The Book Pass

My ninth grade babies are getting ready to embark on a literature circle journey. One of my colleagues snickered when I told her this and then told me to let her know how it went. I have faith. I've trained them well, right?

So today, we started with a book pass. I have thirteen books. I have no intention of having thirteen literature circles. They need to weed out the good from the bad. We did a book pass instead of sustained silent reading today.

If you're unfamiliar with a book pass, it is a chance to teach students to process for choosing a book to read. It's a great way to start an independent reading program or a literature circles program. Students often don't know what they are looking at when they decide to check out a book. They just know that they have to take one with them when they leave. The book pass lays out the steps for them. Students are instructed to start by looking at the book--the title, the print size, the cover illustration, etc. You want them to just get a feel for the book. Then you want them to read some. The back of the book, the first chapter, even the end if that's what they usually do. Students need a time limit. After only a minute or a minute and a half, they need to rank their book and pass it to their neighbor.

You could have heard a pin drop this morning. We were reading and ranking and passing. Everyone found three books that they thought they would enjoy reading. Now I've got to put them into groups that will work.

Next week, my students will experiment with literature circles for the first time. This should be a great way to end the year. But if I don't plan it right, it could be a disaster. My goal? Let's end the year with adult discussions about reading. That's not too much to ask for, right?