A GREat Discussion!!!

I reviewed Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord this summer and absolutely fell in love with the story, the setting, and the characters. A friend of mine from my former school left the comment that Touch Blue sounded like a perfect book for a Grand Discussion (a parent-student book talk). She and Bill (my blog partner here at Literate Lives) have been doing this for several years with great success.

Since being at my new building, the school librarian and I decided to set up similar student-parent conversations of our own called GREat Discussions (see how I know a good idea when I hear it? Thanks Bill and Joyce!).

Anyway, back to my point. Tonight was our first GREat Discussion of the year, and we chose Touch Blue as the book to discuss. Cathy (our librarian) and I brought the treats, and then waited for the people and conversation to come. We were not disappointed by either one!

What transpired tonight was amazing!! We had 33 students and parents totally caught up in all the conversations. Because of the large numbers, Cathy and I decided to pose some questions to everyone, have them talk at their tables, and then come back to the big group and share out the important thoughts and conversations. The students were eager participants from the very beginning. They really drove the conversations, but the parents became more active in the discussions by the end of the night.

Lots of big ideas in the book were covered. A few of the highlights were:

• the concept of belonging that permeated the story
• all the foreshadowing on the cover
• the relationship between Aaron and Tess and the rest of the family
• why Aaron was so angry
• Eben's behavior and motivation
• all of the superstitions Tess had, and how well Cynthia Lord tied them into the story
• the significance of the Tess catching the blue lobster and the importance of her throwing it back into the ocean
  
• what it would be like to be a foster child
  
• lots of symbolism -- the Monopoly pieces on the front cover were discussed and it went from there
• the fun part of the chatter between lobstermen out on their boats
• Tess gunning the boat at the end

Such rich, rich conversations swirled around the room from person to person. We started at 7 PM and ended at 8:15 PM, but there were several parents and students who could have gone much, much longer.

The beauty of all this are the "take-aways"of the experience:

• Parents and students sharing a reading experience together. I would bet that there was some conversation within families before we even met for the GREat Discussion.
• Sharing a book with others makes you appreciate it in a much more deep and meaningful way.
• Parents were amazed at the depth of the students' conversations. It was great for them to see what kind of conversations children can have in the presence of a wonderful book.
• Students got to see their parents as readers and participants in a meaningful conversation.
• Parents coming to us afterward to tell us how grateful they were that they took part in this book talk.
• Students and parents alike begging to know what the next book for GREat Discussion will be.

As you can tell, our GREat Discussion tonight was a huge success!! I think I speak for Cathy as well as myself when I say that the participants in the discussion tonight greatly enriched our thinking about Touch Blue. We feel very fortunate to have had such a great response from our 5th grade students and parents. Will keep you posted on what the next book will be. :)

GREat Discussion

Bill and our friend, Joyce, started the Grand Discussion idea at the school where I used to teach. I had always promoted Book Clubs in my own classroom, but they were able to take the concept to another level by combining the ideas of an entire community of interested 5th graders, along with their parents. What a fabulous experience for all involved!

When I moved to a new school in our district this year, I thought it might be a good opportunity to bring the same experience to yet another group of 5th grade students and their parents. So, I approached our librarian to see if she'd like to collaborate with me in this effort and she was delighted to try the idea (thanks Cathy!!).

We actually chose Also Known as Harper (same book that Bill and Joyce chose for theirs) as the book for the group. Being an inaugural group, we knew we would start small and build from that. And that is exactly what happened. We initially had seven students with their parents committed to participating in the conversation. By the time last night (our GREat Discussion night) came, our actual attendance was 4 students with parents, Cathy, and me.

We were a small but mighty group. The best part was that we all fit around one set of tables which made the conversation very intimate and gave everyone a chance to participate. The students and parents brought up great discussion items, some of which neither Cathy nor I had even thought. Cathy and I also had some discussion points, and the group jumped right in with some very insightful comments.

As we munched on cookies and Goldfish (what's a book club without some food?!), we talked about subjects such as homelessness as it is portrayed in this book, how the picture on the cover conveys so much about the meaning of the story, Harper's feelings about her dad, the poetry and words that were such wonderful self-expression for Harper, what it would be like to live in a motel room or a drive-in movie theater concession stand, and Winnie Rae and her mom (just to name a few). The conversations were rich, and both parents and students participated.

We're not sure what book we'll tackle next, but we do know we want to plan another GREat Discussion. Both Cathy and I love books and reading, so this seems like the perfect way to continue to promote our love of reading and reflecting with our 5th graders. It is also a wonderful opportunity for parents and children to share a book together.

It was a GREat evening!!