Georganna's Blog

When I think of book clubs, I more often than not think of language arts classes exclusively reading classic literature such as The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men . When it comes to science classrooms I never think of reading as a part of the curriculum unless it has to do with textbooks, lab reports, or other traditional sources used in science classrooms. It wasn ’ t until this month that I realized that reading fiction (not science fiction) books that have strong elements of science would be incredibly beneficial for my classroom to build literacy skills, science skills, and potentially interest in both subjects. This got me thinking about what books would be good in the classroom that is both interesting for the students and informational with accurate scientific content. I found this list of books created by the American Library Association for elementary and middle school classrooms that are broken down by content areas within science as well as appropriate grade levels to ...

I think book clubs, especially when each group is allowed to choose their own reading, are a fantastic way to allow differentiation in the classroom. It is so important to remember that each student in every classroom is their own individual person with unique interests and allowing them to explore those interests within specific guidelines of a beneficial curriculum is wonderful. Chapter 9 of Subjects Matter discusses how to get the most out of book clubs in the classroom through techniques such as giving each group member a designated role. This is my favorite strategy because it allows for students to hold themselves and each other accountable while offering an opportunity for every student to be engaged. This is essential in the classroom, especially for those students who might be quieter or shyer than other students. For instance, I was an extremely shy child, and to this day I am much quieter than most of my peers. I would have greatly appreciated having the role of illustra...

I have been tasked with reading and discussing the journal article Tearing Down the Wall: Literature and Science by Warren B. Westcott and J. Everett Spell. The authors discuss the benefits and difficulties of teaching across content areas, specifically when dealing with using literature to teach science. Obviously, the focus would be on literary technique, story, etc. in an ELA classroom, while the focus in a science classroom would be to engage students with a story associated with science while teaching them about science itself. The issue that arises, however, is that not all scientific nonfiction is good literature and not all scientific fiction is good science. The only way to ensure that you are getting the best of both worlds is to talk about the literature with teachers of the other subject. The issue with that, however, is that I think it could be taxing and time-consuming to have to read a book and critique it for another teacher's curriculum, though I think most teac...