- When beginning a book club, the first important element is that each participant has a book.
- “Participants bought their copies and…titles were chosen from those available on an internet portal” (Alvarez-Alvarez).
- Books should be chosen with a majority vote.
- It is important for the participants to interact with the text to bring back thoughts and ideas to the club.
- “Participants… took notes on issues that caught their attention to share them with the group” (Alvarez-Alvarez).
- Participants should be prepared to work with others in the book club to challenge their thinking and dive deeper into the meaning of the texts.
- “Students can participate in self-definition and collaborative meaning-making of texts, identities and communities” (Epstein).
- During the meetings there should be a designated facilitator to guide the discussion and prompt participants.
- The facilitator can be the same person change each meeting.
- People can volunteer or people can be chosen based on voting.
- Clear and consistent deadlines should be set for the readings to keep participants on the same page and ensure progression in the book.
- A form of communication (email, message, etc.) should be set up to communicate these messages.
- Participants should come to the meetings with an open mindset in order to ensure diverse ideas can be shared in a safe space.
- “The relationship built among participants over time enabled them to share widely different, even competing views…” (Epstein)
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