dystopian book clubs

Dystopian Book Clubs

Lucy Calkins and Mary Ehrenworth, Series Editors

Katy WischowPhotography by Peter Cunningham

heinemann ◆ Portsmouth, NH

6750_Calkins_Dystopian.indd 1 10/30/17 2:03 PM

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For all the teachers who inspire kids to make their corners of the world more just and fair.

Heinemann 361 Hanover Street Portsmouth, NH 03801–3912 www.heinemann.com

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© 2018 by Lucy Calkins and Katy Wischow

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review, with the exception of reproducible pages, which are identified by the Dystopian Book Clubs copyright line and can be photocopied for classroom use only.

The author has dedicated a great deal of time and effort to writing the content of this book, and her written expression is protected by copyright law. We respectfully ask that you do not adapt, reuse, or copy anything on third-party (whether for-profit or not-for-profit) lesson-sharing websites. As always, we’re happy to answer any questions you may have.

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“Dedicated to Teachers” is a trademark of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.

The author and publisher wish to thank those who have generously given permission to reprint borrowed material:

“Ponies” © 2010 by Kij Johnson. Originally published on Tor.com (2010) and reprinted with permission from At the Mouth of the River of Bees (Small Beer Press, 2012).

“This Is Just to Say,” by William Carlos Williams, from The Collected Poems: Volume I, 1909–1939, © 1938 by New Directions Publishing Corp. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. and Carcanet Press Limited.

Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the Library of Congress.

ISBN-13: 978-0-325-09904-0

Editors: Tracy Wells and Anna Gratz Cockerille Production: Elizabeth Valway Cover and interior designs: Jenny Jensen Greenleaf Photography: Peter Cunningham, Amanda Thattanakham, Nadine Baldasare, and David StirlingIllustrations: Marjorie Martinelli, Hilary Andaya, Carl Ciaramitaro, and Eric Hand Composition: Publishers’ Design and Production Services, Inc. Manufacturing: Steve Bernier

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 22 21 20 19 18 PAH 1 2 3 4 5


Sample session from Dystopian Book Clubs © 2018 by Lucy Calkins. All rights reserved. Published by Heinemann.

For more information, visit UnitsofStudy.com/MSReading

http://www.unitsofstudy.com/middleschoolreading/

27

MINILESSON

CONNECTION

Introduce the idea of archetypes by connecting to the concept of social roles.

“Readers, for just a second, would you look at this list and think, ‘What’s this a list of? What could be the title of this list?’” I said, and displayed this list:

The Bully

The Jock

G E T T I N G R E A D Y

✔✔ Create a list of school archetypes on chart paper (see Connection).

✔✔ Display the “Common Archetypes in Dystopian Fiction” one-day chart (see Teaching).

✔✔ Display the “Ways to Use Archetypes to Get to Know Characters” one-day chart (see Teaching and Active Engagement).

✔✔ Prepare to add to the “Dystopian Novels Usually . . . So Readers . . .” anchor chart (see Link).

✔✔ Distribute Post-its in a special color as needed to help students who struggle with shifting timelines (see Conferring and Small-Group Work).

I N T H I S S E S S I O N

Today you’ll teach students that read-ers of dystopia think about how closely characters fit the common archetypes of the genre, and when those characters diverge from the archetypes, readers use those differences to push their thinking further.

Today your sTudenTs will have a long stretch of time to read, and along with other goals they set, many students will consider how well the characters in their books fit the archetypes. They will not hold a club meeting today but will share some of how they are collecting their thinking in notebooks to wrap up the session.

Session 3

Noticing Dystopian Archetypes





28 DystopianBookClubs

The Suck-Up

The Shy Kid

The Artist

“Talk to your partner about your thoughts,” I said, and then after a minute, I convened the class. “I heard a lot of you laughing. Someone said this could be a list of some of the people in our school. I even heard one of you say this was like the list of kids on a Tv show that takes place in a school.”

Connect student understanding of roles in life to the literary term archetype.

