GOAL:
To review the behaviors that contribute to good small-group discussions
ASSIGNED READING:
Chapter 2
WRITING PROMPT:
Do you think King Christian did the right thing when he surrendered to the Nazis? Why?
Would you be willing to die to protect the leader of your country? Why?
Compare and contrast Annemarie's family before and after Lise died.
ONLINE PROMPT:
Use the Student Comment Form to share ideas and questions with your online peers. Check previous Student Comments pages to see if there are any comments you want to respond to.
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Discuss with students the behaviors that contribute to a good book
club discussion. Ask them to recall some of their past experiences in
book clubs and other discussion groups and to think about what made
the experiences good or bad. On chart paper, create a two-column chart
with the headings "Qualities of a good group" and "Qualities to avoid
in groups." Have students brainstorm items to add to the chart. (Note:
Guidelines for successful book club discussions are outlined in the
teacher's handbook.
See page 169 for a sample chart.) Suggest that students keep these positive
behaviors in mind when they meet with their book clubs today. Keep the
chart posted in the classroom so that students can refer back to it
(as they will need to do in Lesson 6).
Comparing and contrasting is a response type that students can use at any time in their reading logs. Make sure students understand that comparing means showing how two things are alike, and that contrasting means showing how they are different. Examples of formats that Book Club students have used for comparison and contrast appear on pages 94 and 184-185 of the teacher's handbook. Comparing/Contrasting and Venn Diagram think sheets (blackline masters) are provided in the section following page 261. If you want to emphasize this skill, tell students that they should respond to the third Writing Prompt question, which asks them to compare and contrast. Then, during community share, ask the class to discuss what they learned about Annemarie's family by comparing and contrasting.
Because good small-group discussions are so central to the success of Book Club, you'll probably want to make a special effort to monitor and assess students' progress in this area. Some Book Club teachers use a tape recorder to record individual book clubs so that they can listen to the groups at a later time. (You can rotate the tape recorder between groups over a two- or three-day period.) Use of the tape recorder also puts a little added pressure on students to participate, which tends to promote better conversations.
Note: If your class is new to Book Club, you may want to devote part of this day's lesson to discussing the different kinds of responses that they can write in their reading logs. The Writing Prompt for each lesson also provides ideas for students' written responses.
After students have read Chapter 2, written in their logs, and met with their book club groups, bring the class together for community share. Discuss the issues that came up in students' book clubs and also how well their discussions met the criteria that the class outlined earlier. At some point, you may wish to have students write assessments of their book club performance, giving themselves and their groups letter grades and explaining why they earned those grades. Examples of student assessments are shown on page 191 of the teacher's handbook.
Before students submit their comments to the online discussion, have them read yesterday's comments from students in other classrooms. Encourage them to respond to other children's comments whenever possible, to promote interaction between classrooms.
Click to go to Lesson 3.
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