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Whole Novels for the Whole Class

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PARTS OF THE WHOLE

A View of Whole Novel Study from Start to Finish
When I describe the concept of a whole novel study and the discussions that are at the center of it, one of the most pressing questions I hear from teachers is, What do you do in class while students are reading the book? I describe the various layers of work that happen along the way in Part 2 of the book, but here is an overview of the progression of a whole novel study from start to nish. Each one is a little bit different, so this serves a general summary of the ow of a single novel study. This calendar in the table is for a novel of 210 pages. Students are assigned to read fteen pages ve days a week. The items on the calendar are explained briey below.

Example of Daily Activities during a Whole Novel Study

Monday
Week Prologue 1

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday
Whole class check-in and reading

Friday
Introduce seeker books; Partner reading and peer feedback on notes Reading time and supplemental text/lm Books due! Discussions begin

Ritual launch Minilesson on sticky and reading notes and reading time

Week Reading time 2 and group miniproject Week Reading 3 time and discussion of supplemental text Week Discussions 4 and creative writing

Reading time Whole class check-in and group and partner or miniproject independent reading Reading time Dramatizing scenes and creative writing

Reading time and supplemental text/lm Reading day

Discussions and creative writing

Discussions and creative writing

In-class literary Creative writing essay writing share day

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Parts of the Whole

PROLOGUE
Sometimes before launching the novel, I open with an experience that provides some context for the whole novel study were about to begin. For example, before reading Sandra Cisneross House on Mango Street, a study in which we focus on the element of setting, I read the vividly descriptive beginning of Ray Bradburys Martian Chronicles and have students write creative descriptions of real or imagined settings. Before Robert Cormiers The Chocolate War, we read and discuss an article about banned books to set students up to read the frequently banned novel and to connect to the themes of oppression and silencing in the story itself. I dont give away the connections between the prologue and the novel because I want to create opportunities for students to discover these connections.

RITUAL LAUNCH
Every whole novel study begins with a ritual launch, originally created by Noah Rubin, a former student of Madeleine Ray at Bank Street. The ritual consists of passing out to each student a gallon-size ziplock plastic bag containing everything the students will need on their reading journey and sending them off to begin. The baggie contains a copy of the book, a reading schedule, a letter Ive written to students introducing the novel and expectations for the study, sticky notes, and a bookmark or other treat. I pass out the book baggie, and we read the letter together and look at the schedule and guidelines for the study. Then I send the students to begin reading. I describe the preparation and launch in detail in Chapter 6.

READING TIME
Once Ive launched the study, I devote lots of time to reading during class. Sometimes students read independently. Other times I assign partners and a protocol for reading together. Sometimes we read portions of the novel aloud as a whole class or in small groups. I nd I need to give students time to read at least three times per week to keep them going. If we will be working on something else for 103

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most of a class period, I have students read independently for about ten minutes when they enter the room. (More on reading time in Chapter 6.) During this time, I talk with individual students, observe their reading habits, and assess their sticky notes.

WHOLE GROUP RESPONSE PRACTICE

On the second day of reading, I like to have students choose a section from the previous nights reading to read aloud together and practice response. We do this as a whole class. Students or I read the section aloud, and students share their responses. I record them in a text box on my laptop that looks like a sticky note and project this for students to see. I generally do not ask questions or prescribe the content of their responses, but I use this process to model the general types of notes they should be writing. If we are working with a structured note type, I model the note format by asking students to help me follow the directions for writing, say, a language note. I do this at least two more times during the whole novel study at the beginning of class and then give students reading time.

WHOLE CLASS CHECK-INS

During a novel study, we spend about ve to ten minutes several days per week checking in as a whole class about how the reading is going. Students share excitement, general responses, frustrations, and questions. Sometimes a common question from students leads us to reread a section of text together, or a strong response to a character leads to some impromptu discussion of an idea from the book. However, I limit the scope and time frame for these discussions; their purpose is for students to feel part of a venture, as they have their individual experience in reading the book.

MINIPROJECTS
Generally in the second week, we use two or three days of class to work on a group miniproject. I use my assessments of students reading notes to diagnose the needs of the whole class or small groups of students and design collaborative projects that help address those needs. The projects are designed to aid students comprehension 104

Parts of the Whole

and critical thinking as they read and also to help them explore the authors development of a specic literary element that is a focus for the study. During these days, I always give students some time to read independently at the beginning of class. I share more about miniprojects in Chapter 7.

MIDWAY READING CHECK

I spot-monitor students progress in their reading and note taking informally on a daily basis and follow up with students and families after school when necessary. Midway through the study (or once a week if I can manage it), I do a quick check for completion either during class or by collecting books; I enter a grade in my grade book. I also use the opportunity to offer a comment or two to each student about his or her noteswhats working, an area to improve or nd additional challenge, or a response to the content of a particular note.

SUPPLEMENTAL EXPERIENCES
I pepper the days during the reading portion of the study with additional text materials that connect to the theme, content, or structure of the novel. We might spend a day reading and discussing an article that helps students understand the novels time period. We read and respond to a poem that connects to a theme in the novel. We watch a lm with a similar story line, and I use the opportunity to teach the idea of a moral dilemma, which will come up later in the book (I dont tell them, though).

CREATIVE WRITING
We often write creatively during the reading portion of the study. This might include writing letters to characters, writing poems, or writing monologues in the voices of characters. The assignment could also focus on emulating the style or structural element of the author in the original work. I take these opportunities to teach lessons on some of the formal aspects of ction writing, such as punctuating dialogue. Once students have nished the book, either during or after discussions, I often have them rewrite pieces of the novel for different purposes. 105

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(See Chapter 5 for details.) Students usually share these with peers, giving and receiving feedback.

DISCUSSIONS
After students have nished reading the novel, we begin discussing the book. I describe the process for this in detail in the next chapter. For whole novel discussions, I allot at least three days. I prefer to run discussions for half of the class at a time, which means the other half of the class is working on a quiet independent activityusually creative writing related to the novel. The homework during discussions is based on prompts generated by each discussion group.

WRITING PROJECT
The whole novel discussions lead to writing projects. These could be creative or essay writing projects. Essays are based on debates or questions that arise in discussions. These could be based on only the novel, or they could explore a connection students have drawn between the novel and the supplemental texts weve read. Sometimes I draw out the writing process: I provide minilessons on writing each piece of the essay and give students time to outline and get feedback from their peers on their ideas. These essays usually involve multiple drafts. Other times, I give students a timed inclass essay assignment (always based on their own ideas and questions about the book). Sometimes students write multiple drafts of these in-class writing pieces, and other times they serve as formative assessments, and we leave it there.

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Creative projects are always based on elements of the book weve studied or discussed. For example, following their reading of The House on Mango Street, which is written in short vignettes, students wrote their own collection of vignettes. Following the study of various novels with the journey motif, students wrote original journey stories. After studying Louise Fitzhughs Nobodys Family Is Going to Change, students experimented with rewriting scenes from different perspectives.

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