Booktalks in the Middle

One of the English teachers in my school has her students complete booktalks each marking period. Students have been completing this assignment while in the library for book checkout, so I have been able to listen to them talk about the books they are reading and give them ratings. It's always interesting to hear what kids think about the books from the library, as well as see what books they bring from home and the public library.

A couple of the books students have shared recently include:

Animal Grossapedia by Melissa Stewart

This one cracked us all up. Students have to read a passage from the book that they want to share with others. The student who shared this book read a passage about goats "dating." The entire class was clamoring to check this book out after hearing about it through a booktalk.

Half Upon a Time by James Riley

I'm so glad that a student brought this book to talk about. It was a new book to me and the booktalk was intriguing. Twisted and fractured fairy tales are often popular, so I added the series to our library.








What I'm enjoying most about the booktalks is having the opportunity to hear uncensored opinions and ratings of books. Students often check out books and then I don't hear as much back as I would like unless it is something they are raving about and a bunch of other students want to put the book on hold. I like to hear the "eh" opinions and the "no way" opinions as well because it helps me think differently about selection.

I think getting kids thinking critically about and talking about what they have read is such an important component of what librarians and educators do in support of literacy. How do you get kids talking about the books they have read?

A Visit from Dr. Marc Aronson

Author visits always seem like a good idea--and I never back down from the opportunity. Over the summer, the MAME listserv received a post about Dr. Marc Aronson being available to visit schools during his time in Michigan for the MAME fall conference. I jumped at the chance--despite not actually knowing how I would get students prepared. It turns out I worried for nothing. Two wonderful teachers stepped up and did a great job of getting students ready for the visit and Dr. Aronson made two presentations: one to about 45 eighth graders and one to about 35 sixth graders.

I was most impressed with Dr. Aronson's ease with my students. Although many authors say they like large groups and lots of questions, that is not always the reality. It seemed to me that Dr. Aronson is most comfortable when he is interacting based on student questioning. He talked a lot about asking questions and curiosity as the way good research ends up happening and told our students that, "Behind every answer lurks a new question."

I love the idea that research is about curiosity. This makes me think that we need to spend even more time in schools encouraging kids to ask questions. It's not enough for them to learn content and have answers. Being able to think critically and ask questions that make them want to learn and know more are the skills we want to be fostering in order to prepare students for college and beyond.

What strategies are you using to get students asking good questions regarding topics they care about?