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Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Episode 77: Book Clubs: Let Go, Lean In, and Just Try It
In this solo episode of the Compass PD Podcast, Dr. Natalie Fallert invites educators to try something both brave and rewarding—student-led book clubs. As testing season wraps up and attention spans wane, spring is the perfect time to launch a flexible, choice-driven reading experience that fosters deep conversations, authentic learning, and student ownership.
Natalie breaks down what book clubs really are (hint: not lit circles with packets), why they’re worth trying—even if it’s messy—and how you can get started right now, using the books you already have. Whether you're a classroom teacher testing the waters or an instructional leader looking to spark student engagement, this episode is your friendly nudge to let go, lean in, and trust your readers.
Hello and welcome to the Compass PD podcast, where we dive into evidence-based practices and research-driven strategies that empower educators and leaders to make a lasting impact. I am Natalie Fallert, flying solo today here to talk with you about one of my favorite topics clubs. Whether you are a teacher, administrator or district leader, our goal is to provide you with insights and tools that help you navigate the complexities of education and inspire student success. Insights and tools that help you navigate the complexities of education and inspire student success. So today I am here to talk with you about book clubs and thinking about what they are, why they are important, why spring is a great time to try book clubs if you have never done it before, what to expect in the process of it and some tips to get you started. So let's start with what they are and why they are important. So book clubs are different than lit circles, where typically in literature circles, kids are given a packet that pertains to the book and are asked to complete it along the way. In these circles, students are usually given assigned roles like speaker or note taker or discussion leader, whatever that looks like Now, book clubs are different because they resemble a real life book club.
Speaker 1:In this type of club, people choose to be a part of the group and equally contribute their thoughts on the text without a prescribed script. The book club will decide what they will read and how much at a time before their next meeting. They may suggest a focus for the upcoming conversation, but it is or I guess maybe a focus for their reading so that when they get to their book clubs they could have a conversation about that. But it is simply a suggestion. It's not something that they have to do prior to like showing up to that next meeting and we think about like why book clubs? Like, why should we offer these versus something else? And this offers choice and it gives students autonomy in their learning. It opens students up to diverse perspectives and interpretations, because the way I would read a text versus the way someone else reads a text, or the things that I notice or pay attention to are going to be different than other people, and so it allows you to see how other people are thinking. It builds a community of learners. Learning should be a social thing and giving kids a book to talk about can open doors into discussion, responsibility, accountability, differing opinions, critical thinking and supporting and connecting ideas, Because if a kid thinks differently about a book than maybe one of their club members. If a kid thinks differently about a book than maybe one of their club members, they're going to have to support that with text evidence or outside of the text. What do they know about life that would that has altered or changed that interpretation or formed that interpretation?
Speaker 1:Now, I have recently read this book and it is called the Anxious Generation by Jonathan I think it's Haydet H-A-I-D-T for those of you who are not watching and can't see this and when he starts this book I fell in love with it. So if you have not read this book, you need to read it. And when he started this, or at the very beginning of the book, he talks about like what it looks like, what the real world looks like, and he gives these kind of four points and he says that in the real world, like when we have real world relationships, then we are, they're embodied, meaning that we use our bodies to communicate and we are conscious about the bodies of others. So when you put kids in a book club, they have to look at each other and have conversations and they're reading that body language. And we know that kids are not getting enough of this in today's world. They are also synchronous, so they're happening at the same time and you have to learn how to wait your turn and interrupt and all of those different things. So that is also important. You have to learn to think on your feet. We know that kids are struggling with this as an actual life skill. They involve primarily one-to-one or one-to-several communications and so, like only one thing is happening at that particular time, You're not multitasking, You're focused on that conversation Again, something that our kids need help with and they take place within communities that have a high bar for entry and a high exit for entry, meaning that you have to invest in that relationship and you have to repair rifts.
Speaker 1:Where he then gives an example of the virtual world because this whole book is about technology and what it's doing to this current generation of kids, and when he talks about the virtual world, he says that they are disembodied, meaning that there's no body language that's needed, which we know that they are heavily asynchronous, so they're happening at different times and so you don't have to think quickly on your feet in order to respond. They involve a substantial number of mini one-to-one communications, so they're like doing lots of different things at once, and they take place within a community that has a low bar for entry and exit. It's easy to give up and walk away or to just mute somebody on your phone, and we know that, like in person. Kids can't do that and they're missing this skill because they're so focused on electronics. And this is a great book, and I think it references this idea of book clubs and creating this community of learners.
Speaker 1:If you haven't read it, you need to jump in and grab this book. I now want to talk to you about why you should start them now, and I'm just going to say you can start book clubs at any time. You can start them at the beginning of the year, in the middle of the year, it doesn't matter, but spring is a great time because it is the end of the year. Kids are rapidly losing focus and this can be a way for you to spark engagement and send them off into summer with the hopes of them continuing to read. If you are in the midst of testing or you've just finished it again, this is a great way to keep the learning going. That is student-driven and engaging for the teacher, the pressure of preparing for the test or making sure you've covered all your content. It's gone, so you have more freedom to let go of that rigid expectation and try something new. It's a perfect time to ditch the packets and just let them read and talk about books in a community.
Speaker 1:You could approach this as a way for kids to recommend books for your next year's class. Oh, these are keep or ditch books. Which ones should I make my kids read next year? Which ones should I not Like? Which one should we? You know? Which ones should I make my kids read next year? Which ones should I not? It could be a way for them to recommend books for the summer so that they've read this book and then they could say this is what our group thought about this book. You should read it this summer. This would definitely help with, like, that summer slide. You could consider doing books on like the first book of a series so that when they leave your class at the end of the school year they're heading off into the summer wanting to read that second book Again, that perpetual summer slide. Let's kind of help fix this, or at least give them a yearning to possibly fix it. You could use this as a way to try new titles and to get kids feedback on which ones should be must reads or which ones should you offer for next year's book clubs.
Speaker 1:Now here's the other thing about book clubs and why it might be good to start in the spring, and that is they're messy. If you have never done this before, it is messy and the only predictable thing about it is that it's messy. And the only predictable thing about it is that it's messy. By now you know your kids. You have classroom routines and expectations, so the chaos can be somewhat controlled. But doing it at the end of the year as a test run for you can also be a way to ask kids for feedback on the process. Then it could be something that you actually start sooner next year or at the beginning of the year and do them more often if you wanted.
Speaker 1:I would suggest, if you've never done this, to be honest with your kids and tell them that you're trying this out and you need their support and their input in this process so that you can make changes and adjustments moving forward. Kids always love to like help you out with something, believe it or not. So being able to say like I've never done this before, I want to try it. Let me know what you think. You're getting a little bit of their buy-in into it. You have to be willing to let go and not be in control. You might be thinking like what are? How do we? If I wanted to do this, how do I get started? Here's what I would say is, if this is new to you or your building or your district, let your admin know that you want to try this. Tell them that you know it will be messy. Ask for their support. You know, in this chaos, they also need to be aware of the books that you're choosing to offer. If they're outside of the normal class reads, I would highly suggest choosing some easier reads, some lighthearted, nothing too heavy. You know, don't add more stress in this whole process. Either choose already selected books that you have in your district or ones that you know aren't going to cause any issues or problems. But again, letting your admin know that you're wanting to try this and it's going to be a little different is the first step.
Speaker 1:The next thing to think about is that you need books. Obviously, If you don't have any good, new, cool books, just use what you have and give the kids choice. So, if you have a set of books that have been you know that you guys that might have dust on them, they're old, whatever that have been, you know that you guys that might have dust on them, they're old, whatever. At least giving the kids choice to pick them and then read in that group, but to just try it with whatever books you can get your hands on. Also, with that idea of books, you could be thinking about going to the library A lot of times they have two copies of a book or reaching out to another library, like an elementary library or a middle school or a high school library, and seeing if they have extra copies of that book. Ask the kids to provide their own books. Like you know, there's lots of ways you can get books.
Speaker 1:You also want to be thinking about limit yourself, like four to six titles. Don't give them 18 different titles unless that's the only books you have available. That's fine, but sometimes, just you know, keeping it simple is okay. Some choice is better than no choice. Not everyone is going to get their first choice and that's okay, Especially if you have limited numbers of books. Make you know, do a Google form or something and ask kids to get their first choice and that's okay, Especially if you have limited numbers of books. Make you know, do a Google form or something and ask kids to choose their top three or whatever they could get it they might.
Speaker 1:You might decide to let them do it in groups of friends. So these four kids are friends, they're going to read whatever book you give them. There's lots of ways you can try this and do it Within the book clubs. Oh, actually, you want to keep your book clubs to four. Don't know more than four. Try to keep it at four. It's just a good number. In that group of four, you're going to want them to have partners. So I'm a partner with Sarah and we are also partnered up with Julie and Jessica, and there are going to be days where Sarah and I just talk and we don't talk as a group of four, and that's okay. So giving them that opportunity to have someone to bounce ideas off of. But then they can come together with their group of four and that's why we want to keep it at that four number.
