Synthesis blog 5

This week’s reading and recently in class we have been discussing book clubs. Before this I have never considered a book club for a non-literature class. In my prior years of school I had never experienced this idea either. After reading this section, I have come to favor the idea. I think that the small groups allow for students to better pitch their ideas. This also allows for more creativity. Since there are not as many people in the group as opposed to the whole class, each student is then forced to think harder and more outside of the box.

However, book clubs can also not be a great idea. As I have experienced in past group projects, some students to not do their part. It is obvious when they do not read. Therefore the student is then piggybacking off of other student’s suggestions. With small groups this could be a major set back. If a group consists of 3 people, this would mean that a third of the group did not do their part. And even though the teacher could make this effect their grade, it is still not fair to the students who did do their part. 

Book clubs can be a great assignment depending on your group of students. If graded together correctly, each group could be giving the grade that correctly mirrors their contribution to the group. This would also allow the students who did contribute the correct amount, a satisfying grade. But, as a future educator I do not know if I would grade students group projects where students in the same group would have different grades. I do not know how I would handle the situation while being fair to the whole group.

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