February 4, 2008

“Of the experiences I have had with reading in and out of Brazil, I would single out as the best the ones I gained from coordinating reading groups around the text.”  (p.57)

When I read this I immediately thought of our book study groups from the fall semester.  I absolutely loved reading books and discussing them with my colleagues and friends.  I gained new insights and perspectives that I might not have had otherwise.  The girls from SES (Molly Hammer, Charlotte Tyson, Teresa Hinton, Corey Rieke, Jen Pomfret, and I) decided to take it one step further and create a book study group at our school as our burning issue from Barbara and Tonia’s class.  We were very enthusiastic about doing this.  We couldn’t wait to get started and we proposed the idea to our principals who approved it.  There was a catch.  We couldn’t allow the staff to choose only from our book list.  Instead we offered some suggestions and so did some other people (administrators, literacy coach).  In the end, half of us lead a study on a book that we all chose and the other half were stuck leading a study on a book that we were only partially interested in.  I think that for there to be active and engaging dialogue, one must be interested in the book and interested in being a part of a discussion group.  I believe Freire is correct in the fact that he believes that some of the best reading comes from “forming reading groups around the text”.   However, I think that the members of that group need to be there willingly.  It seemed as though the people involved in this book study were only doing it as a “half to”.  In the end the book study wasn’t what we had dreamed it would be and I have often pondered starting my own little book discussion group with my colleagues who are interested in being an active member of the group over the summer.