A Book Club for High School Teachers

1
A Book Club for High School Teachers

• What was I Thinking?

2
The Beginning

• AASL in Pittsburgh Teacher Book Clubs A Tool
  For Collaboration
• Amber Tongate (Tates Creek)
• Oprah phenomenon
• Invite your teachers to join and emphasize
  eating out (Remember where we are located)

3
Share your Objectives
Identify high quality YA fiction Increase a
teachers ability to recommend titles to
students Encourage teachers to use YA fiction in
their classrooms Recognize the current/popular
trends in YA fiction Build collaborative
relationships Offer great, outstanding, high
quality PD
4
Your Personal Goals

• To increase collaboration
• To encourage teachers to read young adult books
• To create a sense of urgency
• To get my staff out of our negative mode and
  learn how to enjoy school, reading, and one
  another

5
Participants

• Open the club to everyone include classified
  staff
• Retired teachers
• Substitute teachers
• Central Office
• College Students

6
Requirements

• Read the book
• Fill out a reflection sheet
• Participate in the discussion
• Meetings last 1.5 hours PD credit earned is 1.5
  hours

7
Books

• Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn
• Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
• Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
• Feed by M.T. Anderson
• Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You by Dorian
  Cirrone

8

• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
• The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
• Cut by Patricia McCormick
• Crank by Ellen Hopkins
• Daniel Half-Human and the Good Nazi by David
  Chotjewitz
• Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
• ?

9
Activities including Reading Strategies

• Teen Pop Quiz www.voya.com
• Anticipation Guide See your handout
• Personal Interest Survey Available on the
  Internet
• Author Web Sites Discussion questions
• Author Blogs
• Articles (Why should young adults read Holocaust
  literature, anyway?)

10

• Using Picture Books with High School students
  The Cats of Krazinski Square
• Shared Jim Treleases Read Aloud Handbook and an
  article entitled, Change the Literacy Depression
  in your school Read Teens a Story!
• Discussion Survey - Speaking Volumes How to Get
  Students Discussing Books and Much More by Barry
  Gilmore.
• Collection tie-ins Books/DVDs on Bullying
  (Nineteen Minutes)

11
Teen Pop Quiz from Voya

• pop_culture_quiz

12
Documentation

• Agendas and Attendance Sheets
• Reflection Sheets
• Handouts
• PR Posters
• Book Discussion Guides (teachers have asked for
  these)
• Pretty much everything

13
Unbelievable Results

• Teachers discussing books everywhere
• Students waiting for our meetings to end so they
  can check out the books
• Teachers booktalking for other teachers
• Teachers using some of the strategies and
  learning new ones
• Teachers getting to know one another KTIP Time
• The male teachers participating like they have
  (huge surprise)
• And the teachers cant believe how much I read

14
Helpful Hints

• You must keep things moving
• You need a very opinionated member
• You need a best friend to join to keep you
  grounded and from going crazy
• You need to recognize these people
• And selecting the right book is so stressful so
  be prepared

15
Goals for Next Year

• Attended NECC in Atlanta and I am sooo behind
• Try and start a teacher book club blog in the
  hopes they will try to use blogs in their
  classroom (please keep me in your prayers)
• Purchase an iPod and try to learn how to download
  e-books (as well as everything else).
• Have the book club read a Bluegrass book