Reading Matters Winter 2019

sentences about themselves. The teachers participated as well in the introductions. Students also had to be interested in the text. Teachers provided a book hook to get students excited about reading the chosen text. The text selected was The Lemonade War which matched the selected students reading level. Teachers introduced the two main characters from the book and asked students to decide which character they thought they would be most like as a way to engage them as readers. Students were then able to post their idea on SeeSaw and the other book club members from both schools could read and comment on what each student stated. It was the perfect way to get students excited not only about the text but also about talking with others about a book. Next, students were assigned some chapters to read independently before the first virtual book club meeting was held. Students were also assigned the responsibility of recording two questions that came to their minds as they were reading that they were able to use for their book club discussion. For the majority of the Virtual Book Club sessions, the site Today’s Meet was used. This turned out to be very successful. Students caught on quickly to the chat messaging system and were able to ask and answer questions about the book being read. It was also beneficial to the teachers because the teachers were able to print a copy of the transcript of the entire book club meeting and use it to assess how students were progressing towards the goal of becoming independent thinkers and talkers about a given text. The other successful point to note about using a chat messaging system such as Today’s Meet was that it allowed for instruction to continue for the other students in the classroom. While the Virtual Book Club was occurring in one corner of the classroom, the teacher was able to still meet with the lower readers at the guided reading table uninterrupted. The teacher could simply check in on the Virtual Book Club members by looking at the conversation transcript on her laptop. It was a great way for a teacher to be in two places at once meeting the various learning needs of a diverse group of learners. We also wanted to allow students the ability to see each other in real time throughout this project. A few times the app Zoom was used for students to be able to video conference. However, this app did not prove to be as successful for the project as the teachers had hoped. Students were more engaged with Today’s Meet and provided the best learning all around for every student in the group and in the general classroom setting as well. Today’s Meet provided little interruption in the day to day learning occurring in the classroom. Cycle 2: RevolutionaryWar onWednesday Once students completed the book club using the book The Lemonade War , students were then assigned a new book Revolutionary War on Wednesday . Revolutionary War on Wednesday was selected based on grade level standards in Social Studies, student interest, and reading level. The goal for the teachers was to scaffold instruction. Teachers spent a lot of time modeling for students the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of being a book club member. The goal was for the teachers to become less involved in the conversation as students progressed to the next text. For the book Revolutionary War on Wednesday, the

teachers stepped back and allowed the students to show what they learned about being a responsible book club member and how to engage with questions and answers about the text. To see if the project was successful, teachers assessed the initial transcript from the first book club meeting and the final transcript of the last book club meeting. Teachers were looking to see how often each student asked questions or responded to a question. Teachers also looked to see how many times they had to intervene in the conversation or redirect the conversation. The assessment proved that the teachers met their goal of creating student led engaging conversations about a given text. It was noticed in the assessment that the teachers did in fact intervene more in the beginning of the project and very few times in the final session of the project. Students questions and answers from the beginning of the project to the end of the project were more complex in their thinking. The design-based research approach helped us to refine the second book club implementation by noticing and analyzing the factors that influenced successful discussions, factors that inhibited discussion, and the effectiveness of modifications that were put into place to modify ineffective practices. Those factors are described here, as they were crucial to refining how we conducted the Virtual Book Clubs in the second cycle. Factors That Enhanced Each student had his/her own device for this project. One school issued Chromebooks to their students, while the other school issued iPads to their students. Having the one-to-one initiative definitely enhanced the effects of this project. Another aspect that helped students be more successful was that each teacher assigned students roles and responsibilities to fulfill during the book club meetings. Students needed some parameters in order to be successful since students came with such limited knowledge on how to conduct and be a part of a book club. Evaluating the Success of the Virtual Book Clubs Another successful tool that teachers equipped their students with in the beginning was a list of discussion starters that students could use during the book club meetings. Eventually students were able to take what the teachers provided them and make it their own when holding their conversations. Students just needed a starting point at first. It was also beneficial for students to become successful in using one piece of technology before moving on to the next piece. For example, we started off using the SeeSaw app. SeeSaw is used daily in each classroom as a communication tool between teachers, students, and parents. The students were very comfortable in using this app and did not overwhelm them in the initial stages of the project. Students then learned how to use Today’s Meet as a means of chat messaging back and forth before proceeding to use of the Zoom app for video conferencing live. Students were able to master one technology component before proceeding to the next one.

Reading Matters Teaching Matters

| 42 | Reading Matters | Volume 19 • Winter 2019 | scira.org

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