I received a copy of this book from the publisher to facilitate my review. As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
What is Whole Novels for the Whole Class?
I am a bibliophile in a houseful of bibliophiles. I laughed when a friend posted this Anna Quindlen quote to Facebook, because it resonated with me: “I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.” So the idea behind Whole Novels for the Whole Class piqued my interest immediately.
The basic concept is pretty simple: have the whole class read the same novel at the same time, and hold off on discussions of the book until the end. To me, this just makes sense. It’s normal and natural for people to read books and respond to what they’re reading. It’s not normal or natural for people to read books, stopping at the end of each chapter to answer a predetermined set of structured questions about what they’ve just read.
As homeschoolers, many of us have already rejected the model of artificially imposing regimentation in favor of something more organic or authentic. We prefer to direct and facilitate much of our children’s learning rather than telling them which answers they’re supposed to parrot back. But that doesn’t mean we automatically know how to do this effectively. Whole Novels for the Whole Class is jam-packed with specific, practical tools for guiding this process where reading is concerned.
What is Involved in the Whole Novels Method?
As homeschoolers, we have the disadvantage of not having a built-in peer group for the sake of discussion, except in families where there’s a cluster of siblings in a similar age range. That means some of the give-and-take of developmentally-similar discussion will be lost. There are ways to work around this: co-ops, Google Hangouts, etc., but we may have to find a workable mix of peer discussion and family discussion. Everything else in Ms. Sacks’s process is still 100% applicable – and extremely useful.
The process looks like this:
- The teacher selects an appropriate book, based on a number of factors, including the literary quality and the relevance of the content.
- Students read the book, leaving their comments on sticky notes as they go along. (Essentially, they are “taking notes in the margin,” without actually writing on the book itself.)
- When all students have completed the book, they discuss it. Little teacher direction is necessary, because what doesn’t occur to one student will likely occur to another, so they can discover all the important points together.
I like this because it strongly mimics the way reading happens “in the real world” – this is basically what I do when I read as an adult – but in an intentional way.
YOU Can Teach Whole Novels
Along the way, the author presents plenty of information for duplicating the process with your own students. She walks you through her book selection criteria. She tells you how she teaches her students to write their sticky notes. She offers tips for keeping a discussion moving. (These would be very useful in any discussion, not just a book discussion!) She talks about small group activities used along the way to keep students involved with and excited about the text. She tackles tough questions about reluctant readers, those who have trouble understanding a particular text or textual element, those who don’t take the assignment seriously, and more.
We see her teach not only reading for comprehension, but a strong working understanding of literary elements, composition, logic/critical thinking, independent thinking, and the ability to defend a position. This is real education at its best. And she makes it so appealing that I found myself almost wanting a classful of kids just so we could do this!
Literal, Inferential, & Critical Observations
There is so much in the book that I couldn’t possibly get into it all – you’ll just have to read it. There are, however, a couple specifics of Ms. Sacks’s method that I wanted to pull out because I find them particularly interesting or believe they’re particularly relevant for my readers here.
The first is the concept of Literal, Inferential, and Critical thinking. Although students are not pushed to analyze their thoughts as they’re making their notes, being encouraged instead to simply respond naturally to the text, they are encouraged to go back after making them and classify them as either Literal, Inferential, or Critical. Literal observations are those specifically found in the text itself. Inferential observations are strongly implied by the text, but not there in black-and-white. Critical observations require higher thinking and are, in essence, the student’s own thoughts about the text.
I found this breakdown particularly interesting because we find similar classifications elsewhere. Proverbs talks about knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Classical education addresses grammar, logic, and rhetoric stages of learning. Inductive Bible study relies on observation, interpretation, and application. All of these are, at the core, the same three groups of information or levels of processing. That these same groups continually reappear lends credence to their existence as universal stages of learning.
“Mirrors” and “Windows”
The second is the idea of “mirror” books vs. “window” books. A mirror book is one with which the reader will closely identify. The characters, settings, and situations found in these books are very similar to the reader and his life. A window book, by contrast, is one that gives the reader a “window” into someone else’s life because it’s significantly different from his own.
I believe this is an exceptionally important concept for conservative Christian homeschoolers, who often have a tendency to stick with mirror books for fear of influencing their kids in an unhealthy direction. The vocabulary of “mirror books” and “window books” provides both solid reasoning for including both categories, as well as a tool for including window books in a healthy manner.
Conclusions
Whole Novels for the Whole Class is written with middle schoolers in mind, but many of the principles can be applied with younger readers, as well. My mental wheels are turning with all the ways these skills can benefit students – even outside of fiction reading – so I’m working out how to begin introducing them to my first grader.
One of the author’s students asked if this book is likely to become a classic. I don’t know if it will, but I absolutely believe that it should. It’s one of the best education books I’ve read in a long time, and I believe it deserves a place in every classroom teacher’s and every homeschooler’s library.
[…] Recommended Article FROM https://titus2homemaker.com/2014/02/whole-novels-for-the-whole-class/ […]