Book Talks Lightning Round
Katie Prescott invited us into her Grade 11 ELA classes at Fredericton High School to recommend some of our favorite titles (which is something we love to do). We decided to turn our book talks into a lightning round in order to share as many titles as we could fit into each class period. We brought 30 titles and took turns presenting 1-2 minute informal book recommendations.
This was a fun way for us to give lots of book recommendations and modeled for students how they can give quick informal book talks. After our visit, Katie’s students could now easily share several titles with their classmates in a short amount of time.
We know the power of accessing the social side of reading with teens. In our own reading lives, we connect with other readers by sharing books we love and just HAVE to talk about. We don’t create formal presentations to do this—we have a quick conversation or send a text and let our reader friends know what we love about a book. Lightning round book talks invite students to have book conversations in much the same way.
As reading teachers we are always looking for ways to create excitement about books and to help students find titles that they will love. Lightning round book talks are one way to make this happen.