Project Objectives Materials Procedure Participants Outcome Next Steps
Project
I organized an online book club for the book Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I decided to use this book because many people, teachers, students, even an author (Steven Layne), recommended this book. I felt that it would be a great book to discuss, especially for this class: Networks for Learning. Just to give a little bit of background information, the children in this book use the internet to connect to others in the same situation (being hidden). The children use chat rooms to meet and organize a rally. I really wanted to get more into discussion about how others use the internet to network, but considering our time, I limited this topic to just one question.
My project can be found on my classroom website. On the main page of my site is a brief description of the book club. Then, if you click on my blog, you will find the discussion questions. I posted a new question each day for six days, for a total of six questions. I started with an introduction question, where participants would answer the question comparing themselves to the characters in the story. I ended the discussion with a final "analysis" of the book. I asked if participants would or would not recommend this book to others.
Objectives
Materials
This project was fairly simple when it comes to materials. Basically, all you needed to be a part of it was the book, Among the Hidden. Plus, participants also needed daily access to the internet.
As the teacher, I wanted to be able to use something that was readily available to me and I wouldn't have to worry about getting permission to have my students working on an outside site (such as Moodle). I chose to use my classroom blog to host my book club because it is easy for my students to access and I wasn't currently using it for anything else (to be honest, I wasn't sure how to use it for educational purposes, until now).
ProcedureI began this project by reading the book, Among the Hidden. After finishing the book, I brainstormed a list of ideas I felt were important to discuss with my book club. Due to our short amount of time, I knew I had to narrow the questions down to just 6. I used my classroom blog to post discussion questions. I posted a new question each day, for six days. My participants were asked to answer the questions, and possibly respond to others' responses in the blog. I tried to keep it simple, in hopes that it would not be too much to ask for participants to spend a few minutes each day to share their thoughts. After particpants would respond to each question, I made sure I responded to their response in a timely manner.
Participants
I knew that several of the teachers I work with had already read the book, Among the Hidden. So, my first step was to attempto to recruit them. I really wanted to recruit people who had already read the book because it would be convenient and I would not be asking them to do more work in the summer. I sent out an email to our Fairview reflector. I also requested participants when I posted responses in forums in the teachers focus website, teachers helping teachers, and teachers.net.
I had no luck from any of the websites I posted requests in. However, I did get four particpants from other teachers in my building. I got many "promising" emails from people I work with, but not all followed through. I also have a student who I am working with through e-mail. (I am not sure if she isn't comfortable using the blog, or if she just wants to communicate with me directly.) I am hoping that more people will follow through with thier promises.
Outcomes
Although disappointed with the lack of participation, I have to say that I am overall pleased with the responses I recieved. I feel that my particpants were open in thier responses and were genuine in thier posts. I thought it was very neat to hear what others had to say about the book. My particpants each brought interesting perspectives to the discussion. I felt that they brought up great points that I hadn't thought of . I had a lot of fun posting new questions, eager to read what others had to say. A few of the responses made me sit back and really re-evaluate my thoughts about the book. There were so many great points brought up that I had never thought of. This just proves how important t is to talk about what we are reading. Talking about books helps us to have a better understanding about what we read. We also remember the book much better.
I also got several responses from people I work with, including our principal, literacy coach, and reading teacher, stating what an exciting way this blog was to share our love of reading with our students. It is a great feeling knowing that I have support from leaders in our school. I really think this project has great potential for student learning because it puts the responsibility of responding in the students' hands. When students are excited about reading, they will be more likely to do it. Just like practicing in sports, the more students read, the better they become. As an educator, I cannot force students to read. I can, however, create an exciting learning environment encouraging students to read.
Next Steps
I am excited to try this project when school starts this fall. This book is the first in a series, so it will be interesting to see how this is carried out throughout the rest of the series. I did hear some concerns about the targeted age group of this novel (most places I looked said this book was for 8-12 year old). I want to make it clear that this would be a voluntary participation club, just as the "normal" book clubs are held in our school. I strongly encourage parents to, either read the book prior to their children, or read the book with their children. Reading the book with thier children would give parents the opportunity to talk about some of the controversial issues brought up in the book (if you've read the book, you know what I'm talking about; government control, population laws, death).
Our district website limits us to one blog per day. I am looking into a way to get this changed, or perhaps getting a "message board" added to my website. This way, I would be able to post more than one question, or idea, at a time. In addition, I am hoping to get other teachers motivated to start their own book clubs, open to all students, on their websites. This would allow students the opportunity to join a book club that fits their interests, regardless of who's class they are in.
I think having an online book club is a motivational tool to get our students interested in reading. One example of this would have to be seeing other people they know, especially our principal, reading the same book as them. I think most teachers would agree that not all students are eager about reading. I think teachers have what it takes to get these students into reading. We should be finding books that interest them, as well as giving them the opportunity to talk about what they have read. Holding online book clubs does just that. Even the shyest student can be more comfortable responding in a way that no one is looking at them, judging them, or laughing at what they have to say. Online book clubs can be fun for students, teachers, as well as parents.
One last piece I will definitely be working on for the next project will be recruiting more participants. I would love to get authors, librarians, and "famous" community faces (newscasters, radio personalities, sports stars) involved. I really believe that seeing how many people enjoy reading would really encourage my students to give it a try for themselves. I am currently working with my current participants to put together a "book talk" advertising this book to others. I will be posting the book talk on my website, as well as have a viewing during our morning announcements at school. In the future, students will be creating the book talks for future book clubs. Hopefully, students will be able to start finding books on their own that they would like to recommend to others.
