Dinner Table Book Talks

Several years ago, I started doing an activity the two days before Thanksgiving break. We are usually finishing up a writing assignment and have students at different places of completion. It became the perfect two days for students to do book talks.

When I read In the Middle by Nancie Atwell, she mentions a time she and her husband sat around the dining room table with friends and "gossiped by candlelight" about a book. She compares her dining room table to a literate environment where people around it talk about literacy. She states, "We don't need assignments, lesson plans, lists, teacher's manuals, or handbooks. We only need another literate person."

That is when my idea for dinner table book talks was born. 

Students are given a paper plate with the instructions that it is to become a prop for a book talk about a book they have read this school year. They need the title of the book, author, and a summary. They can decorate it however they want.

The Tuesday before break, I arrange the desks like long dinner tables with tablecloths and book centerpieces. 

The students come in, give a book talk to those at their table and then mingle and go to another table. I try to complete three rounds, giving students an opportunity to hear several book talks and add to their want to read lists in their notebooks.

It has become my go-to activity for the week of Thanksgiving. It is very relaxed, lots of fun, and filled with creativity and wonderful books. What more could a language arts teacher ask for!

Here are some pictures of this year's plates.

Passion - Celebrate #20

Each week Ruth Ayres extends an invitation to share and celebrate events, big or small, from our week.

Today I celebrate passion.  

The subject of a Twitter chat this week was creating literacy communities.  This topic just happens to be my favorite to talk about.  I guess you could call it a passion of mine.

Passion is like kindling.  It sparks an idea into action.  It flames the fire of action into a movement.  And the results of a movement can be life altering.

I think about those teachers who have shared their passion with me.  When we share our own passion, we build passion within others.  When we fan those flames, potential for a wildfire exists.  When we don't, we are left only with small sticks in our hands.

I love to share my passion for literacy with others, especially when I never know how it might be that spark for another teacher.

This week I received this message from a friend who is a curriculum direction in a county school.  She has a friend who is a teacher in other part of the state.  

Little did I know this teacher was watching my tweets and following my passion.



I shared this tweet again this week during the chat. I have shared this many times before, and I even said I am sure teachers are tired of seeing my door!

But this tweet got 15 retweets and 55 likes, more than any other time I have tweeted it.  

It's NOT about sharing my door; it is about sharing my passion.  And for me, that never gets old.



I love this quote about purpose and passion.  I know Ruth is trying to finish her book and share her passion for writing and story with others.  Her work builds my passion.  

And we must continue to do the same for others.