Motivating your class to the next level.

       As a teacher we are constantly trying to differentiate and motivate content and curriculum to students. We try to find ways that will motivate them not only pass; but to excel to a higher level. Last month I attended TCEA and was able to get an abundance of information, inspiration and ideas. One of the sessions I attended was by Todd Nesloney. (If you don't follow him on social media you need to). He mentioned that one thing creates is a Willy Wonka style book club for select students. He really emphasized that he doesn't want all kids to be apart of it at first. That students should feel extra special finding a golden ticket, and keeping it a secret. I attended several other sessions and eventually put put all of the ideas into one big melting pot of learning. 
      
    So what did I do? I decided to create a secret book club for about 8 students that really don't get "extra time" that often. These are the kids that do well but they're not GT, or extremely low performing. I wanted to do something for them, to motivate them, and to keep them inspired. So, I hid a golden ticket in their journals, books, mailboxes, you name it. Some were a little skeptical at first until I explained it a little further. 

   I showed students on their chromebooks how to get to the book club location in classroom. From there I edited a teachers lit circle template on a google drawing. From the google drawing I linked different graphic organizers from Eric Curts blog. (Another great resource, link to his blog see below). Each day students read one chapter from the book, and discuss with their group what they read about for about 5 minutes. From there they can enter their responses into the graphic organizers. I wanted something for students to be able to complete during our intervention/enrichment time but not feel stressed in terms of work load. 
  
  Thus far the book club has been a huge success. Some of the kids love keeping it a secret, which just inspires them even more. It has allowed students to read books they may not normally be interested in. It has also allowed students to discuss with their peers their thoughts and have thoughtful discourse. The books I chose for the students also tended to be near their reading level, but a little higher to challenge them even more. This secret book club has been extremely beneficial, and I plan on starting it again one they finish their book. If you get the chance I highly encourage teachers and librarians to try this idea out. It's a little bit of work at the beginning, but once it gets started it's really easy.