GOAL:
To provide a model of fluent reading; to establish the setting of the story; to review the behaviors that contribute to good small-group discussions
ASSIGNED READING:
Chapter 2
WRITING PROMPT:
What are the Watsons like? Do you think they're "weird"?
Describe Kenny's relationship with Byron. Do real brothers act this way?
Do you predict that the new kid at school will "save" Kenny? Why?
ONLINE PROMPT:
Use the Student Comment Form to share ideas and questions about The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963 with your online peers.
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Get students excited about the book by reading Chapter 1 aloud to them. Besides generating interest in the story, reading the first chapter aloud will provide a model of fluent reading. (To prepare for this read-aloud, you'll probably want to preread the chapter to get a sense of the author's use of humor and dialogue.)
Make sure that students are aware of the setting of The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963. Have students locate Flint, Michigan (where the Watsons live) and Birmingham, Alabama (where Momma grew up) on a U.S. map. Remind them that in 1963, many public areas in the South were racially segregated, meaning that black people and white people used separate bathrooms, water fountains, lunch counters, and so on. Students will study this issue in more depth in Lesson 7.
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 the chalkboard, 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.
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. See Lesson 3 of this lesson plan for teaching ideas on this topic. 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.
Remind students that they should be thinking about what they'd like to share with their online peers. On this first day of the activity, you might give them some extra time to plan what they'll submit to the internet conversation. Then send them to the Student Comment Form to type their messages.
Click to go to Lesson 2.
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