Book Trailers and Literature Circles

I. Book Trailers

"'This is different because school is something better than the place where I just feel dumb. This place sees me as a reader and a writer in the ways that I get something from'" (Kajder, 2008),

It's true; I picked the obvious "feel good teacher" quote from Sara Kajder's The Book Trailer: Engaging Teens through Technologies. But I didn't do it for sentimental purposes, but rather because I think it really illuminates an idea that I've been mulling around for a couple of weeks--students like to do "things", and they don't necessarily see reading, talking, and writing as "things". Recently, I looked into the benefits of what was once known as vocational training and is now known as CTE (career and technical education). CTE curriculums have been updated for the times; in fact, creating a book trailer, with the software and editing skills required, might now be considered central to a CTE course. I speak of this because I think its important that students feel, despite what we as adults already know, that they are taking something tangible away from school. A student may see engagement in a book trailer project as working towards developing a skill that s/he could use in a job setting, all the while, being "tricked" into summarizing and reflecting on works of literature. This action, that with planning can be both technically active and ELA relevant, can counter students' feelings of school being a place to "feel dumb". School should, I think, be less about feeling, and more about doing.

Kajder, S. (2008). The book trailer: engaging teens through technologies. Educational
Leadership, 65(6).

II. Literature Circles

"You can have a written conversation while sitting side by side in real time, passing notes back and forth, or in letter form, where writers send 'mail' for readers to answer when they get time" (Daniels, 2006, p. 10).

While I have seen teachers employ strategies that ask students to write back and forth with them about a book, it never occurred to me to put students to writing one another about a book. In one of my classes, I spent a significant amount of time trying to get a group of very bright, but very distracted, girls to stop passing notes. This strategy might provide an answer that involves less fruitless fighting on my part, and actual student engagement during class. Perhaps pairs of students could have a dedicated notebook, or packet designed for the project, in which they pass notes back and forth regarding a text. This would allow for teachers to monitor and grade the dialogue. I really love the idea; it's so simple and obvious--I know it would appeal to students, and it offers teachers lots of opportunities for differentiation.

Daniels, H. (2006). What's the next big thing with literature circles?. Voices from the Middle,
13(4), pp. 10-15.