“I want us to think more about that, because I think that’s a really insightful comment. The truth is that when produc-ers make a Tv show, they come up with characters who stand for—who represent—certain kinds of people. And the interesting thing is that very different shows might still have characters who fit these same descriptors. It’s like these are agreed-upon shortcuts for real people.

“Just like in life, or on a Tv show, book genres often have these character shortcuts—and the literary term for them is archetypes. An archetype is a typical kind of character you’d find in a genre. We could title this list ‘School Archetypes’ because it’s a list of typical kinds of people in a school drama.”

I jotted this title at the top of the list.

“Dystopian novels usually rely on archetypes. And because they do, because that’s a tradition in this genre, we get to do some really fascinating work as readers that will help us to push our thinking about the characters in these stories.”

Name the teaching point.

“Today I want to teach you that when reading dystopian novels, readers keep in mind that the characters are often archetypes. Knowing this leads readers to predict what will happen in a story, and to understand why things happen as they do.”

TEACHING

Display a chart of some common archetypes students are apt to encounter in dystopia, and explain that readers can think about whether the characters in a story may be archetypes.

“Let’s try to read ‘Ponies,’ this time letting our knowledge of archetypes influence how we read. We want our knowl-edge of the genre to make us better readers of particular dystopian books.

D





Session3:NoticingDystopianArchetypes 29

“So to start, we need to figure out what archetypes might be at work in a particular text. To do that work, it helps to start by just filling our minds with possible archetypes. I’ve posted this chart of common archetypes in dystopian stories. These archetypes won’t all be in every story—and characters won’t always fit these roles perfectly—but it’s interesting to look at the characters in a particular story with this list in mind, thinking whether a specific character might be in the story not only as an individual but also as this kind of a person, or you could say, as an archetype.”

Demonstrate how you consider which archetype a character from the read-aloud text might be, and show how you identify text evidence to support your theory.

“Now that we have a sense of some of the dystopian archetypes, we might next zoom in on a spe-cific character—let’s take TopGirl, but it could be any character—and now we need to think, ‘Might TopGirl be an archetype? If so, which archetype is she?” I pointed to the list and gave the kids a moment to start doing the work ahead of me.

“Is TopGirl a Hero? A sidekick? How about the villain? What do you think?”

Many of the kids murmured that yes, she did seem to be a villain, and I said, “Once you get a hunch, the next thing you’ll need to do is think back over the story to check whether you can find evidence for your hunch.” I gestured to the story, which I had displayed, then paused to study the text and think. I continued, “Well, when she first appears in the story, she insults Sunny. That feels like a clue about her character. Then, she tries to force Barbara to cut out Sunny’s voice, after Barbara has already cut out Sunny’s wings and horn. And she abandons Barbara after Sunny is destroyed. Yes, that feels pretty villainous to me. She seems to be the one enforcing and protecting the evil rules of this place.”

Think aloud about how identifying an archetype can help push your thinking about a character.

“So you’ll remember our chart. You know this about the genre of dystopian fiction,” and I pointed to the left-hand column of the “Dystopian Novels Usually . . . So Readers . . .” anchor chart to remind kids that they’ve been collecting observations about the genre. “And so as a reader, that means that to read powerfully, it will help to . . . what?” and I pointed to the right column. I nodded, as if agreeing with what the students were already thinking. “Yes, if we know this girl is the villain, or a mother figure, or anything else, we can use that knowledge to get to know the character better and to help us predict how the plotline of the story is apt to unfold.

“So for example, I realize that TopGirl is not just an important girl—the top one—but that she seems to be the villain in this story. When she acts mean to Barbara, am I expecting she’s going to learn the error of her ways and relent? No! I’m thinking she’s the bad guy. She will keep on being awful. That’s her role in the story. I can totally picture her at the end of the story, sneering at Barbara like she’s nothing. She’ll still be acting villainous, because that’s her role.

