Synthesis Blog 5

As we’ve read through Subjects Matter this semester, we have seen many ways that students can engage with text, improve literacy, and how we, as teachers, can aid all of these. As we transition in class to starting our own book clubs, it has been very helpful to read the chapter in Subjects Matter about book clubs and all the ways they accomplish certain literary goals, and we’ve also been able to see pitfalls that could occur as our classroom takes on book clubs. I believe this helps us learn what it looks like to organize these types of activities and groups, but because we are participating in a book club, we can see first hand how ideas in Subjects Matter are valid and true.

I believe, as the book discusses, roles should be assigned to students for book clubs. Still being a student myself, the idea of group members pulling all the weight or slacking off is all too familiar. As Subjects Matter says, “these structured discussion groups combine two powerful educational ideas: collaborative learning and independent reading” (page 243).  I believe reading groups help to bring in skills that are unique to this specific learning task/tool, and they provide a format for students to truly learn about ideas discussed in a text because they are analyzing the text individually, with a group, and then being assessed through creative assignments.

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