Met with the grade fours for our final book club meeting....here they are sharing projects...
How did I teach a book club challenge centre?
1. I met with the students on the first day. I had already made sure that the schools only referred students who were passionate about reading and could read novels independently. All the candidates fit this criteria. We spent the first hour of the program discussing good books we had read, and offering suggestions for books to discover. From there, I realized the planning I had done was now irrelevant because these students wanted to create their own projects and make meaning of what they had read (not what I had created!).
2. For students that love to read, the enjoyment of reading and sharing books is to open up the curriculum, give choice about projects, and allow the students to make meaning out of what they read. With these students, doing chapter summaries, vocabulary pages, comprehension questions, and fill in the blank answers about what happened in a book doesn't work. I discussed with the students what the options were: do a project together....or have them create what they wanted to do. They chose to create their own projects. So, we brainstormed ways to demonstrate their understanding of the novel: a diaroma of their favourite scene, a board game about the book, a quiz about the book, a character study....and on we went.
3. Student choose their own project, and worked and worked and worked on them. They were fully engrossed in what they were doing. It was fascinating to observe and ask questions, and to see how focused and purposeful their work was.
4. From there, they decided as a group to choose their own novels. For the second novel, they were to find a book that they wanted to read and have it read for the next session. All students knew exactly what they wanted to read. They were given choice about their projects, too.
5. For their 3rd book, students had to choose a book and create an award about the book. The criteria was to think about what type of award this book could win. Students had to create their own criteria for the award, design and draw an award, create a trophy for the award, prepare a presentation to the audience about the award, and write a two paragraph summary about the book and why is should win the award.
6. For their 4th book, students were again given the choice as to what to create, taking in mind that they had the day to come up with and finish their project.
On the last day, we made lists of books we wanted to read in the future.
My plan is to work with these inspiring readers next year, perhaps pulling them together for another few sessions. The students got a great deal out of having the experience of being able to "take off" with their passion for reading and being with other students who love books as much as they do. Thank you Grade Fours...you were exciting and inspirational to work with!
No comments:
Post a Comment