No Shhing Here

My building overhauled the schedule this year, and with the new changes, my opportunities to hold a student book club during the school day were significantly impacted. I was extra disappointed because I'd worked really hard to develop and establish our new Reader Challenge , which required a monthly book club-style meeting for kids to earn their challenge badge. I was lamenting to some ELA colleagues how book clubs were my only opportunity to address these NYS library standards: Grade 8: Participates in literary discussions, special literary programs, and book clubs Grade 9:  Shares reading experiences and responses to literature in multiple ways (e.g., face-to-face conversations, technology presentations, posters, creative products) Unlike classroom teachers with rostered students, I don't have DEDICATED time to work with kids, so a schedule change meant that I wasn't able to cover these standards during the school day. Eighth-grade ELA teachers to the rescue! While we we...

I love booktalking, but I always find it frustrating; I prep 3-5 booktalks, go into classrooms for the day, and pitch the book. It's great for a couple periods, but after a while, I run out of copies of the books I'm promoting. It feels silly to booktalk books that aren't available to be checked out, and creating booktalks is a TON of work, so it's not practical to just switch to different booktalks in the afternoon.  The "Sell Your Book!" activity is my answer to this problem. It's a fresh, new alternative to speed-dating or book-tasting selection activities.  This book selection activity asks students to "sell" a book by working collaboratively to create a booktalk they present to the class . The lesson takes 40-45 minutes, requires both independent and collaborative work, and harnesses the power of student voice and student choice.  Because STUDENTS are creating NEW booktalks every period, it solves my booktalk problem; we never run out of boo...