Book Club Plus - 9/27/10

Literacy is a (if not, the) main component of my second grade’s curriculum. Much of our day is dedicated to the many aspects of literacy. Therefore, I have learned a lot about literacy this year. The way that my mentor teacher approaches literacy is with four elements: reader’s workshop, writer’s workshop, making meaning, and word study. I believe that these sub-parts of literacy directly correlate to that of the Book Club model. It seems that many of the crucial aspects (reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing) have been incorporated in both. This is especially evident once reader and writer’s workshop are further explored. In reader’s workshop, there is a teacher lead mini-lesson, independent reading, partner reading, and then a large group share time about what they have learned about themselves as readers that day. Thus, much like the Book Club model, there is a teacher lead component, independent parts, and sharing. Writer’s workshop is similar as it begins with a teacher lead mini-lesson, independent writing time, and a sharing time. This also includes parts of the Book Club model – writing and sharing. Within the writer’s workshop my students are given the opportunity to write into, write through, and write out of texts. They display writing into a text by, for example, describing their own opinions about a subject. When we were starting reader’s workshop, we discussed “comfy reading spots.” So, before my teacher read The Best Place to Read, students wrote about their favorite reading spot. After we were finished reading they then described how their comfy reading spots were similar to the child’s in the book (writing through). Lastly, to write out of the text, the students wrote about where in the classroom could be their comfy reading spot for independent reading.

Making meaning and word study are two sets of scripted lessons used for comprehension strategies and expanding vocabulary. The first, making meaning, is usually a teacher lead read aloud paired with text related questions and partner/individual sharing. This can be related to the writing portion of the Book Club model as it too, “serves many functions, such as reflecting on reading, gathering and organizing information, practicing literary forms, and sharing ideas with other.” (Raphael, Florio-Ruane, George, Hasty & Highfield, 2004, p. 12). However, making meaning is more of a verbal activity. Word study is lead by the teacher, as well. She focuses on a certain pattern (i.e. the –ing ending) and then the students are given cards with beginning and ends of words on them and they have to create new words. Although they are very similar, these two models are also different. The Book Club model incorporates an actual Book Club element that does not exist in my classroom. We are also lacking a Literacy Block that would allow for certain groups to be pulled. However, even though these ideas are not present right now, my mentor teacher has talked about implementing them soon. We just have to get the noise of the classroom under control first!