Book Club: Let's Talk Books! (Middle School)

Reading is meant to be a social encounter! Someone writes those words and someone reads them. Our social interaction can end there but it really shouldn't. Once that book is read, we should talk about it with others. Books are ideas - windows into the world and mirrors that reflect our own experience back to us. Taking the opportunity to discuss the ideas presented in books can make them powerful tools for fostering empathy, mindfulness, and self-awareness. 

During each class - students can come prepared to talk through any book they are reading or have read and we'll participate in a conversation that goes takes us beyond summary and into the themes, character development, writing craft, lenses of literary criticism, application to self, and comparison to other stories in the world. 

This class functions as a book group and feels informal while digging deep into the nitty-gritty of any book your student is reading. Additionally, we'll discuss what works for us in books and what does not. What makes a book great for us and what really feels distasteful. I'll provide suggestions for next or additional reads based on these discussions. While this is a student-driven class and therefore no meeting will look exactly like another, I do have many discussion facilitation tricks and skills up my ample teacher sleeve for those moments. I'm ready to help all learners talk about books no matter what their current relationship with reading or discussion might be. 

All readers from reluctant to enthusiastic are welcome!  Pop in for one discussion, or every discussion. It's entirely up to you.