Teacher. Author. Creator. Speaker. Mom.
Once a year we run our official book clubs here in 7th grade. Very early on in our book club experiences, students had many ideas for how to make them better; please let us choose our books, please let us choose who we are discussing with, please don’t have us write in a packet. It… Continue reading Great Books for Middle School Book Clubs
In 2015, I wrote a post discussing how I was doing book clubs with my 7th graders and how their ideas had shaped our process to be more powerful. Two years later, I look at some of those ideas and see how my thinking has changed and also how much more ownership the student shave… Continue reading Ideas For How to Do Better Book Clubs in Middle School
Once in a while I get a surprise package of books at my house. It honestly feels like Christmas. And while I love my chapter books as I try to figure out who the Global Read Aloud contenders should be, when picture books show up it is an even bigger celebration. So imagine my delight… Continue reading 12 Word Book Summaries – A Great Way to End our Book Clubs
I knew I was up against some pretty deep-seated negative notions, but I guess I didn’t know how deep they really ran until yesterday when I started to read my end-of-year surveys. One questions asked, “What is the one thing Mrs. Ripp should never have 7th graders do?” Usually answers are varied, spread across an… Continue reading My Students Still Hate Book Clubs, So Now What?
I knew when I moved to 7th grade that book clubs would be one of the things that moved with me. That shared reading experience where students would get to just read and discuss is something I have loved having in the classroom the past few years. I knew it would be a different experience… Continue reading How to Do Book Clubs in the Middle School Classroom
I had meticulously made my lists. I had thoughts of habits, tastes, personalities, reading preferences, pace and yes, even their assessment data. I had scoured the book room, gone book shopping spending my own money and used most of my Scholastic points. More than 50 choices awaited my students, I couldn’t wait to start book… Continue reading Why Book Clubs Suck And We Need to Talk About It
Pernille Ripp 