I have always loved reading. As a kid, I described it as a 鈥渕ovie in my head鈥� that played whenever I dove into a story. I鈥檒l never forget the thrill of eagerly flipping the onion-skin pages of a Scholastic catalogue, putting messy stars next to the titles I hoped my parents would get me.
When I became an English teacher, lots of kids told me they hated reading. This didn鈥檛 shock me, but I was unsure how to handle it. It鈥檚 hard to understand something you haven鈥檛 experienced. How could my students not enjoy the movie in their minds? What obstacles were keeping my students from getting excited about books?
Initially, I thought my job as an English teacher was to expose kids to literature they may not read on their own. But as I tried to figure out ways to get my kids excited about reading, I thought back to what made me love reading as a child. I realized that a huge factor was choosing what I wanted to read.
Putting those misshapen stars next to those Scholastic book titles created a sense of excitement and anticipation that stayed with me even after the book came. When I didn鈥檛 choose the book, reading it was like sitting through a movie I wasn鈥檛 interested in鈥擨 could manage it, and maybe eventually enjoy it, but it took more for me to get excited about it.
The more I reflected, and listened to other teachers and my own students, the more I realized that my kids might value literature more if they felt they had input in what we studied. It鈥檚 not always easy to relinquish some of the control I have as a teacher, but it鈥檚 one of the most important choices I can make. The more I can give students choice, the more engaged they鈥檒l be in my classroom, and the richer our relationship will be because they feel heard.
Although I allow my 8th graders to choose books for independent reading, student-chosen books were never a formal unit of study in my classroom. All I asked them to do with those texts was to say what they did or didn鈥檛 like about them. That鈥檚 part of getting kids to love reading.
Building Relationships With Books
But I also wanted to create an in-class, curricular space for them to engage with the books they chose, with time in class not just to read but to critically engage with, question, and study texts they chose to help develop in-depth relationships with the books they were reading. So this year, I piloted a 鈥渂ook club鈥� unit with my students.
In these 鈥渃lubs,鈥� my kids chose from all of which met my curricular aims for analytical and narrative writing, and for discussing race, gender, or identity. I assigned students who chose the same book to small groups, and they worked together to create a schedule for finishing the book on time. Each week, they checked in with their group members and with me to adjust the plan if necessary. I also gave students opportunities to discuss their book online with students from my other class periods who鈥檇 read the same book.
By providing choice, it was possible that all students would choose the same book (which didn鈥檛 happen), or that some of the books might be left unchosen (sadly, this did happen). While I was tempted to push kids into one group or another to even out the numbers, I didn鈥檛, because that would have contradicted the choice spirit of the book clubs. So I let the chips fall where they may. This felt risky鈥擨 much prefer planning as many details as possible. But the payoff has been worth it.
I can feel students鈥� increased excitement about their reading. Students told me that they appreciated being allowed to choose not only which book they read but also how they set their own pace, since it gave them more control of the process and let them tailor the reading to their needs. I gave them a few quick guidelines to help them and practice creating and adjusting schedules. Those are skills they can apply to other classes and to their lives in the future.
Since each group is on its own schedule, this pushed me to get creative as a teacher with how and what I taught. I created a number of activities that are and are almost Because the activities are less dependent on a singular text, students can take ownership of connecting what we discuss in class to the books they chose. This makes the connection much richer, as they work to uncover meanings and ideas instead of being told what a passage means.
Many students have also told me that they love meeting in small groups to help each other understand their books and gain new perspectives about what they鈥檝e read. This is especially helpful for texts that are traditionally difficult to comprehend, like Lord of the Flies.
Considering Other Viewpoints
Students interact with a variety of people about the book, not just their usual classmates. This means they can enjoy the benefits of small, focused, and consistent groups in class with traditional face-to-face discussions, but they also can discuss the book with people whose perspectives they may not normally hear. While they could get help from me, I think it is more meaningful for them when they discover it together, questioning each other and realizing they can do it without my help.
The book clubs have been a success, but there are things I鈥檇 consider changing if I did it again. Some students chose books out of convenience or let their parents choose instead of really evaluating the options they had. In retrospect, I鈥檇 devote more class time to discussing their choices in depth so they could make more educated selections.
I鈥檇 also provide more opportunities for discussion across the five novels, so that students could build text-to-text connections that could deepen their understanding of their own.
Recently, I listened to my students do their weekly check-in about what they had read. One group of students discussed how 鈥渕essed up鈥� it was that Trevor Noah鈥檚 black classmates in Born a Crime weren鈥檛 given the same opportunities in school. In another, two girls told the boys in their group that they understood Starr鈥檚 frustrations when she stands up for herself in The Hate U Give. Both discussions were loud, full of laughter, and a little chaotic鈥攅verything I hoped I would see as they shared the experience of reading a good book together.