It can be incredibly powerful to give kids a moment to think during your demonstration. You’re aiming for kids to be bursting with ideas that they can then compare to your thinking.

The reason to move quickly to using archetypes, versus just identifying them, is to avoid lead-ing kids to spend a lot of time naming arche-types and moving on. That’s the lowest-hanging fruit and won’t push kids thinking as far as hav-ing them use those archetypes to further their thinking.






“Do you see how our knowledge that TopGirl is an archetype helps us predict how the story will go? Here’s an added tip: Our knowledge that there are archetypes in dystopian stories also helps us understand why people act as they do, what the characters’ motivations might be for their actions.

“Let’s try it. Let’s think, for example, of why TopGirl invited Barbara to the party in the first place. True confession: When I first read that, I thought TopGirl was being nice. She wanted Barbara to succeed and join the group. But . . . now that we know TopGirl is the villain in the story, what do we think her motivations are?”

Kids called out, and I nodded. “Absolutely, we’re thinking that because she’s a villain, she invited Barbara over for evil reasons. As the villain, she has the power to do evil, and someone has to hold these cutting-out parties. As the villain, TopGirl is the one to do so.”

Recap, highlighting your thinking moves that kids could also try.

“So, readers, do you see that we can read dystopian books differently once we realize they often contain archetypes? We can first think about which archetypes are represented by the characters in the text. Then we can use our knowledge about those archetypes to predict how the characters will act, how the plot will unfold. Lastly, we can use our knowledge about archetypes to form theories about the characters’ motivations for their actions.”

ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT

Invite kids to try this work with a character from their own books.

“Now, give it a try in your own books. Turn to your partner and see if you can do this thinking about a character in your club book. First, ask yourself whether that character could be an archetype and look down the list to see which one he or she might be. Then think about what you know about that arche-type, and use that knowledge to predict what the character will do—how that character’s actions will move the plot forward. Then think a little more deeply about that archetype to form theories about what motivates your character to act.”

I circulated, listening to student conversation. I coached some partners to refer to the “Ways to Use Archetypes to Get to Know Characters” chart and nudging some partnerships to push each other more. To one student I offered, “What are you wondering about the character? Maybe thinking about the archetype can help you answer that question.” To another partnership, I drew their attention back to the text, saying, “Oh, what makes you say that?”

It’s helpful to vary the texts kids think about in the active engagement—the read-aloud or their own books. Keep that balance in mind as you make decisions further into the unit.






LINK

Remind readers of how today’s minilesson fits into the bigger goal of using the genre to suggest fascinating reading work.

“Readers, you got just a taste of working with archetypes in the lesson, but I know a lot of you are eager to do this work with other characters in your club books. But remember that you’ve learned a lot about the work that readers of dystopian fiction do—figuring out how the world went awry, learning the rules and customs that characters have to follow, and thinking about how characters respond to power. Now you know yet more work that readers of dystopian stories tend to do. You know that you can use your knowledge of archetypes to help you think more about the character. It’s so interesting to see that the genre we’re reading opens the door to do some different reading work! I’ll add this work to the anchor chart.”

Dystopian Novels Usually . . .

• Are set in a future where things have gone awry.

• Have a lot of rules or customs the char-acters have to follow.

• Have characters that challenge or break some of the rules or customs of the world.

• Have characters that respond in differ-ent ways to power. Some characters:• Seek it• Resist it• Exert it• Submit to it

• Use character archetypes.

So Readers . . .

• Consider how things have gone awry in the future world of their book.

• Take note of ways rules affect the characters.

• Watch for ways in which characters challenge or break some of the rules or customs of the world.

• Think more deeply about characters by considering how they respond to power.

• Get to know their characters, thinking about archetypes.

ANCHOR CHART






Encourage students to plan their thinking and how they will track that thinking.

