Book Club: Fever, 1793

            Over the last five weeks, our student teacher, Taylor, has been conducting a book club with five students. The students read the novel, Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. This story takes place in Philadelphia in the summer of 1793 and follows the yellow fever epidemic. Throughout the book, we follow the character Matilda Cook, a young teenage girl who has to grow up quickly. Mattie lives with her mother and grandfather in a coffeehouse that her mother runs. When a close friend suddenly dies of the fever, Matilda must find a way to keep herself and her family alive. This story is very intense and a bit graphic in some parts but the students were mature and seemed to really enjoy the story.

            The book was split into five different reading sections. After reading a section, students would gather and participate in a literature circle. Students were assigned a role on the first week and the roles would rotate each week so each student could have a different job. The roles included: connector/investigator, discussion director, literacy luminary, vocabulary enricher, and illustrator. The connector/investigator had two jobs. The first was to make connections between what they read in that particular section and something they have experienced in the real world. As the investigator, students were to conduct further research on a part of the book whether it be background information on the setting, the author, the weather, etc. The discussion director was the leader of the conversation. They would begin the conversation by asking 3 discussion questions about anything related to the reading section, then an inferential question, a factual question, and an opinion question. Once students responded to the discussion questions, the discussion director would choose the next person to share their role. The literacy luminary’s job was to pick three parts they read in the reading section that they felt were important, interesting, funny, etc. and explain why they believed that part was important. The vocabulary enricher had to choose 6 words that they did not know and find the definitions and share with the group. The illustrator had to draw a picture that had something to do with the reading section and share. After each person shared their role, two responses were allowed in order for the lesson to be completed in 30 minutes.

            Also at the beginning of the book club, Taylor and the students came up with five expectations for a successful literature circle. The expectations were as follows: 1) only one person may talk at a time; 2) listen respectfully to peers; 3) be prepared; 4) only positive comments; 5) everyone participates. At the beginning of each meeting, we would review these expectations. In order to follow the expectation of only one person talks at a time, we had a small stuffed moose and only the person holding the moose was allowed to talk. Students were successful at respecting each other, making positive comments, and participating. Being prepared meant students needed to have read the section, completed their role, and brought their materials to the discussion. Students really enjoyed the book and the literature circles.