I organized an online book club for the book Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I decided to use this book because many people, teachers, students, even an author (Steven Layne), recommended this book. I felt that it would be a great book to discuss, especially for this class: Networks for Learning. Just to give a little bit of background information, the children in this book use the internet to connect to others in the same situation (being hidden). The children use chat rooms to meet and organize a rally. I really wanted to get more into discussion about how others use the internet to network, but considering our time, I limited this topic to just one question.
My project can be found on my classroom website. On the main page of my site is a brief description of the book club. Then, if you click on my blog, you will find the discussion questions. I posted a new question each day for six days, for a total of six questions. I started with an introduction question, where participants would answer the question comparing themselves to the characters in the story. I ended the discussion with a final "analysis" of the book. I asked if participants would or would not recommend this book to others.
Objectives
- After participating in this book club, students (and teachers) will have a deeper understanding of the story.
- (I will measure this by how the participants answer the questions.)
- Participants will also be able to use my blog to communicate with others, regarding the books we are discussing.
- Particpants will respond to discussion questions posted on my blog.
Materials
This project was fairly simple when it comes to materials. Basically, all you needed to be a part of it was the book, Among the Hidden. Plus, participants also needed daily access to the internet.
As the teacher, I wanted to be able to use something that was readily available to me and I wouldn't have to worry about getting permission to have my students working on an outside site (such as Moodle). I chose to use my classroom blog to host my book club because it is easy for my students to access and I wasn't currently using it for anything else (to be honest, I wasn't sure how to use it for educational purposes, until now).
ProcedureI began this project by reading the book, Among the Hidden. After finishing the book, I brainstormed a list of ideas I felt were important to discuss with my book club. Due to our short amount of time, I knew I had to narrow the questions down to just 6. I used my classroom blog to post discussion questions. I posted a new question each day, for six days. My participants were asked to answer the questions, and possibly respond to others' responses in the blog. I tried to keep it simple, in hopes that it would not be too much to ask for participants to spend a few minutes each day to share their thoughts. After particpants would respond to each question, I made sure I responded to their response in a timely manner.
Participants
I knew that several of the teachers I work with had already read the book, Among the Hidden. So, my first step was to attempto to recruit them. I really wanted to recruit people who had already read the book because it would be convenient and I would not be asking them to do more work in the summer. I sent out an email to our Fairview reflector. I also requested participants when I posted responses in forums in the teachers focus website, teachers helping teachers, and teachers.net.
I had no luck from any of the websites I posted requests in. However, I did get four particpants from other teachers in my building. I got many "promising" emails from people I work with, but not all followed through. I also have a student who I am working with through e-mail. (I am not sure if she isn't comfortable using the blog, or if she just wants to communicate with me directly.) I am hoping that more people will follow through with thier promises.
Outcomes
Although disappointed with the lack of participation, I have to say that I am overall pleased with the responses I recieved. I feel that my particpants were open in thier responses and were genuine in thier posts. I thought it was very neat to hear what others had to say about the book. My particpants each brought interesting perspectives to the discussion. I felt that they brought up great points that I hadn't thought of . I had a lot of fun posting new questions, eager to read what others had to say. A few of the responses made me sit back and really re-evaluate my thoughts about the book. There were so many great points brought up that I had never thought of. This just proves how important t is to talk about what we are reading. Talking about books helps us to have a better understanding about what we read. We also remember the book much better.
I also got several responses from people I work with, including our principal, literacy coach, and reading teacher, stating what an exciting way this blog was to share our love of reading with our students. It is a great feeling knowing that I have support from leaders in our school. I really think this project has great potential for student learning because it puts the responsibility of responding in the students' hands. When students are excited about reading, they will be more likely to do it. Just like practicing in sports, the more students read, the better they become. As an educator, I cannot force students to read. I can, however, create an exciting learning environment encouraging students to read.
Next Steps
I am excited to try this project when school starts this fall. This book is the first in a series, so it will be interesting to see how this is carried out throughout the rest of the series. I did hear some concerns about the targeted age group of this novel (most places I looked said this book was for 8-12 year old). I want to make it clear that this would be a voluntary participation club, just as the "normal" book clubs are held in our school. I strongly encourage parents to, either read the book prior to their children, or read the book with their children. Reading the book with thier children would give parents the opportunity to talk about some of the controversial issues brought up in the book (if you've read the book, you know what I'm talking about; government control, population laws, death).
Our district website limits us to one blog per day. I am looking into a way to get this changed, or perhaps getting a "message board" added to my website. This way, I would be able to post more than one question, or idea, at a time. In addition, I am hoping to get other teachers motivated to start their own book clubs, open to all students, on their websites. This would allow students the opportunity to join a book club that fits their interests, regardless of who's class they are in.
I think having an online book club is a motivational tool to get our students interested in reading. One example of this would have to be seeing other people they know, especially our principal, reading the same book as them. I think most teachers would agree that not all students are eager about reading. I think teachers have what it takes to get these students into reading. We should be finding books that interest them, as well as giving them the opportunity to talk about what they have read. Holding online book clubs does just that. Even the shyest student can be more comfortable responding in a way that no one is looking at them, judging them, or laughing at what they have to say. Online book clubs can be fun for students, teachers, as well as parents.
One last piece I will definitely be working on for the next project will be recruiting more participants. I would love to get authors, librarians, and "famous" community faces (newscasters, radio personalities, sports stars) involved. I really believe that seeing how many people enjoy reading would really encourage my students to give it a try for themselves. I am currently working with my current participants to put together a "book talk" advertising this book to others. I will be posting the book talk on my website, as well as have a viewing during our morning announcements at school. In the future, students will be creating the book talks for future book clubs. Hopefully, students will be able to start finding books on their own that they would like to recommend to others.