Anonymous wrote:Junior Great Books is program with a specific pedagogy called "shared reading". The program is somewhat misnamed because it does not consist of "Great Books" but rather folk tales and short stories, some of which, are quite compelling. This is not a program designed for "advanced" kids. When we implanted it at our school, it was for everyone.

It was designed initially for advanced readers. But the market it better if you are doing it for more than advanced readers. That said it is still higher quality reading selections than the crap in many text books so implementing it school wide makes more sense than relying on Pearson textbooks.

sorry, not shared reading, but shared inquiry

Junior Great Books is program with a specific pedagogy called "shared reading". The program is somewhat misnamed because it does not consist of "Great Books" but rather folk tales and short stories, some of which, are quite compelling. This is not a program designed for "advanced" kids. When we implanted it at our school, it was for everyone.

21:10 again. I enjoyed junior great books and found it positive. I didn't find it to be earthshattering either. What I mostly remember are the stories (they were great), and the wonderful parent volunteers who came in. There were a handful of parents who really loved leading junior great books and did a great job getting the discussion going (and we got to break into smaller groups as well, which definitely helped with the discussion). I don't remember it being only for advanced kids at Lafayette, but of course this was nearly two decades ago, so perhaps my memory is failing me. I don't remember the stories being particularly challenging, but Lafayette was full of families with professional parents whose kids were reading at very high levels (including myself).

I think it is a nice program and when done well, it can be great. I don't know that the method is the end all, be all of methods to foster discussion. I don't know that it would have been nearly as positive without enthusiastic parent volunteers and the ability to break up into small groups for discussion, for what that's worth.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did it at my school too. It was nice, but not earthshaking. You could always just get the stories and have her read them.

I posted this. I'm aware that it's more than just the books, but reading the books/stories is what I liked best about the program. The in-class discussion and activities were not meaningful or memorable to me.

I have to agree when I have flipped through the workbooks, I am not sure they ask all that much from the reader. They honestly seemed very based on the writing workshop method to me. They like everyone are doing their version of common core alignment I hope it changes the projects to more close reading style.

I did Jr. Great Books when I was young. I remember we started in the 3rd grade. I was advanced in reading and thought it was more fun to read these books than the comparatively easier stories in our regular reader.

Anonymous wrote:We did it at my school too. It was nice, but not earthshaking. You could always just get the stories and have her read them.

I posted this. I'm aware that it's more than just the books, but reading the books/stories is what I liked best about the program. The in-class discussion and activities were not meaningful or memorable to me.

My son participates in JGB at Murch regularly and it is new there this school year.

Anonymous wrote:We did it at my school too. It was nice, but not earthshaking. You could always just get the stories and have her read them.

You could, but then you'd be missing out on the peer component. I was in this program when I was a kid and it was nice because we were talking about the stories rather than having things dictated to us, and it also helped us build a peer group with kids with shared abilities/interests which is something that can be hard for smart/geeky/nerdy/bookish/introverted/pick-your-adjective kids.

They are considered advanced reading programs. They were initially designed for kids reading above grade level, but they are more often used now to provide more substance to a districts reading program.

Are they for gifted students?

I loved it as a kid.

They are a lot more substantial than the DCPS text books. I know many schools use them across all levels, though I think many years ago they were used for advanced kids. My daughter used them in 3rd and 4th grades and said that some times the activities were tedious but she liked the stories.

JGBs are more than just the stories, it's also a teaching method that is based on a "shared inquiry" model. DCPS schools that have the books are also providing teacher training to get the most out of the program. The training involves helping teachers use the readings to cross curriculum areas, to help kids really think about what they are reading and ask questions and draw their own conclusions. Also, the group discussions are done in way where students ask and answer the questions, the teacher guides them. In the right hands, it can be a powerful teaching tool.

We did it at my school too. It was nice, but not earthshaking. You could always just get the stories and have her read them.