“Before you go off to read, look at the anchor chart and think about two things. What thinking work do you want to be doing, and how will you keep track of that thinking? You might be thinking about archetypes, and you plan on jotting a quick Post-it near a part of the text that makes you think about an archetype. Or maybe you’re thinking about who has power, and you plan on writing down quick additions to a chart you started to track power. Remember that whatever you’re tracking, you don’t want to spend lots of your reading time jotting, so make sure your writing is about getting your ideas captured, not making your notebook perfect.

“Take a moment to think about what work you need to do today. And when you’ve got it—get started!”






BY THIS POINT, YOUR STUDENTS are probably eighty to ninety pages into their novels. Even your strongest readers may be running up against some confusion, and some of this confusion is predictable, even intentional, in complex

texts. Today, consider leading some conferences and small groups to support students in tackling particular kinds of confusion students may have around:

✔y multiple narrators

✔y shifting timelines

✔y misunderstood information.

The following table offers some suggestions.

CONFERRING AND SMALL-GROUP WORK

Supporting Readers through Confusion toward Clarity






If you see . . . Then you can try . . .

Readers are confused by multiple narrators

First, be sure that readers have noticed the systems that authors use to signal who is narrating the chapter or section. In most cases, the author tells the readers directly, by putting the narrator’s name on the chapter, as in Marie Lu’s Legend. In some cases, the author uses a different font, too.Nonetheless, many readers zoom past these cues, only to pause a few chapters in, wondering why the setting or facts are changing. Simply pointing out these conventions can be a game-changer for kids. If readers still have trouble keeping track of these perspectives, you could help them develop a system to jot about their reading that takes perspective into account, like a T-chart that lets them collect their ideas separately for each narrator’s sections.

Readers are confused by shifting timelines

Teach these readers to temporarily use a measure like jotting a quick timeline on a Post-it that they can move through the book as they read until they’re situated. Unless a book’s timeline is particularly complex, these students may not need a scaffold like this for long, but it can work wonders in sorting out confusion up front.For other readers struggling with a book’s many flashbacks, sometimes the problem is that it’s hard to stay in the main story when it gets interrupted frequently. These readers could benefit from a dedicated Post-it color that they use whenever they read a part that feels out of order, jotting a quick note to themselves about what that flashback or flash-forward makes them think or helps them realize.Finally, some readers might also be missing the ways that authors signal time shifts. Sometimes, as with changing narrators, the clue is simply a time stamp on a chapter. Other times, it’s subtler. A group of students who struggle particularly with this might conduct a quick inquiry into “Ways to tell that time is shifting” and note things like a row of asterisks, a phrase like “I remember,” or a sudden change in the weather or setting.

Readers are confused because they missed some key information early on

You will want to help them unravel this confusion quickly! A student reading Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver series who misses the fact that Sam is a wolf, for example, will be mightily confused as the book goes on. In the case of Shiver, as well as most books where kids miss crucial information, the author never says Sam is a wolf, but in the first chapter that features Sam there are enough references to make it clear. This is a good time to return to a tip you may have offered before—that once you’ve read a bit, it can pay off to return to the beginning of the book and reread, noticing what you may have missed and clearing up confusion.






Set up an opportunity for readers to see how club members are tracking their thinking.

“At the end of the minilesson today, you all planned what thinking work you were going to try to do and how you were going to track that thinking. And as I’ve walked around today, I’ve seen a lot of you doing a fantastic job carrying out those plans. Let’s celebrate that, quickly. Can you find a page of your notebook or a part of your book that shows off your thinking today? It might be a page with a Post-it on it, or a set of Post-its on a notebook page. When you find that page, do a little preparation to present it to your club. Get ready to explain not just the thinking you were doing, but also about the methods you used to help your thinking. Did you decide to write a short note or series of notes, or did you write longer? Did you choose any special formats or structures to help push your thinking?”

I gave students a moment to do this, then asked them to gather with their club. “Okay, with your club—it’s time to show off! Pass your work around the table so each club member gets a chance to see everyone else’s work, and club members, admire that. Notice if a club member tracked something especially interesting that you’d like to study, or did that tracking in a really cool way you’d like to try.”

