Forged by Reading:

Power of a Literate Life

RALC BOOK STUDY GROUP

Introductions � *Name � *What you teach � *Fun fact

“So What?”

• Chapter 11 is titled “So What?”
• What is the purpose of this question? How can you start using this question in your practice?

Getting to Know Your Students

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“Because it is through language- written and oral- that students’ identities, empowerment, and independence can begin to emerge” (p. 111).

• Reread the conversation on pages 115-118 in the book.
• What stood out to you in this conversation?
• What role did the teacher play in this conversation?
• Were the standards being addressed?
• What did you take away from this conversation?

Conversation Note-Taking

• Do you keep notes regarding conversations?
• If so, how do you use the notes?

Template is from page 129

“The single best way to improve reading comprehension is to reread something” (p. 130).

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How do you help kids “buy into” rereading?

“It’s the second best way to improve comprehension that requires more discussion. And that’s good that it requires discussion, because it has little do with reading. It’s all about talk” (p. 132).

What opportunities do you give to your students to help them talk about texts?

The Big Three Questions

“Keep reminding the students that their conversations are not debates and that their purpose should not be to defeat the other people with whom they talk but rather to learn from them. Collaboration, rather than combat, is what we are seeking. Encourage students to ask one another for clarification, for an example, for evidence, and for reasons. Encourage them always to be willing to change their minds as they hear a new perspective or a new argument” (p. 139).

From page 140

Fiction and Nonfiction Signposts

Independent Reading

“Independent reading is not simply reading independently, free from the teacher’s control and direction – it is reading that leads to independence, reading that may generate new and previously unimagined ideas about who we are, who we might become, how we might function in the world. It is the sort of reading that might solve the problems our students, as they have poignantly told us, want to address. It is that sort of reading that might answer the questions that matter to them” (p. 153)

How do you promote independent reading? Or, how can independent reading be promoted?

Let’s review the graphic on page 161.

What are your take aways regarding independent reading?

BHH-D

• B (book) = What’s in the book?
• H (head) = What’s in your head?
• H (heart) = What’s in your heart?
• D (action) = What will you now do?

“Reading is the doorway to power. To privilege. To building a mind. To cultivating self-determination. To helping each of us come together to create a society steeped in reason and responsibility and held together by hope and humility. Reading is far more than a window or a mirror. Reading, reading with purpose and passion, with a curious mind and a skeptical eye, is a way to find yourself while crafting yourself; to become independent of manipulation, of control, of a life determined by someone else” (p. 193).