On 12/30/08, 1st Book Club in School wrote:
> Hi All-I am starting the first book club in my middle
> school (we don't have club time-it is an after school
> club).
>
> For middle schoolers, how many pages a week seem
> reasonable, considering regular school assignments?
>
> I was thinking of meeting 2x's a month for an hour-too
> much, too little?
>
> If we do book-related events, how much time should we
> expect to focus on each book?
>
> Any related book club ideas/activities?
>
> Personal experience-success and failures?
>
> Thanks for any input. I am not locked into any goals yet,
> and want to let the kids drive the club.

With regards to purchasing enough books -- try breaking them
up into smaller groups of 5 or so. Then you can have them
read different books. When groups finish a book, they can
switch with the other groups.

There are some good book club handouts here (discussion
leader, word wizard, story connector, etc.):
http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/reading.html
I think they're appropriate for middle school, though I use
them with my upper-elementary kids.

Personal experience - One of the hardest things to teach
kids is to write/create open-ended discussion quesitons.
Maybe they're better at the middle school level, but I spend
several lessons teaching kids how to write "discussion
questions" rather than "fact questions." If left on their
own, kids prefer to present questions like "What color was
the main character's shirt?" rather than "How do you feel
about the way the main character handled this situation?".

If you spend time teaching kids how to develop open-ended
questions, it goes much more smoothly.

Good luck to you!

- fb

Super Teacher Worksheets - Book Club

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