Book Talks Multiplied

We know that one defining distinction between readers and non-readers is that readers make plans for their reading (thank you, Penny Kittle, for this nugget!), so at Everett we're building systems that can support all of our readers to plan their next book choices.  We want to eradicate that too-familiar phenomenon in which kids spend their reading time in class wandering the classroom library aimlessly to make their next book choice; instead, when students finish a book and it's time to choose the next one, they should have plans for what that might be so that they can get right to it!  Certainly this is what my reading life is like: I have a stack of books on my bedside table, an ongoing list of recommendations from friends, and if all else fails, my Goodreads "to read" list, so when I finish a book I have plenty from which to choose and usually the only question is what sort of reading mood I'm in.  We want the same for all of our kids.

To this end, all of our Readers' Workshop classes encourage students to keep a list of "Someday Books," those books that they will want to read someday, and we try to populate those lists by providing students with suggestions via daily or weekly book talks.  Typically both teachers and students give book talks, often on a rotational schedule.  Lately, however, we've noticed that this system isn't hitting all of our students, and in fact is least likely to serve the needs of our most struggling readers (incidentally, those readers are also the least likely to have books at home, least likely to have friends who recommend books to them, etc).

A small group of teachers has decided to use our last PD Cycle of the year as time to investigate and combat this problem.  First, they measured the number of students who have a plan for their next book choice, as well as those who made that plan based on a peer recommendation (we know how powerful peer recs are!).  Percentages varied from 40-80% based on grade level and classroom.  Next, they determined a "Theory of Action" to improve these numbers.  It reads: 

• If we increase opportunities for students to share their book choices by: 
• re-imagining book talks so that they are more frequent and in smaller group settings
• increasing our web presence by using twitter and instagram to publicize students "caught reading" outside of class, and 
• experimenting with a class blog and/or goodreads
• then we will see an increased number of students using peer recommendations to plan their next bookRight now, this group is implementing these action steps!  
• (This is a three week period of implementation)By the end of this week, they will give their students another survey to determine whether their actions have moved the needle.

Mr. Alonges, Ms. Olguin, Ms. Donahue, Ms. Soto, and Ms. Florita have been implementing these action steps in various ways for the last couple of weeks.  By the end of next week, they will give their students another survey to determine whether they have been able to move the needle.

Check out what Ms. Ambrose and her co-teacher Ms. Moore experimented with last week.  They used rotating concentric circles to give each member of their class the opportunity to give a book talk individually to three other students. 

This instructional move is such a simple shift to the paradigm we've all used up to now, but consider the impacts on the classroom:

1. Instead of giving a book talk once per month (or less often), each student was able to give three book talks in one day!
2. Students were able to practice their book talks, get immediate feedback (in the form of one glow and one grow, based on the list the students developed together), and then use that feedback right away in another round
3. The affective dynamic of the book talks improved dramatically: the listeners were more engaged and the speakers were more comfortable and natural
4. Ms. Ambrose was able to rely on the authentic accountability implicit in sharing and reflecting upon book talks, rather than the less effective accountability of grading them (she gathered anecdotal data by listening in on pairs, which she can now use to inform her next conferring dates with each student)

For a bit more inspiration, check out this simple conversation with one of our 6th graders during lunch in the library.  This is what we're aiming for!  Simple but powerful.