Have you ever been to a book club before? We love book club meetings! Good friends or colleagues (or both), good food, maybe some good wine . . . and, ideally, a good book discussion!
Caitlin and Jessica’s book The Empowered ELA Teacher is coming out tomorrow, and the EB Academics team could not be more excited to share it with you. It includes wonderful advice on thriving instead of just surviving, and we know it is going to help countless educators be the teachers they really want to be, without sacrificing their personal lives along the way.
One important truth that gets lost in the shuffle of standards, lesson planning, and teacher evaluations, is that great teachers come from great communities. EB Academics is built around that concept, and we wanted to incorporate it into our book release, too. That’s why we designed this free Book Club Kit — to help teachers discuss its ideas in a fun way, in the pleasant, supportive company of their teaching peers.
So, let’s get started! You have the Book Club Kit (or if you don’t, click here to grab the kit), so now what? Let’s break down the steps to take your book club over the top, in true EB Academics fashion!
1. Send Out the Invitations
First things first: you can’t host a book club meeting without guests! Sure, you could just email some teacher friends, but the cute invitations provided in the Book Club Kit are SO much more fun! They show your guests how excited you are to see them, plus the RSVPs will help you plan. If your event will be online instead of in person, these invitations also add a nice personal touch that is sometimes lacking during virtual meet-ups.
2. Get the Discussion Started
The Book Club Kit comes with thoughtful discussion questions, divided by sections of the book, to help teachers reflect on how they can use the book’s ideas and concepts in their own teaching and planning. While you can certainly wait for your book club meeting to pull out these questions, your friends will probably appreciate getting them in advance, so they can consider them while they read. You can send the questions out with the invitations, or send them to those who RSVP, as a reminder of the upcoming meeting.
3. Plan and Prepare the Food and Drink
We’re not going to lie; food is probably our favorite part of book club meetings. It adds to the feeling of fun and community as we get together to share ideas and support each other. Our Book Club Kit has done it all for you (well, except for the shopping and cooking). You’ll find tips for making the perfect charcuterie board, and delicious recipes for rosemary shortbread, avocado bean dip, and orange zest cookies. All of the recipes are based on Caitlin and Jessica’s favorite foods to serve while hosting. And speaking of their favorites, you’ll also find their personal wine faves! Because EB Academics teachers always bring the “Wow Factor,” cute signs for labeling the foods are included in the kit as well!
4. Give a Gift
Okay, this one is pretty cool. The Book Club Kit includes a great gift to pass out, which won’t break the bank but will leave your guests feeling loved. The kit comes with cute sticky note templates, which you can use to print sticky notes for taking notes while reading The Empowered ELA Teacher or simply to have on hand in the classroom or at home. When the EB
Academics team got its first look at the completed Book Club Kit, many of us hadn’t even known that you can print onto sticky notes, but the kit has all the directions you need to do just that.You can pass these out to guests at your party, or give them out in advance to help your friends take notes as they read. So fun!
5. Share Ideas
So the food’s been eaten, ideas have been discussed, everyone has gushed over their adorable little gifts. What’s left to do? The Book Club Kit has one more surprise in store: an entire lesson full of fun, engaging activities! These Comma Carnival Games are just what teachers need to spice up their punctuation lesson. Take a look with your friends and talk about the different ways you can use this lesson to add engagement and rigor to your classrooms!
We hope you love reading The Empowered ELA Teacher and that these ideas, along with our Book Club Kit, help to bring your book discussion to the next level. Teaching is all about community, and reading should be, too. Enjoy!
Looking for our free Book Club Kit? Click here!
