Hello Everyone,
This is the hit for information about Faculty YA Lit Reading Groups. Here is my
original question, followed by the responses I received. I'm looking forward to
implementing this!
Thanks a lot for the help,
Nancy
Nancy KapLon, MLS
Librarian
The SEED Public Charter School
4300 C Street, SE
Washington, DC 20019
nkaplon@seedschooldc.org <mailto:nkaplon@seedschooldc.org>
202-248-7773 x5030
Original Post:
"I'm interested in starting a YA Lit reading group among our faculty
members this year (we're a grades 7 - 12 school), and I'm leaving it
open just now exactly how it would be formatted and managed (frequency
of meetings, whether we would discuss one book or everyone would read
and talk about something else, whether mode of meeting would be in
person or electronically, etc.). I'm doing it for two reasons: 1) To
encourage myself to read even more, and 2) To help our faculty members
better understand YA lit. I'd love to hear about any experiences you've
had with anything of this sort! I will post a hit."
Responses:
"I started a faculty reading group last year and it was very successful. I
solicited ideas from the staff about when we met during the day and how
often and they all suggested monthly on Thurs. mornings 7:45-8:15. That is
the usual time for all our teams to meet for their common planning time
but most seemed okay with giving up one day a month for those that wanted
to participate. My goal, like yours, was to get my staff reading YA lit so
they could talk about books with their students. I kept it open ended and
very informal and always had muffins, etc. The only requirement was to
come with a book and ready to present it. We talked about YA books, adult
fiction and some professional books. All that participated seemed to enjoy
it and were looking forward to continuing this year. I'm hoping we'll get
more new faces this year. I think the key is to keep it enjoyable and not
involve much work....we all have too much as it is! I also kept track of
all the books we discussed and compiled them into a reading list that I
added to our summer reading list which gave both students and staff some
summer suggestions. Have fun."
"When I first came to my Grade 7-8 middle school, we had a Young Adult Reading
Committee. We would meet once a month after school. We would sit in a circle and
everyone would take turns talking about YA books they'd read since the last
meeting. We also had a form to fill out, listing which genres and subject matters
the book covered, whether it could be used with curriculum, and if so, which
subjects; or whether it should just be recommended for free choice reading.
The reading teacher in charge of the group kept all of the filled out forms in a
big notebook, and would also periodically pass out a list of all the books our
group had reviewed. We had teachers from all different disciplines, as well as a
guidance counselor and a school psychologist in our group.
As the LMS, I would bring a stack of new books to each meeting, so teachers could
just pick out one of those books to read and not have to worry about going to their
public library to find something to read, although of course they could do so! I
used to get advance copies of books from the local bookstore, and I would often
bring them to the meetings to distribute. Teachers who participated would earn CEUs
(Continuing Education Units), which in Connecticut you need to to accumulate to
keep your certification. For that reason, we had to officially sign in each session.
I thought it was wonderful to have a faculty group sit around and discuss YA books,
and of course it also gave me ideas for books to purchase for our LMC.
Unfortunately, the group disbanded last year. Perhaps I'll try to see if we can
revive it again this year. If we start it up again, I'll recommend we fill out the
forms online and have a database online available not just to our group, but to all
of the faculty.
The teacher in charge usually provided some snacks, too!"
"What a great idea. Feel free to check out my website for book ideas.
It is still in progress, so not all of the links work yet, but please
check back again later as I add more.
http://www.bookwink.com <http://www.bookwink.com> "
"I've done faculty book clubs in two schools and both have been a lot of fun. They
were both set up differently, so here's some info on both:
In the first, we read a little bit of everything. I didn't limit it to YA books.
We met once a month after school in the library and I supplied coffee, hot water &
tea bags & cookies (paid for by the library fine fund). At each meeting, I stacked
about 10 books on the table as possible reads for our next meeting; most were
popular adult fiction (we did Cold Mountain & Girl With a Pearl Earring, for
example). I also always asked for suggestions. As a group. we decided what we
were going to read next. Then, I ordered copies through interlibrary loan & placed
them in their mailboxes with a remindner about the next meeting date.
In the second, we read YA lit. Very few of the teachers at that school were
familiar with YA lit and I wanted them to be more exposed to the great stuff out
there. Again, we met once a month after school, and this group decided early on
that they wanted me to pick out the books (although, again, I was always open to
suggestions). This was nice because it allowed me to plan ahead. I was able to
send out a list at the beginning of the year with meeting dates & titles, and put
that list on the library website so teachers didn't always have to ask when our
next meeting was. Again, all books were ordered through interlibrary loan, but
because I knew in advance what we would be reading, I was able to order them ahead
& hand them out at the meetings. I also provided refreshments.
I used interlibrary loan for books in book clubs because I didn't want anyone to
not join because they didn't want to or couldn't afford to buy the books (as a new
teacher myself at that time, I was short of cash!). This, however, adds a lot of
work to the process, so you may want to put people in charge of getting their own
copies and encourage those who don't want to buy the books to hit the public
libraries right away to get their copies.
Also for both, I tried to come up with some discussion questions or topics just in
case the discussion lagged a bit - with most books I didn't even have to use them,
but it was nice to have them if it did.
I'm at a new job this year, and I'm planning to start another YA lit club. This
time, I'm thinking of asking a different member to act as the club "leader" each
month. During their month, they would be responsible for choosing the book (with
my help, if they need it), getting the refreshements (I could reimburse) and coming
up with discussion questions (can come off the Internet; I can direct them to
sites). This would allieviate a lot of the work for me and allow me to just relax
and enjoy the discussions."
"This summer I've been part of a YA book blog. We agreed to read 4 titles
appropriate for our middle school given target dates, and then blog our reactions.
See what we've done at
http://www.yabbforoms.blogspot.com <http://www.yabbforoms.blogspot.com>
The blog has been a help in terms of busy schedules hard to coordinate. I think
all the teachers participating are ELA excepting my self. I think it would be even
more fun to open it to the whole faculty. I'll suggest it if we continue during
the year."
"After AASL last fall, I started a Faculty YA reading group. We meet monthly, in
the evening at a local restaurant (so we can have pie). We have read a variety of
books, with only one month being an author study. My reading teacher has helped
with the recommendations for titles, but after we got started, some of the members
had choices. I sometimes have a hard time keeping them to the task of how they can
use the titles in their classrooms. Hopefully we will be able to get away from the
classroom novel that is read but not discussed in class and go to literature
circles. It is a new concept from them and they can't seem to get past the problem
of did the child really read the book. We will keep working on that. But, I must
say they have enjoyed the books so far. (So B It, Last Days of Summer, Nothing But
the Truth, The House of the Scorpion, Kite Runner, and any book by Walter Dean
Myers have been our selections so far.)"
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