First Meeting of the Book Club

Today marked the first official meeting of the book club my eighth graders wanted to start this year.  I have to say that while the entire time was not focused on the book, there was already some great conversation and questions raised.  Mostly though I am proud of them for taking the initiative to ask and then follow through with starting the club. These students also know that I want the club to fit their needs so they need to direct where it goes.  I will be here to be a guide, but they must be the leaders.   I supplied them with a list of books that were suggested to me through twitter to get them started, and they chose Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.  A few then set up meeting times, dates and even a snack schedule (a very important part of any meeting). 

I myself had not read the book prior to them choosing it, but I did finish it before they started because I wanted to make sure that I was comfortable with the content before letting eighth graders read a book centered around suicide and the character's reasons for committing it.  I was/am still a little hesitant because it is such a difficult subject, but I could not say no when I saw the enthusiasm that they had about starting the club and reading this particular book BECAUSE of its subject matter.  They have not gotten very far into the book, but most of them are already hooked and wanting to read through it faster so the schedule has been adjusted. I will be interested to hear their thoughts as readers that are not too far removed from the ages of the characters.  The lens that they each will have reading through the book will be insightful for each of them, as well as me, as we progress through the story.

If you haven't had a chance to read it, I highly recommend it.  The book serves as a great reminder to keep in mind how we treat and view those around us.

 

Thirteen Reasons Why

 

www.thirteenreasonswhy.com

Online Book Club

Now that the craziness of the beginning of the year and volleyball season have started to wind down its time to look at getting some of my extra activities started in my classroom.  One thing that I am trying this year is going to be a student lead book club.  A few of my 8th grade girls approached me at the beginning of year, expressing an interest in having a book club.  I told them I was totally up for it, but that I would want them to take more of a lead with it because it would be a great experience for them.

After posting a question to my PLN on twitter I came up with several book ideas to present to them as options, and they decided upon 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher.  I have to admit I am a little hesitant about letting a group of 8th graders at a Catholic school read this together because of some of the content, but after learning what the book was about they were all so excited to read it I do not feel I can say no.  After all, how often do you have a group of 8th graders (almost half of my class actually) wanting to put in time after school to read and discuss a book??

So, now that November is upon us they want to get the book club started.  I know I have to make time to meet with the girls that are running it to discuss how they want it to go.  I am curious to see the direction that this all goes, and I am going to do my best to stay out of the leadership role as much as I can.  The girls know that I am a resource and willing to help out, but that I do want it to be about them and their learning.

In connection to all of this and some recent discussions about connecting classrooms through things like Mystery Skype, I thought it would be really fun to connect to another classroom or at least a few students at another school that would be interested in forming a book club of their own and reading 13 Reasons Why.  With all this technology available I pictured the classes either Skyping, blogging together, or even forming their own Edmodo group in order ask questions and get other students' views on what they were reading.  Many of my students have been in school together for quite some time, and I think they would really benefit from outside views and opinions.

So, if you, or someone you know, might be interested in forming an online book club with my 8th graders let me know. I would love to get something set up!