Book Club

Lessons need to be planned and prepared beforehand for students to enjoy the activities and engage actively in their learning. Literature circles are used for students to discuss what was read, either in class or at home, and for the students to lead the discussions. According to Raphael, Florio-Ruane, and George (2019), “practice must be planned yet adaptable, responsive to learners’ diversity and changing needs, integrative across the curriculum, and accountable to many” (p.159). Adaptability short hands what teachers do daily. It is critical that the teacher teach to the students’ needs and culture. The teacher is the only person who knows the strengths and weakness of the students they serve and can control what is taught the students and how it is taught. The cultural aspect brings the engagement into the classroom. Students want to learn more about themselves. The Book Club gives students the opportunity to talk about issues that are important to them. Through the use of book clubs, we are able to “incorporate skills and strategies associated with reading acquisition and critical thinking required for living in and contributing to a democratic society” (Raphael, Florio-Ruane, and George, 2019). The book club uses a variety of strategies to get students to read in an effective literacy program.

The Book Club can be easily integrated into the classroom. Though the district requires certain curriculum, teachers can maneuver these requirements with supplemental material. This supplemental material could be culturally relevant texts that provide authentic experiences to students (Temple, Martinez, and Yokota, 2019). The Book Club only emphasizes the importance of students having the freedom of choosing a text to read that is not assigned by the teacher. Students will go for books that they relate with. Teachers need to have a classroom library so that students have a myriad of text to choose from. The book club provides the platform for students to express their opinions on books they read, engage in critical discourse, and listen to different perspectives.

This can be implemented in my mathematics classroom through small paragraphs. I would provide students problems, in paragraph form, and the students will have to solve those problems using their knowledge of arithmetic. This could be called the math problem club. Any strategy can be implemented into any classroom, it just needs to be modified to meet the content and the students.