At the end of the session, I called for students’ attention for a quick debrief. “Readers, I could tell from your conversa-tions that a lot of you are being purposeful not just in what you write, but also how you write. Doing this will serve you well in all your reading. One tip—remember to draw on ways of writing about your reading that you know from previous reading units, like building theory charts to track characters’ traits, or making timelines or sketches to help you make sense of what is happening in the story.” I ended the session by urging clubs to check in on homework: “Readers, in the last minute of class, would you check in with your club and make sure you all know what to do for homework? Yesterday you planned how far you’d have read before tomorrow’s club talk. Double-check that everyone is on track!”

SESSION 3 HOMEWORK

PREPARING FOR A CLUB TALK

Readers, tonight you will carry out the reading plan that your club made. How many pages did your club agree to read tonight? What kind of jotting should you be doing to be ready for your next club discussion? Read and jot, knowing you’ll talk tomorrow—that means coming with the pages flagged and with a few burning questions or ideas.

SHARE

Sharing Methods of Tracking Your Thinking





71

MINILESSON

CONNECTION

Ask students to consider the question of why series are so compelling.

I invited readers to join me in the meeting area and sit with their clubs, then said, “Readers, let’s talk about binge watching! Show me a thumbs up if you’ve binge watched shows on Netflix, or Hulu, or anything else.”

Most thumbs went up amid laughter. I put my thumb up and said, “Me too! And I’ll admit that’s one of the things I did this weekend—I watched seven or eight episodes of a new show I found on Netflix, and it was awesome! It got me wondering, though, about reading. You’re all reading in

G E T T I N G R E A D Y

✔✔ Prepare a “What’s Challenging about Reading Series?” chart to capture students’ ideas. This will become the anchor chart for this bend (see Teaching and Active Engagement).

✔✔ Jot down a list of helpful things to think about at the beginning, middle, and end of books to support students who need help jotting about their second book (see Conferring and Small-Group Work).

✔✔ Collect some anchor charts from previous units to support students in figuring out strategies to bring into their reading (see Conferring and Small-Group Work).

I N T H I S S E S S I O N

Today you’ll teach students that read-ers understand that book series can get complex, so they find ways to track the significant parts of the story to clear up confusion.

Today your sTudenTs will conduct an inquiry into how book series are complex and brainstorm ways to resolve any confusion. students will have about twenty-five to thirty minutes to read, applying the results of this inquiry to their own novels. They won’t have time to meet in clubs today.

Session 9

Figuring Out What Makes Series Reading Complex






series, and a lot of my reading is in series, too—but why? Why are series books—and Tv series, and podcast series and web series—so popular?”

I paused for a moment. “I think that one reason, for me, is that you get to follow a story for longer—you don’t want to stop after just one episode, or two, or three, because you want to know what happens to the characters next, and what changes, and how different problems will get solved. What do you think? Turn and tell your partner—what is it about series that gets people hooked? Turn and talk about that.”

The room erupted into conversation about series.

Reconvening the group, I said, “Readers, I’m hearing you say things like, ‘It’s addictive!’ and ‘A lot more can happen to the characters’ and ‘It’s like making a new friend—you want to see them all the time and find out what happened to them.’ I completely agree. There are so many fascinating things about series of all sorts, and these things can lead us to equally fascinating reading strategies.”

Turn students’ attention to the challenges that series can pose, and rally students to investigate these special challenges of reading long series books.

“But I’m also wondering about the things that are hard about series—about Tv series and web series, for sure, but I’m especially wondering about what is challenging in our book series.

“One thing I’ve noticed is that these series are long! You might be thinking, ‘Well, duh!’ But it’s pretty remarkable, actually. Books written for kids and teenagers didn’t used to be quite so long, but think about the Divergent series—it has 1,760 pages. The Maze Runner series has 1,905 pages!

