When I first received this assignment, I thought I would ask one of my students I was working with in my student teaching class. The more I thought about it, I believed it would be more effective if I worked with more than one student. I thought this assignment would lend itself well to a small book group environment. I thought that using three students would generate discussions and interactions between the students, and that way the students could respond to each other, which would be so much more valuable than just a conversation between the young reader and me. This way, I would be able to provide structure to the discussion, but the students would be more responsible for the content. They could work off one another's ideas and thoughts about this wonderful text. Each student could provide his or her personal insight and understandings. I know that my reading of the text was deepened during our own class discussion and I was confident the same thing would occur in o!
             Since I had only been teaching for a few weeks and did not know my students very well, I explained my intentions and expectations to my co-operating teacher who helped me select my three readers. She was just as excited about this assignment for The Giver is one of her favorite YA books as well. She pointed out three students that she knew would be eager and willing to participate in our book group. We decided to ask two girls and one boy from our accelerated reading sixth grade class to partake in my book group.
             It seems to me that so much time has passed since selecting these students, and I have gotten to know them so well since then, especially because of this group. Each student is a bright student, who frequently reads outside of the classroom. "John" arrived in this country four years ago from Russia and provided such a unique view on the text drawn from his rich experiences growing up in a foreign country. "Katie" is an avid reader an...