BOOK CLUBS: INFORMATION AND SELECTION CATALOGUE

INTRODUCTION TO ETFO BOOK CLUBS

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) is committed to providing professional development for it members in a variety of forms. Teachers are best able to determine what professional development they need to pursue as life-long learners and ETFO Book Clubs are designed for voluntary participation of interested members.

As ETFO professional development programs and services continue to evolve to meet the challenging needs of educators and their students, the new season of offerings has been expanded to include ETFO Book Clubs with a focus on classroom management, differentiated instruction, Kindergarten and equity and social justice.

Professional book clubs provide an excellent opportunity for members to reflect on their classroom practice, enhance their professional knowledge and engage in the professional learning that best meets their needs and the needs of their students.

An ETFO Book Club is a learning experience that gives educators an opportunity for professional networking, sharing and reflection through an in-depth examination of ideas, concepts, research and strategies presented in a professional resource.

ETFO BOOK CLUBS MAIN GOALS

  • To enhance the professional knowledge of our members.
  • To enhance the professional practice of our members.
  • To foster leadership at the local level.
  • To implement high - yield, research - based instructional strategies.
  • To monitor the impact or effects of instructional decisions on students.
  • To reflect on current teaching practices.

When professional book club experiences are tied to the real work of teachers and to authentic issues they are grappling with in their classrooms, teachers have a deeper understanding of their impact on classroom practice and student learning.

HOW TO FACILITATE AN ETFO BOOK CLUB

ETFO Book Clubs provide a chance for our members to come together to build on their professional knowledge and classroom practice. ETFO Book Clubs are designed as four two-hour sessions; however, the sessions can be held over a series of weeks or consolidated into one or two half-days of professional learning. Facilitator guides are currently available for over 20 different ETFO Book Clubs at .

An ETFO Book Club consists of:

  • four weekly sessions of approximately two hours in length (flexible)
  • small group size of 15-20 participants; and
  • Book Club fee is the book cost.

The ETFO Provincial Office will provide facilitator guides for each of the featured Book Clubs currently available along with additional information, help guides and supports to assist you in running a successful ETFO Book Club.

Work with the Professional Learning (PL) Chair in your local to select a book club from ETFO’s Book Club Information and Selections in order to select a book title that would be of interest to your local members.

The Book club structure is flexible to accommodate member needs within the local. It can be run as four-hour, two-hour sessions, two half-day sessions, or as an entire professional day activity. Similarly, the location can also be a local decision. Some locals use their office, others use their schools and still others offer the ETFO Book Clubs at a combination of locations.

LOCAL INFORMATION

Local(s) can access a range of ETFO Book Club resources online to provide professional learning opportunities for their own members, right in their own local!

Local(s) can choose dates and secure the sites for each of the four sessions. Local can choose a book club facilitator. Ensure to provide any required audio visual (AV) equipment and materials (chart paper, markers, sticky-notes) in order to help facilitate the book club.

Advertise and distribute (mail or email) book club registration flyer and registration form to local members and collect fee from interested members to cover book costs can be organized and administered from each Local individually. (Note: Some locals may elect to pay for associated costs in relation to facilitating the book club cost, in which case participants would not pay any fee or related costs).

PLANNING AND DELIVERING AN ETFO BOOK CLUB

Facilitator Will ...

  • Read the book chosen by the local.
  • Review the facilitator guide provided to them.
  • Plan, prepare, and present each session.

Participants Will ...

  • Attend each session and complete assigned homework in preparation for the next session (e.g., read appropriate chapters for next session discussion, try different strategies, bring student artifacts).
  • Submit registration form and fee (if applicable).

As a Facilitator ... before the Book Club:

  • Arrange the book club environment so that all can see and hear one another (chairs, handouts, materials).
  • Arrive early.
  • Read the material ahead of time to feel comfortable with the content.

... during the Book Club:

  • Always honour session start and end times.
  • Begin with an inclusion activity to help members transition into the session and feel comfortable.
  • Establish, post and celebrate group norms with group members.
  • Model the group norms.
  • Establish a predictable format for learning:
  • Before – set the context for the session.
  • During – all members focus on and monitor group’s attention to the topic.
  • After – reflect on key learnings and assign homework.
  • Remain neutral promoting teacher discovery and inquiry.
  • Keep the sessions moving according to topic or task at-hand.
  • Encourage everyone to participate and acknowledge each group member’s involvement and contributions.
  • Encourage personal reflection.
  • Create a ‘parking lot’ using a flip chart and post-it notes to post issues and questions.