Speaker 1:Depending on how you're running your book clubs and the time that you allow for kids to read in and out of class, you might want to keep this at like four weeks. I would not go over four weeks. As teachers, we see kids way too much time to do anything and they always wait until the last minute. So you want to make sure that you create this shorter time frame that creates a sense of urgency and keeping it at that four weeks. If they're reading, if you're giving them the opportunity to read every single day in class, it could actually probably be less time than that. It could be two, three weeks, but I get a lot of questions about that. But it's possible, I promise.
Speaker 1:If you're only doing book clubs, consider a daily setup that might look like this Take 10 to 15 minutes to teach them a skill or a strategy and then send them off to read for the rest of the time. At the end of the hour, give them about five minutes that they could either talk with their partners or meet in their book clubs, and each day you're going to teach them something new. In your mini lessons. You could be something like reading strategies where, if it's at the beginning of the book, you say, hey, all books have characters and those characters have traits. As you are starting your books, think about characters and their traits when you get to your partners or clubs, you can discuss what each of you notice and your thoughts on those characters. And so now you've given them a purpose to read and you could model that in a lesson for them, but you send them off to read and kind of look for those things. It could be that you're teaching them how to take notes, offer them ways to take notes about characters and track their thinking. It might be that you want to teach them how to work in clubs with their partners.
Speaker 1:Explain why you're doing book clubs, what each one brings to discussion, like what each person brings to discussion, why it's important that they're reading to have those conversations. You could give them conversation prompts so that they know how to talk about their books, but the key is that you're letting them control that conversation and you're giving them the skills and strategies that they need in order to lead that work, versus giving them specific questions to answer. So common questions that I get when we're talking about book clubs is the first one is what if they don't read? Well, my response is this they weren't going to read it anyways. I have taught To Kill a Mockingbird over a four week time period and the same kids don't read it. It's. It's that simple. You can give them all the time in the world. If they're not going to read, they're not going to read. So it's no different than the all class read that you're giving them. If they're not going to read, they're not going to read, so let that go.
Speaker 1:You might ask yourself, or I get asked the question how do you know if they're reading? Instead of making them fill out a log or anything like that, just go listen to their conversations that they're having with their partners or in their book clubs and you're going to be able to tell just by listening if they have read or not read. And if a kid is not reading, then teach the group how to encourage that child to start reading. It's a life skill to be able to teach them to confront the slacker and hold them accountable. Show them how to do that. Give them skills that they can use in other classes or in life that help fix that problem. If the whole group isn't reading, you might have to teach them that importance.
Speaker 1:The last question that I get is what if I don't know the book, how do I know if they're reading it? I promise you you will know Like you will figure it out because they'll be't know the book. How do I know if they're reading it? I promise you you will know. Like you will figure it out, because they'll be talking about the book and if it doesn't make sense, you're going to be able to ask questions. Just because you know how books go, You're going to be able to ask questions and they eventually are going to be able to answer them or not. It is that simple. I promise it is that simple. Simple. I promise it is that simple.
Speaker 1:So, in order to keep this kind of short, I want to kind of stop there and recap that you know some key takeaways. That I want you to walk away with today is that book clubs are messy but they are so rewarding. I promise you will not be disappointed. It will be messy. If you go in thinking it's going to be perfect, you're going not be disappointed. It will be messy. If you go in thinking it's going to be perfect, you're going to be disappointed. It's going to be messy.
Speaker 1:Just go in and have fun with it and go in with the idea that you want kids to fall in love with reading and that's it, Like no other expectations. Like, I want you to read and I want you to talk about books. That's it read. And I want you to talk about books that's it. Be willing to let go and give control over to your kids. It is okay. I promise you will not hurt them. They are going to be just fine. Give them the control and see where they go with it.
Speaker 1:And my last takeaway is just try it. Just go out into your classroom and try it. Please feel free to share your thoughts or experiences. I'd love to hear from you and, if you found today's episode valuable, consider sharing it with a colleague who might benefit from this message. If this is a topic that intrigues you and you want to learn more about it, please reach out to us or reach out to me. I will be offering some summer learning and a webinar over book clubs specifically, where we will dive into the nuances of planning and leading your book clubs in your classroom. Thank you for joining us on the Compass PD podcast. Remember, at Compass PD, we believe that every educator has the power to inspire, change and transform student learning. Stay focused, stay inspired and keep making a difference.