Group Book Talks

Group Book Talks

ENGL/EDUC323

Each group of 5 students is required to choose a theme or central idea that appears in children’s books, collect a minimum of 5 examples of these children’s books, and prepare a short talk to introduce the texts to the class. These book talks will assist you in becoming familiar with the texts and themes that you choose, as well as the variety of texts that your classmates choose. Each group will be asked to provide a handout describing the theme and detailing the texts for his/her classmates. The group book talk is worth 15% of the final grade for the course, and all group members will receive the same grade.

What to include in your presentation and handout:

1.      Please include a detailed description of the theme and texts. Take into consideration that your colleagues might not be familiar with the texts that you have chosen. A detailed description will include everything necessary for your classmates to gain an understanding of the texts without reading them. Your job is to introduce the texts in a complete way so that it is possible for others to decide when, where, and how these texts might be appropriate.

2.      Please explain why you chose this theme and these texts. What was your rationale? For whom are these texts appropriate? Please consider age, ability, and any other factors you find important. Why is it appropriate for this group children?

3.      Please include some ideas of how you might use these texts with children. How do you envision these texts being used with students, your children, your nieces and nephews, or any other children you interact with? Provide at least 3 specific ideas for what is possible with these texts.

4.      Please consider some obstacles to using this text. What are the potential issues that may arise from using these texts? Predict parents’ responses. Predict students’ responses.

5.      Anything else you think is important for us to know and understand about these texts and its use with children.

Book talks will be about 15 minutes each with an additional few minutes for questions and brief discussion about your texts. When you have decided on a theme or central idea, please email me (sagriss@ewu.edu) with your selection. This way we can avoid overlap. One of the goals of this assignment is to increase your potential library of texts, so it is important that we each choose something different. I will OK themes based on the order in which I receive emails. If you choose a theme that another group has already chosen, I will ask you to choose something different.

Group Book Talk

Evaluation Rubric

____ / 10 Detailed outline of theme and texts

____ / 10 Rationale for choosing the theme or central idea

____ / 10 Ideas for how to use these texts with children

____ / 10 Obstacles

____ / 5 Handout

____ / 5 Presentation