“And here’s the thing—lots of people study what makes dystopian novels dystopian, like we did in our last bend. But there’s not as much out there to help kids and teachers think about how to get really good at reading a long series. So I was thinking, if you’re game, that we could investigate this together. We could figure out what makes this kind of reading—long, complicated, fascinating series—challenging. Then we could figure out what readers do about it—just like in the last bend, we figured out what was special about dystopia and what we could do as readers of dystopia.

“This will help our class, but also, this is work that could help kids around the world who are, more and more, reading these long series. You could be innovators of some fascinating work to share with readers everywhere. What do you think? Are you up for this?”

Name the questions that will guide your inquiry.

“Today let’s investigate these questions: ‘What’s challenging about reading series?’ and ‘How can readers tackle these challenges?’”

As you plan this bend, take some time to think about your own answers to these questions for books, but also for TV shows and movies. Many of us are devoted followers of series, and the strategies we use to enjoy following these series will be useful to share with kids.

D





Session9:FiguringOutWhatMakesSeriesReadingComplex 73

TEACHING and ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT

Suggest a way for clubs to start the first part of the inquiry, and provide a quick demonstration of how the talk might sound.

I posted the inquiry questions on a blank chart—which would become our anchor chart—for students to see.

Then I said, “You might start by recalling some places in your books that felt hard, and thinking about why that was. For example, when I read the Divergent series, when I was in the middle of book two I was so confused. There were battles going on, plus the decisions about who would lead the community, plus all the drama going on with Tris and her friends. It was hard to keep track of so many different storylines. What do you all think? Does that feel familiar?”

Some kids nodded and grinned at club mates. I continued, “So, we might say that something challenging in long stories is keeping track of different plots happening at the same time. Do you think that sounds right?”

Invite clubs to talk, and coach them along the way to lift the level of the inquiry.

“Go ahead and try this out with your clubs. What has felt especially challenging in your series? Or even in other series you’ve read or watched before?”

As clubs started to talk, I listened and voiced over, “Try to think of things that will be hard for lots of kids across lots of series books!”

Name and chart the big ideas that clubs came up with.

Reconvening the group after a few minutes, I gestured back to the T-chart and said, “Let’s add some of what you said to the chart. I heard a lot of groups say that series can be hard because there are just so many characters to remember. And some of you said that you’ve found that the hardest thing is just to remember what happened in earlier books, or even at the beginning of the book you’re in! A few of you noticed that in series, the action sometimes happens in a lot of different settings, and that can be hard—especially when the author doesn’t make it clear that you’ve moved!”

Some readers will resist naming anything as challenging, and suggesting they think about what other readers would find difficult can help.






I added these items to the “What’s Challenging about Reading Series?” anchor chart.

Shift clubs toward thinking about the second question and offer a suggestion to make their thinking more productive.

“Now let’s try tackling that second inquiry question: How can readers tackle these challenges? You have years’ worth of reading experiences to draw on. One tip I can give you is to ask yourself, ‘What would you tell a younger kid, maybe a younger sibling of yours, who was having this challenge?’ You wouldn’t just say ‘Try harder’ or ‘Think about it’—you’d probably have some specific advice. That’s what you want to brainstorm now.

“We’ve got four big challenges up here on our chart—let’s have these two clubs tackle the first one, these two try the second, these two try the third, and this last club take on the last challenge.” I gestured to indicate the clubs I meant, then said “Go!”

Clubs began talking again and I moved among the clubs, lis-tening in and coaching students to be more specific. I offered tips like “What would a teacher probably say to you if you had this challenge?” and “Is there a way that Post-it notes or a notebook could help you with that challenge?”

Sum up clubs’ conversation by naming similarities in the advice they gave.

After a few minutes, I again called the class back and named some of the strategies they developed. “Readers, as I listened to you talk, I was struck by how similar your suggestions were! There were a lot of things you could do to deal with one challenge that might also help you with another challenge.

