Reading and Talking Together

with Community Book Clubs

Jennifer L. Wilsonjlwilson@mailbox.sc.edu

ELMLE ConferenceJanuary 2011

Purpose

• Encourage reading and talking about books

• Create choice

• Support classroom practices

• Promote a literacy community

We believe that…• Literacy is a dynamic transaction between a reader and a

text (Rosenblatt, 1977)

• Literacy programs that successfully teach adolescents should intentionally emphasize this connection between students’ in-school and out-of-school lives, especially with the texts they read (Langer, 2001, 2002; Gutierrez, 2009)

• Educators should present adolescents with diverse texts that offer multiple perspectives on real life experiences and question social, political, and historical perspectives (NCTE, 2002, 2007)

• No text is neutral and always represents someone’s point of view (Luke & Freebody, 1997)

• Students need opportunities to generate ideas and knowledge for their own uses through dialogue with other readers, dialogue that questions the author’s point-of-view, leads to diverse interpretations, and has the potential to deepen readers’ understandings of the text.

• Community book clubs bring together these aspects of students’ lives.

Traditional Book Club vs.

Supported Literacy Club

• Population targeted

• Type of text

• Format of the event

• Non-negotiables

Supported Literacy Club

• Shared reading of a short story

• Respond together via graffiti board

• Share out

• Exit Slip

Implications for Teaching

• Multiple experiences offer choice and meet the unique needs and interests within the community

• Extends and enhances the classroom literacy engagements

• Builds a literacy community that includes parents

Questions?

Jennifer L. WilsonUniversity of South Carolinajlwilson@mailbox.sc.edu