubs

ReadWriteThink lesson on organizing students based on their reading or writing interests

Examples

Literature Circle

Important elements to consider for literature circles

Research

Identity, Behavior, and Relationships

Topic that includes research on the development of social and emotional skills on Digital Promise's Research Map

Research

Learning Communities

Subtopic that includes research on communities of learners on Digital Promise's Research Map

Research

Motivation & Autonomy

Subtopic that explores how and why students are motivated to learn on Digital Promise's Research Map

Factors Supported by this Strategy

Literacy

Background Knowledge

Foundational Writing Skills

Genre Knowledge

Morphological Knowledge

Orthographic Processing

Cognition

Student Background

More Cooperative Learning Strategies

Collaborative Writing

When peers are able to work together to plan, draft, edit, and revise their compositions, their writing quality improves.

Gallery Walk

As students walk through stations working in small groups, the social and physical nature of the learning supports deeper understanding.

Jigsaw

As students work with and process information by discussing, organizing, and sharing it together, they deepen their understanding.

Reciprocal Teaching: PALS

When students explain to others, they deepen their understanding and gain confidence in their learning.

Text Chats

Bringing students' every day literacy practice of texting into the classroom provides regular, low-stakes practice communicating with authentic audiences.

Think-Pair-Share

Students develop literacy skills by listening to and speaking with others in informal ways.

Writing Conferences

Writing conferences allow students to share, reflect on, and receive feedback about their writing, which promotes Motivation for revising.

Literacy 4-6

Book Clubs

Overview

Use It in the Classroom

Design It into Your Product

Resources

Factors Supported by this Strategy

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