Tomorrow is the first day of school and I'm doing something I've never really done before--I'm pretty much doing "Book Talk" in two of my three courses. I thought long and hard about it, and decided that I'm going to come out of the gates swinging. I've been teaching now for 14 years (*silent scream*--No, I can't believe it!), and the kids know what I'm about and I don't often have to set the stage. Why spend the first day reading my disclosure document, handing out rule books, and explaining school policies? I want to get them excited about reading and use that to set the stage for our year. I hope it works!
One of the things I've noticed that gets my students interested in reading is a continued enthusiasm on my part for all things book related. The more often I can share what I'm reading, let them share what they're reading, or share what they could be reading--the better! So, tomorrow I'm going to do this cool little book talk activity to introduce two of my classes. (AP Lit. gets to dive in on a discussion of Frankenstein, so it's a different type of "Book Talk," I suppose.)
We'll see how it goes, but I have a feeling that it's going to be a lot better than some of my normal methods. Besides, it's all about books. How can you go wrong with awesome books?!?
Sounds like such a great idea!! Your students are lucky to have you as their teacher. I wish I was in your class. Good luck tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteSounds good! I didn't have any teachers talk about course policies and texts until college. It made for an easy first day, though.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! Hope it's the start of a very good year :)
ReplyDeletegreat idea. what grade do you teach? I think it's a wonderful idea. maybe you can have an extra credit book reading program?
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