Volume 1, Issue 3 – Using Prompts to Spark Discussions about Books

Welcome to this week’s edition of Best Practices Weekly.  Today we’ll be discussing the concept of using prompts to spark book discussions.

Giving younger students the space to discuss books is a powerful way to build up their reading skills, but only if the discussion is structured through explicit teacher instruction and facilitation (McIntyre, 2007; McIntyre, et al., 2006). In an article for The Reading Teacher, two researchers from Literacy Partners International and two teachers from a Virginia elementary school explore using discussion prompts to promote thinking and conversation about books.

To get the most out of this week’s topic, watch the 5-minute video on this page, then click below to access the rest of this week’s materials and share this page with your colleagues: