During the month of November, Mr. Murray, with support of the PAC, purchased copies of the novel “Freak The Mighty”, and invited students and staff to participate.  Twenty students and five staff participated.  We read the book on our own and then came together to talk about the book.

We met as a group at lunch hour.  Using Faye Brownlie’s framework for conducting literature circles, the activity that was modelled for staff and students was called “Say Something.”  Everyone knew before they started reading that this was going to be the activity that they needed to prepare for before our book. club meeting.

In groups of five, where at least one teacher was included, everyone took a turn saying something about the novel.  This may have included statements like: My favourite character was…. This book reminded me of…. I was surprised when….etc.  By saying something, this provided a launch for further discussion about each readers’ experience with the book. 

                 The intended outcomes from this activity were:

1. To provide students with another opportunity to interact with text
2. To have a shared experience, including the adults, around a text.  Books can provide a bond or source of connection for us.
3. To provide a more relevant and realistic experience with a novel at school.  For example, adults typically do not get together and answer a list of questions to check for understanding after reading a book.
4. To provide an opportunity to model a practical, more authentic teaching strategy for teachers when teaching reading, moving away from the more traditional delivery of novel study.
5. To do something new with books that might catch the attention and participation of other students and encourage more of them to join and read.
6. To show students that even as adults, we may like a book, find a book slow or hard to read, that we loved, liked, or even disliked the book and that these reactions are typical of everyone who reads.

We spent forty (40) minutes together and we were still talking when the bell rang to return to class. When surveyed, every student that participated liked the experience and was eager to sign up to find out what the next book is going to be.