Teacher Readers Book Club

Hi, friends! Ashley Gordon originally shared her teacher book club idea in our Learning Librarians Facebook group, and I loved the idea of promoting a love of reading with our TEACHERS. Ashley generously agreed to write this guest blog post, explaining the details. This post does include Amazon affiliate links, which pays me a small percentage of your purchase, at no extra cost to you. Here’s what Ashley says.

New Librarian, New Ideas

Last spring a friend convinced me to apply for an elementary media job in her district. I submitted my application online on a Thursday night, and by the next Thursday I’d interviewed for the position, been offered the job, and accepted it! My new admin team – three of whom were also new to their positions – tasked me with redefining our school’s reading culture. 

All of this newness really inspired me to ramp up my media specialist game! One of the first books I read over the summer to prepare was Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer. (A must-read for librarians!) Before I even met my new co-workers, I decided we were going to read together. I wanted our students to see us as reading role models. I created a logo on Canva, made a private Facebook group, and added the “founding members” who in turn added everyone else from the staff to our group.

Then I posted that I would announce our first title during pre-planning. Leading up to that, I took several polls to get a feel for reading preferences: As seasoned readers, we all have reading preferences. In our school reading communities, we’ll help students determine theirs.

• What’s the primary way you get books to read for pleasure? Most popular answer: Amazon
• What’s your first choice format? Paperback
• Your go-to genre? Mystery/thriller followed by historical fiction
• Where is your most comfortable reading spot? Bed
• Do you reread books? A resounding “no”

Teacher Book Club with Cheese Dip

We started with a title recommended by a teacher friend from my last school, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni. Teachers had a little over a month to read the book. We met in the semi-private back room of a local Mexican restaurant. I asked the questions based on a few reading guides I pulled from online. We had around 10 teachers in attendance the first month. It was at this initial discussion that our time together was christened “Cheese Dip & Fellowship.” 

I selected a mystery/thriller for the next month, Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, and our teacher book club discussion group grew to 14! It was fun to watch the Facebook group newsfeed as teachers read this one! Some couldn’t put it down; others couldn’t sleep after reading it! Because this genre is a favorite of the group’s, several members starting recommending other titles for “free reading,” depending on how they responded to The Silent Patient.

Historical fiction was next up, and, for the first time, I asked for feedback on specific titles. I picked six and posted their covers, asking for readers to let me know which ones they’d already read on their own, if any. Only one title was knocked out of the running this way, so we put the remaining numbers in a chip basket at The Silent Patient discussion. Before we left that night, everyone knew we’d be reading We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter next.

Book Trading Begins

At this point in our reading community, book trading officially became a thing, and I offered a shelf in the library for giving and taking in our teacher book club. 

Several of us struggled to get through We Were the Lucky Ones, so I picked two (hopefully!) lighter reads for winter break: a middle grade selection right before – The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart – and a romance right after – The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren.

This endeavor takes so little of my time. The little planning that it does involve are some of my favorite things: reading book reviews, creating images on Canva, reading books, and eating! But mostly it’s been really fun to see teachers getting excited about reading again! My principal even shared sweet words at a faculty meeting about how her own children have noticed her change in reading habits due to our club.

Thank you, Ashley!

I LOVE this idea for getting teachers excited about reading! I’m so glad that Ashley shared it with us. After all, how will our students be inspired to read if they don’t see the adults around them reading?

Ashley is the Media Specialist at Quail Run Elementary School in Georgia. You can follow her adventures on the QRES Media Center Facebook page.

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