Carla has put this well. To add to it, I'd like to say that I like macwendy's talking stick. When my small (4+- students) book clubs got together to discuss what they read (they decided how far they'd read before they came back together, with my nod of approval), there would be some interruption - mostly to talk to me on the periphery.
I'd also like to add that the less capable readers were carried along and motivated through the discussion and the fact that they chose the book. Through our book passes and student noting of which book they wanted to read, I always tried to give the less motivated or capable readers the book they wanted. Cathy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carla Meyrink" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades." <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2006 7:28 AM Subject: Re: [LIT] Whole Class Novels > In her book "On the Same Page" Janet Allen talks about using shared > reading > all the way up to 12th grade. My students do independent reading > and > literature circles, but I also like to do whole class novels so that we > have > a shared text for the study of author's craft, vocabulary, read > aloud > etc.(lots of great ideas in "Deeper Reading" by Kelly Gallagher) > Often the > whole class novels I use are at a higher reading level since I can give a > > lot of support. The reading strategies that I teach during the reading > of a > whole class novel carry over to independent reading. What has me > sold on > whole class novels is that I can read much of it aloud to the whole group > > and hook reluctant readers who rarely get through a novel on their own. > Once > I was reading aloud to a class and I said it was time to stop and > work on > something else. The whole class begged for more and when I asked > why I > should continue, one of the boys (14 years old) said, "Because > this is the > first time in my life that I've wanted to keep reading a > book." I didn't > need any better reason than that. > > Maybe you could move these teachers toward independent reading and lit > > circles by slowly changing the way they teach the whole group novel. Janet > > Allen's book can give you a lot of ideas. She has a chapter called > "Shared > Reading as a Bridge to Independence" in which she discusses her > own attempts > at lit. circles (which didn't work at first.) and how she > moved away from > whole class novels to successful lit. circles and ind. > reading. In any case > I really feel that the shared reading of a whole > class novel can be an > important part of a reading workshop if it's done > right (not simply > assigning a chapter and a series of questions to > answer).> > Helping teachers make changes can be tough! Good luck!> Carla> >> >> _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org.