... and after the Book Club:

  • Ask participants to fill in an evaluation form to let you and your local know how you have met the needs of your membership, and what changes you might consider.
  • Celebrate your contribution to your membership!
  • Make your selection for your next ETFO Book Club.

TIPS AND TRICKS FOR HOSTING AN ETFO BOOK CLUB

ETFO Book Clubs provide an excellent opportunity for members to reflect on their classroom practice, enhance their professional knowledge, and engage in the professional learning that best meets their needs and the needs of their students. These book cubs offer an opportunity for professional networking, sharing and reflections through an in-depth examination of ideas, concepts, research, and strategies presented in a professional resource. The books have been chosen due to their relevance to the real work of teachers and to authentic issues teachers are grappling with in their classrooms, so that teachers have a deeper understanding of their impact on classroom practice and student learning.

ETFO Book Clubs Facilitator guides …

... have been written for teachers, by teachers. These resources engage your members in enhancing their professional knowledge and practice. Participants attend four two-hour sessions that focus on specific chapters of the various resources highlighted, consider strategies they can try in their classroom, and reflect on and share their experiences within a community of learners.

ETFO Book Clubs are adapted to the needs of your members …

.... and have also been field tested by teachers and revised to reflect this. They have probably not been tested by you in your local. With that in mind, ETFO field testers would like to offer the following suggestions:

Respond to your members’ needs …

... as the goal is to create rich discussions that are meaningful and worthwhile for teachers and worth their investment of time. An ETFO Book Club will vary from site to site depending on the interests and needs of each group.

While the session order is suggested in the facilitator guide, the facilitator should feel welcome to make changes, as long as there is consistency among the sessions.

The timelines are approximate, and not all activities must be completed. It is not like covering the curriculum, but rather professional learning, and that can travel in some surprising directions, so let it!

Own the scheduling of sessions ...

... as the guides have been written for four two-hour sessions. Please feel free to modify the number of sessions and duration to meet the needs of your members.

You’ll need time to get teachers registered and also to order the books and get them into the teachers’ hands prior to your start date. While the sessions were planned for bi-weekly delivery, you might choose to schedule once a week for a month. As long as you allow time for active participation and lively discussions.

Some field testers found the book to be excellent but the time frame too short. Feel free to make necessary adjustments to the session to make it comfortable for participants. The discussions are the important thing, because the big ideas are addressed in the conversation. Take the time needed to have those conversations, even if it means skipping some of the activities and readings.

While the sessions are planned as four, two-hour sessions, you may find, as some field testers did, that you want to add more sessions to allow for more discussion and sharing of ideas among participants. Go for it!

ETFO Book Clubs are a social time among members. Allow time for your members to eat, and network, and decide how to best allocate that time. It is up to the facilitators to own the decisions and meet the needs of each particular group.

You are welcome to modify the listed activities …

... as the guides have been developed deliberately to engage your members in thinking and discussing. Whatever activities you decide on as a facilitator, make sure that you involve teachers in sharing opinions with others in the teaching field and brainstorming new ideas to try. The mix of new and experienced teachers combined with a dedicated time to learn together in a comfortable relaxed setting should be rich for all!

You might choose to have teachers bring in samples of a book or lesson, bags of tricks or even artifacts from school to share with each other and generate new thinking.

It’s about what is best for teachers …

... and that will depend on your group. In some cases, a fair amount of effort and time will be needed to keep up with the demands of the course or the book study. Please feel free to rework the plans as needed. ETFO Book Clubs should be supportive.

If teachers don’t have a classroom to try things out in, then be flexible about how you have your participants apply their learning to the classroom.

If teachers can’t find the time to do the reading in preparation for the session, maybe sections of the reading can be completed during the ETFO Book Club session.

FEEDBACK FORM

Please forward this completed Feedback Form to: Janet Millar Grant at or by fax to 416-928-5340.

ETFO Book Club Feedback Form

Please check which ETFO Book Club was offered.

