Talking About Books...In Person and Through a Screen

I truly didn't start to love reading until late elementary school, or possibly even middle school. It was around that time that I found YA literature and there was no turning back. The best part and the happiest memories were trading books with my friends and talking about them.

What surprised us, what we laughed about, what made us sad...Some of our teenage sleepovers actually included sitting around and reading books, trading them and talking about them.

As this school year began and I made the move to teaching 7th grade English, those middle school memories came rushing back. I soon realized that I was faced with the 21st century tween/teen. They were raised with screens - TV screens, computer screens, video game screens, cell phone screens and the book screens (Kindles/Nooks). The idea of sitting and reading a book was not at the top of the priority list for most of these students. These kids were abandoning books left and right...just not able to find a good book that would keep their interest.

And so we began our first book clubs of 7th grade. I introduced a pile of books that I had read over the summer - in preparation for the move to middle school - did book talks and did what I could to sell these kids on these books. I wanted them to read, but a selling point was that they would be able to "talk" about the book after with others that had also read it. That first round of book clubs went well, the kids enjoyed the books and the conversation afterwards.

They were looking forward to the next book clubs, and I was trying to figure out how to add to the experience for them.

I love technology and enjoy finding innovative ways to weave tech tools into classroom instruction. After a #litjourney twitterchat and some pondering about how to move book clubs into the 21st century, I decided to pursue online discussion forums for my students. I wanted to give them more opportunities to collaborate, communicate and create discussions around real books.

some screenshots of student discussions online...

I discussed the possibilities with our Technology Teacher at school and explored on my own. We use a Moodle based virtual classroom and discussion forums were available within the virtual platform. I created a discussion forum for each book that we were currently reading; shared with the students, and they were off and running! (Click on the picture above for a larger image)


One of my most resistant readers was one of the first to post in the discussion forum, and he did it from home! The kids were excited about this, and as I shared during the next class what was happening virtually, more students were interested and more posts were coming.

We are continuing to have our face-to-face book club meetings, but with this added feature, there is more discussion and the discussion about literature is happening at all hours of the day and night. I am receiving online posts from the breakfast table, at midnight on Friday night, Sunday morning, and throughout the afterschool evening hours.

The reactions from the students have been fun to watch. Some took to the excitement of talking about books through a computer right away, and wanted to try it out. Others had to be convinced.

As we continue to move students into the 21st century and help them create, collaborate and communicate - we need to provide opportunities for them to have meaningful discussions. I'm looking forward to more analytical book discussions, whether it be online or face-to face.

Motivating students to read, and giving them a variety of ways to share their reading is a facet of my classroom that I hope to see grow as the students grow in their exploration of literature and their communication skills!