The Raphael and Salna were very similar; they both were about the importance of book talks in a classroom. I liked how in the Salna article there were a variety of books used to discuss a topic or theme. The students read all of the books from the topic/theme and then took turns having the leading role in discussions. Through these discussions students were able to share their ideas and opinions and reflect on the different topics they were reading about. As someone else mentioned, the student were learning without realizing. Not only does this allow the students to learn about a topic/theme it also teaches them about discussion etiquette. They learned to wait their turn and how to give appropriate answers and how to start a discussion.
My CT uses book talks in the majority of her lessons. She is always using a book as a way to introduce and close a lesson. She is usually the one who does the reading but the students are given the opportunity to raise their hand at any time in order to ask a question or to point out something they noticed that they found interesting. The students then discuss the book as a class and are asked to relate it to their own experience with a lesson or out of class experience.
I think this opportunity to use books with discussion is important. It gives students an opportunity to share their opinions and gives them the opportunity to lead an in class discussion which can lead to increased confidence. These discussions are a great assessment of the students’ progress and a way to see areas where they may need growth.
I think that is great that your teacher consistently uses books to open and close her lessons and uses book talks to get students involved. What grade is it? So often I feel that teachers of younger grades constantly use books in their literacy lessons and this is sometimes lost in older grades. I think there is an idea that picture books and read alouds are appropriate only for younger students, which is definitely not the case. For example in my 4th grade classroom there is no read alouds whatsoever. The idea that students of this age should only be reading chapter books limits the amount of discussion in my classroom. I have never seen any sort of book talk or discussion in my classroom, which is very disheartening. Because we have learned so much about the benefits of using books to address and discuss important social issues, I feel my students are missing out. Also, for my literacy lesson I am doing an ongoing lesson with a chapter book with a smaller group of students. I have found that because my students have not had book discussions they seem to struggle with how to go about engaging in the reading and responding to one another. These types of discussions take practice, and because my students have not had that practice our discussions about the book are sometimes rough. Generally how do your book talks go? Do you feel they are beneficial for students? Are they mostly teacher led or do students seem to build off of each other’s ideas? Because we have read so much about book talks I would love to see them in action because so far I have not.
ReplyDelete