Early on in the COVID shutdown last March I realized that I had a small problem. While I felt confident in my ability to educate my own children at home, I quickly noticed that the one aspect of school I could not recreate was facilitating deeper level discussions around books. Any thought provoking question I asked either of my children was met with a shoulder shrug, an “I don’t know”, or a “my teacher didn’t ask that question.” What my children were going to miss the most from being in school - I realized - was the ability to learn from other students’ thinking about a text. I have taught long enough to know that any group of students given the right support, questioning, and wait time will produce a thoughtful discussion on literature - together. In isolation, students are never as motivated to push their thinking. Especially when it is only their mother doing the questioning.
I asked a few of my daughter’s friends to join us for a virtual book club. We started by reading picture books that I knew could promote deep discussion and then slowly began reading shorter chapter books. I read the books aloud to them, pausing at critical moments to ask carefully crafted questions designed to make them think about what we were hearing. Using this structure we looked into character development and character change, considered the author’s use of figurative language and how that contributed to the author’s tone and message within the book. Independently, the students started pointing out that the author’s use of words like grey, cloudy, misty, cold, chill made them create mental images of a depressing place. They recognized when characters changed and whenever we started a new book began to independently label what we could infer about the new characters.
Whenever we began a new book I invited another student to join us, until the group was almost too big for meaningful discussion. The club included a neuro-diverse group of students, which made it even stronger. I witnessed children with dyslexia and reading difficulties demonstrate great growth in their ability to analyze the story - as they were able to access literature alongside their peers because of our read aloud model. No one knew who was struggling with the decoding aspect of reading - they all only saw each other as equal contributors to the discussion. Other students in the group were in the “gifted and talented” classes at school, while others receive support for their neuro-diverse needs. Through these inclusive discussions I saw changes in student’s tendency toward black and white thinking, increases in students’ ability to support their opinion with evidence from the text, and an increase in students’ confidence to stand up for themselves.
The group became more than a book club. It was a place to process everything going on in our world - from George Floyd to COVID variants, new stay at home mandates, Dr. Suess’ early work, or vaccinations. The participants tackled deep issues, both from the news and from the books, and at least with my own daughters, I saw growth in how they approached complex issues at home. Our safe place for discussion allowed them to hold an issue, look at it from multiple sides, consider different opinions, and draw conclusions. This felt like a critical skill in a time when we are encouraged to question everything we read.
The group became more than a book club.
It was a safe place to process everything going on in our world - from George Floyd to COVID variants, new stay at home mandates, Dr. Suess’ early work, or vaccine safety.
Back in the beginning of the club we met three days a week for thirty minutes- it was those early days of COVID where none of us had anything to do and not even the schools had much to offer since they were still figuring out what they were going to do next. In those spring 2020 days our participants were desperate for each group to start - some would log on 30 minutes early just to have time to connect with the other members. When summer came and we began to become busy again we switched to meeting twice a week for forty five minutes each time.
Although many members of the group never met in person they began to know each other as readers. They knew which participant loved dogs but hated cats, who disliked when characters changed (with the belief that evil characters should always remain evil), who loved when characters changed and always stood up for the underdog. As I read the books aloud they would interrupt me to not just comment on the character’s actions but to note how another participant will feel about it. That alone showed a growth in thinking - not only were they identifying aspects of the text but they were also using that information to apply it socially.
Our group is currently on pause - life has gotten busy again and the participants no longer needed the club as a social and educational outlet. In a way it was the Mary Poppins of experiences - there at the right moment for those who needed it. I’m not sure what the club will look like as we move forward. I may divide it into smaller, more interest-based groups, or offer six week sessions.
More to come in future blog posts about our book club - it is too much to tackle in one post!