Putting Students Before Reading

At this time of the year, throughout Truman, you can see students "owning" their reading.  In every grade level, students are participating in book clubs to discuss books; in some cases, these books are chosen by students based on a specific genre and in others, students chose from a pre-determined selection.  What's amazing about this process is the amount of student control.  Students are designing their work flow, as a group determining what to read by which date in order to discuss and share themes from the book.  The richness of this learning process is amazing for many reasons:

1)  Student Choice

2)  Student Responsibility

3)  Student Engagement

4)  Student-Centered

5)  Student-Driven

Notice the common theme of the above list:  students!  When we put students at the forefront of the reading process, they do the work, they learn, and they build skills. 

Students are reviewing their notes for their discussion.

Students collaborate on the work.

Students talk about literature.