The first Grand Discussion of the school year was held last Thursday and 51 kids and parents attended. Joyce and I chose Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt. Usually leading up to the event I hear comments questioning my judgement, I don't take it personally because I know in the end, after reading and discussing even some of my most questionable book choices, the folks leave happy and understanding why I chose what I chose! With Okay for Now most liked it from the get go and understood completely why it was chosen. So many themes and topics for discussion that it was tough to get it all in in an hour, but we did our best and another successful event is in the books.
As I looked over our list of previous titles, it appears that author Gary D. Schmidt knows how to create books that create conversation! We've done 3 of his titles, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, our very first Grand Discussion title, Wednesday Wars and of course, Okay for Now. We started the evening with an interview with the author that some p
arents found on line and ended the evening with Joyce interviewing several participants for her Dublin Lit Conference presentation in February.
I am new to blogging and hope this time my comment will be published.
ReplyDeleteIt is great to welcome parents to such activities where they "learn"from their children and the latter have an opportunity to guide their moms and dads by asking open-ended questions and making thought-provoking and attention-grabbing comments.
It is great to have both parents and children interact through literature circles where students demonstrate their understanding through open-ended, thought-provoking questions and attention-grabbing comments.It would be fun to have mixed groups where children are with other parents to see how they react.
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