“For example, the Matched club said they would deal with forgetting events by going back and rereading little bits of the last book—just the really important parts. But The Hunger Games club said that rereading specific parts would also help them keep track of lots of characters! And almost every club said they could use their notebooks to help them. One club said they could hold onto plotlines that got confusing by making a few quick timelines. Another club suggested that if the settings changed a lot, they might stick a special color of Post-it in the book whenever there was a new place.






“I’ll add our answers to the chart.”

LINK

Note how this inquiry could help students’ reading go better and encourage students to notice other ways that reading series can be challenging.

“Readers, just this quick inquiry got us started thinking about what makes this kind of reading complex—and it turns out there are a lot of ways!—and what we can do about it. Knowing this can help you as you read because you’ll know what to expect and you’ll be ready to tackle what feels tricky instead of feeling bad about it. Throughout this bend, we’ll investigate some other ways to do this.

“As you read, you might notice other things about your long series reading that belong on our chart. Will you jot those down so we can think about them together?”






a new novel. Since students at this point are starting or already into the second book in their dystopian series, this is a great time to check in on how well that transfer work is going, and teach into it.

A S STUDENTS READ TODAY, and as you confer and lead small groups, one thing that will likely be on your mind is whether students are deliberately carrying the

work they did in Bend I (and, really, their previous reading units) into a new bend and

CONFERRING AND SMALL-GROUP WORK

Encouraging Students to Build and Use Their Repertoire

If you see . . . Then you can try . . .

Readers are jotting a lot less about the second book than they did about the first

You might begin by saying, “I’ve noticed that you were doing a terrific amount of jotting early in your series, and it’s dropped off a lot since then. This can happen as you get further into a series, and one reason is that when you start book two, even though it’s the beginning of a new book, it’s also more like the middle of the story. So I thought it would be helpful for us to think together about what you could think about as you’re reading different parts of a series.“Here’s a list of things readers often find helpful to think about at the beginning, middle, and end of books. Can we think together about how we could revise this list to be beginnings, middles, and ends of series?”Beginning Get to know characters Hints of the problemMiddle Themes starting to emerge Obstacles characters deal withEnd Themes that seem important Character change How problems get solved

Readers don’t have a goal or plan, or set a goal that is simply the work of the day’s minilesson

“Readers, do you know why I often refer to the things I teach you as tools? Because I envision everything we do all year long as a giant toolbox, and you pick the tools you need to accomplish your goals. I gathered you together because I’m noticing that a lot of times, you’re using just the tool I taught you that day. I’m thinking you could use a chance to dig into your toolbox and see what you’ve forgotten about that could help your reading.“I brought over some anchor charts from the other units we’ve worked on this year. Can you reread them and jot down a plan for three or four of the strategies you want to bring back into your reading?”






Invite readers to think about ways to tackle challenges in long TV series and see if those methods would support their reading as well.

“Readers, before we end today I want to bring us back to where we started—binge watching! We figured out together some of the ways that series can be complicated, and what we can do about it, but I think there’s another way we can really quickly add to that thinking. Think for a moment about when you do watch Tv shows or watch Web series. When you get far into a show and realize you’ve lost track of something, what do you do?”

Students began talking, and after a minute or two I pulled them back together. “You know what’s so interesting? You named some different ways of handling trouble in shows than you did for reading. Some were the same, of course—like rereading, or rewatching—important bits. But you also said things like pausing to talk or text with a friend who was watching the same show, to help remind you of what happened, or doing an internet search to remind you who the character was.

“I wonder if any of what you said would also help your reading. Turn and talk one more time. Could any of your Tv strategies help you with reading?”

After a minute of talk, I reconvened the group and asked them to take just a minute to check in with their clubs about homework.

SESSION 9 HOMEWORK

READING AND NOTICING WHEN CHALLENGES EMERGE

Readers, tonight will you be sure to read on to the part of the book your club agreed on, and while you do that, stay alert to some of the challenges that your book poses? Maybe you’ll notice that there are a lot of characters, or different plotlines to track, or maybe you’ll notice something else altogether. Jot down or mark places in your book where you notice challenges, so you can bring those back to class.

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