Middle school students participated in a summer online book club as an opportunity to read and discuss texts during the summer months. The author provides considerations for educators who may be interested in conducting summer online book clubs with their students, based on student interviews and observations throughout the summer book club.

This teaching tip details one teacher's implementation of student-led book talks in her primary-grade classroom. The author describes a simple gradual-release method that she has successfully used with her students in order to get them talking about the books that they are reading independently. She found that when used in the readers' workshop…

Fifth graders' interpretations of nonfiction or informational text were explored. Each literature circle group read and responded to informational text. Discoveries included that students' conversations and written responses were closely connected to text and that students created multimodal responses.

This Teaching Tips describes a yearlong process of facilitating meaningful discussion groups about literature with first-grade students in an urban Title I school. At the beginning of the year, the teacher provided explicit instruction in speaking and listening skills to support students with the social skills needed for thoughtful discussion. She…

Teaching children to inquire, discuss ideas, and defend thinking about a literary text is a key aim of the common core state standards (CCSS). This article describes how four third-grade, male struggling readers successfully co-constructed meaning during a discussion based reading intervention rooted in philosophical inquiry. Three elements that…

Shares insights into how literature study circles helped group members make connections between their lives and themes in books and influenced students' perceptions of themselves as readers in a culturally diverse world. (MG)

Offers experiences with collaborative book discussions that stemmed from literature circles or communities of book talkers. Shows what collaboration looks like when discussants come together around a book as in the Book Club approach. Illustrates how teachers can lead students to apply what is learned in literature to their own lives, both inside…

In many literacy classrooms, teachers provide instruction in comprehension by helping students to practice explicit comprehension strategy use when they encounter difficult texts. In many of those same literacy classrooms, students are placed in peer-led groups to discuss literary texts as a way to increase their engagement with difficult reading.…

Discusses how book clubs can function as a professional development tool for teachers, and offers advice on how a book club can become a reality. (SR)

Literature discussion groups have become a popular instructional alternative to traditional reading groups. Yet, literature discussion does not happen naturally in the classroom, and some teachers find it particularly difficult to implement with primary-grade students. This article explores how two teachers used a balance of explicit teaching and…

Describes ways to enable fifth-grade students to lead discussions about provocative books without an adult and to enjoy discussions as much as they enjoy simple retellings. Describes preparing for, setting up, and ending the discussion. (SR)

This article details what happened when, after endless hours of teaching and explaining how literature circles work, the authors were dismayed at how their students still struggled to have positive social interactions during book discussions. Book discussions often deteriorated into tension filled discussions marred by class inequities, bullying,…

Suggests methods for teaching gifted children to read that will not bore them or make them repeat skills they have already mastered. (MKM)

Describes an elementary school book club with 12 elementary teachers, their principal, and 2 university teachers reading the same piece of contemporary multicultural fiction and keeping response journals. Describes how their discussions were studied and how the literature discussions changed their classroom practices. (SR)

Discusses the major benefits that emerge for students and teachers when groups of six students discuss a book they are reading without teacher questions to structure and guide their interactions. Shows that books mixing narrative and exposition have the greatest potential to enhance student discussion. (SR)