Small Group, Big Thinkers

On Wednesday BRiMS met to discuss Loretta Ellsworth's book, In Search of Mockingbird. We only had a handful of students because of problems with transportation home after school. It didn't stop the students who did attend to offer their insights on Ellsworth's book. The students liked the book better than me. They loved Erin's attachment to one book. We went around the room discussing books that inspired us. The Harry Potter series was named more than once, so we had to stop and talk about Rowling and her series several times. Most of the students have read Harry Potter multiple times so they had lots to talk about. We also discussed our family's reaction if we just decided to hop on a bus and ride clear across the country by ourselves. When we discussed why the book was set in the 80's, the students thought it was a safer time, so it would be easier for a teenager to travel alone.

I am really enjoying running this group. I try to have questions ahead of time, but I find the digressions the most interesting. On May 16th we will discuss Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. The last day of school is May 24th, but since this group started so late in the year I felt we had to have a May meeting. Now I need to start thinking about the books that we will read next year. Do you have any ideas for a group of 6th-8th graders with strong reading skills but a variety of interests?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Holidays from BRiMS and Bookmarked

I run two book groups at Patrick Taylor. My high school book group, Bookmarked , was created in the fall of 2007 which was my second year as librarian at the school. The students really wanted a library club, but the square footage of the library was so small that I could not imagine how any students could do any actual library work. Instead I created a book discussion group. Not only did we meet to talk books, but I tapped these students to help me with fundraisers and special programming like Teen Read Week. Helping me with these special activities seemed to appease the members. I waited until February of 2009 to institute a book discussion group for my middle school students called BRiMS, or Books Rule in Middle School . Both of the groups meet during lunch, and this year, the school added a third lunch. Now BRiMS is made up of only 6th and 7th graders. Bookmarked has 8th-12th grade students. This has actually worked well because in 2014 and 2015, Bookmarked lost a lot of members w...
Read more

Banned Book Week: Students Make Comments Pro & Con Censorship

Image
This blog post is being designed as a lesson for the English I students at PFTSTA. The teachers and I have collaborated on an activity to celebrate Banned Book Week (BBW). Many times in the past during BBW, I have invited the 8th graders into the library to discuss the banning and challenging of books in schools and libraries. I usually show some videos and share books owned by our library that have been banned or challenged somewhere in the US. This activity always spurs great discussion among the students and teachers. This year we wanted the students to create a written response to the presentation. We thought there was a real world connection if we had the students post their opinion online as a comment to someone writing about censorship in schools. The teachers and I want the students to learn how to compose a well thought out comment that is supported by evidence and concrete details. How more real world could it be than having the students comment directly on their librar...
Read more

Students Weigh in on Banned Books and the Freedom to Read

Image
Every year, for Banned Book Week, I prepare a lesson for our 8th graders. It was always teacher directed with discussion until last year . The English I teachers and I created a lesson for the students that included research and writing. I pulled the materials that I wanted them to read, and the students would write a very short essay declaring their belief in the need for teens to be able to exercise their freedom to read what they want to or the need for certain books to be taken off the shelves of the library or pulled from the English curriculum.  Above is the slide presentation that I have made for the students. Included in the slides are several videos that I thought would get the students thinking. There are slides with links to specific articles that we want the students to read and use for the concrete evidence to support their stance. A rubric is included at the end so the students know exactly what is expected. The teachers and I want the writing to have a...
Read more