ETFO Special Education Handbook: A Practical Guide for All Teachers - REVISED

I am the Teacher

Jardind’enfants

Learning Through Teacher Research A Guidebook for Your Action Research

Learning Together: A Teacher’s Guide to Combined Grades

Making Math Happen in the Junior Years

Making Math Happen in the Primary Years

Planning for Student Learning

Possibilities: Addressing Poverty in Elementary Schools

Primarily Play: Engaging Primary Learners Through Play

Primary ETFO Arts

Re-Think, Re-Connect, Re-Imagine: Thinking About Ourselves, Our Schools, Our Communities. Reflecting on White Privilege

Revised ETFO Arts

Social Justice Begins With Me

Teaching for Deep Understanding

The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning: Practical Ideas and Resources for Beginning Teachers

Thinking it Through: Introduction to Assessment That Informs Instruction

Thinking it Through: Introduction to Learning in Centres

Thinking it Through: Introduction to Child Development

Thinking it Through: Introduction to Literacy and the Young Child

Thinking it Through: Introduction to Playing Is Learning

Thinking it Through: Introduction to Science and Technology

Thinking it Through: Introduction to The Arts - Joyful Learning

Thinking it Through: Introduction to Thinking Mathematically

Please check when the ETFO Book Club was offered.

Fall (September – December)

Winter (January – April)

Spring (May – August)

3.Please check the number of members who participated in the ETFO Book Club that was offered:

5-10 members

10-15 members

15-20 members

4.My overall impression of the ETFO Book Club that was offered was:

Excellent

Good

Fair

Poor

Please explain:

5.Identify the most useful feature(s) of the ETFO Book Club that was offered and why.

Book Club Selections

ETFO Special Education Handbook: A Practical Guide for All Teachers - REVISED

The ETFO Special Education Handbook: A Practical Guide for All Teachers (Revised) was developed as a resource for all teachers in Ontario, including classroom teachers, subject teachers, special education teachers and occasional teachers, as they work with students with special needs. Participating in this book club will provide teachers with practical classroom strategies to support the learning of students with special needs, and will increase their understanding of special education in the province of Ontario.

Learning Through Teacher Research A Guidebook for Your Action Research

The Learning Through Teacher Research, A Guidebook for Your Action Research Journey book club supports educators conduct a systematic inquiry, whether formally or informaly. The guidebook itself shares the journey of more than 600 teachers. This book club will explore the research journey and allow participants to develop research processes, practices and develop new skills as educators through a research journey.

Planning for Student Learning

The Planning for Student Learning book club shows teachers how to manage curriculum planning on long-range, create unit lesson plans and use daybook pages that contain practical processes as well as use a variety of templates. It is a book club that will allow participants to take charge of their own professional development with a focus on sharing their own experiences and strengths to further develop their skills to become problem solvers.

Re-Think, Re-Connect, Re-Imagine: Thinking About Ourselves, Our Schools, Our Communities. Reflecting on White Privilege

The Re-Think, Re-Connect, Re-Imagine book club will use the booklet to extends ETFO’s White Privilege project to offer reflection and concrete suggestions for grappling with the issues of privilege and racism in our practice as educators. Free posters, buttons and postcards also available upon request from EWS.

Revised ETFO Arts

The Revised ETFO Arts is a practical step-by-step handbook for Junior/Intermediate grade teachers who have limited experience in teaching arts education. In this book club, based on the Revised ETFO Arts resource, participants will explore the elements of dance, drama, music and visual arts and how to use the arts to support literacy and other subject areas.

I am the Teacher

In this book club, teachers will consider I Am the Teacher and discuss the challenges of creating an effectively managed classroom environment as Occasional Teachers. Occasional Teachers are a diverse group. This diversity will allow participants to examine the critical role of classroom management through different lenses and to explore how classroom management affects the learning environment of students they visit.

Jardind’enfants

This resource discusses the principles of developmentally appropriate practices and shows you how to bring play-based learning into your Kindergarten classroom. This book provides theoretical information about play based learning and its importance in our Kindergarten program. It offers practical information about how to plan different centres and gives specific ideas of what to include. It offers practical schedules and important components of the learning environment.

Learning Together: A Teacher’s Guide to Combined Grades

This book club will provide educators with a framework for teaching combined grades. This resource offers practical strategies, clearly defined criteria and sample templates, which support the successful organization and management of combined grade classes.

Making Math Happen in the Primary Years

In this book club, teachers will explore the book Making Math Happen in the Primary Years and discuss the implications of this research based work on classroom practice. It is a book club for both new and experienced teachers and will provide concrete ideas about implementing effective mathematics practice into the classroom to support student’s understanding.

Making Math Happen in the Junior Years

In this book club, teachers will explore the book Making Math Happen in the Junior Years and discuss the implications of this research based work on classroom practice. It is a book club for both new and experienced teachers and will provide concrete ideas about implementing effective mathematics practice into the classroom to support student’s understanding.