Teacher Tip: Effective Practices for Book Clubs

Book Clubs provide an opportunity to meet in a small, heterogeneous group to discuss a book that students have already read or listened to. Through sharing their thinking, students build a richer understanding than any one student could gain from independent reading alone. What follows are effective practices for book clubs:

1. Students will have varying interpretations of a text. As you respond to students, show that their perspectives and ideas are valued. 

2. The more open-ended a question, the richer the discussion: Who can say more about that? 

3. Use facilitative language that models and supports collaborative thinking and interpretation of the text: What's another way to think about that? Do you agree?

4. Keep the discussion grounded in the text: Give some examples of where you noticed that in the text. 

5. Use facilitative language to help students notice new vocabulary and the language of the book: The writer used the word ___________; what does the writer mean?

6. Develop in students the ability to support their comments with personal experience or evidence from the text. 

From The Literacy Quick Guide: A Reference Tool for Responsive Literacy Teaching by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Copyright (C) 2018 by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Published by Heinemann.