D&Z Chapter 9 and 10

After reading chapters 9 and 10 of Daniels and Zemelman, I have a deeper appreciation for book clubs and inquiry units. I have always envisioned a book club as a bunch of older people sitting around, reading a book. It can obviously be much more than that! I have never actually been involved in book clubs/reading circles, but I think they can serve as a useful learning tool. I could definitely see myself using the strategies proposed in chapter 9 and 10 in my future classroom. Now, there are a couple of things I really liked in each chapter that I would like to touch upon.

First I want to touch upon chapter 9. I like how D&Z emphasize and stress the fact that book clubs should be student-centered. They tell us, “kids must take responsibility for running these discussions; we cannot get tricked into spoon-feeding them topics.” Granted, the teacher’s role is to assist, observe and facilitate, but it is the students’ role to run the discussions. I think this is important. Talk about releasing responsibility… this is a great way to do it! I especially like one of the tools specifically designed for reading circles (book clubs), referred to as the role sheets. Although D&Z suggest that role sheets be used for only a brief training period, I think this is a great way to set a purpose for reading and ensure that each student is contributing to the discussion. This tool also encourages students to focus on one particular kind of thinking that smart readers use (247). I never thought that I would be able to implement book clubs/reading circles in a science classroom, but I could easily have students read biographies of scientists, or science articles from www.sciencemag.org. Many times, scientific writing is extremely difficult to get through. However, if students are discussing and working together in a reading circle, they will be able to interpret and understand scientific writing in more detail. So thank you, D&Z… I am now an advocate for reading circles!

Now I want to share something that stuck out to me in chapter 10. I really enjoy the idea of inquiry units. I especially liked the example given towards the beginning of chapter ten, in Jacqueline Sanders’ class. She has students choose a job with a salary they think is adequate, and subtract taxes, rent, and utility costs from the gross pay. Then, they use the IRS instruction booklets to figure their final income tax return. How cool is that!? This example, in particular, gives students a snapshot of the real world, and opens their eyes to things they’ve never really sat down and thought about before. In the end, they often find that money is tight after subtracting the costs of living, and they have a greater appreciation for their parent’s hard work. Luckily, I can relate to this project, as I did something similar to this in my junior year of high school in my business skills class. The project had to do with budgeting. I forget the details surrounding the project, but I remember computing numbers based on a given salary (what type of car we could afford, the mortgage on a house etc).  We did a lot of stuff with resumes, researching colleges, etc in that class…stuff related to life in the real world. Overall, I think inquiry units grant students a unique opportunity to explore life outside the classroom and dive deeper into historical and current topics and events. I would definitely like to implement this strategy in my future classroom, as there are plenty of topics in science that could be researched in such a way (vaccines, medications, disorders etc).