Teachers read all the time: assignments, professional books, student writing, all the emails. In the hectic nature of school days, it’s easy to forget when we last made time to read something we love just for the joy of it, even while we encourage our students to read more. But for our students to develop the love of reading we hope they will have, we have to show them how we do it, and that means making space in our busy days to read something for ourselves.
As any student can tell you, reading is more fun if you do it together. A faculty book club fits your schedule (you’re already there) and helps you connect over something besides that one student in third period or the data analysis of your last common assessment, as well as providing lots of new book ideas to get you out of any reading slump.
Teachers find books and create activities that will engage students in the joy of reading, and teachers deserve a little of that joy for themselves. Reading together brings joy, lightness, and connection into busy and sometimes lonely days. As a curriculum coordinator for my high school, I wanted to give all this to our faculty when I decided to start a club.
Be excited.
This step for starting a club is perhaps the most important one. Share all the information by email, but also issue individual invitations to teachers as you talk to them. Let them know how much fun book club will be, and ask them to invite others. Talk your library media specialist into ordering some copies of the books you’ll be reading. Make invitations on Canva and slide them into mailboxes, preferably with chocolate attached. Teachers will benefit from reading together, but not if they don’t know about it, and not if they don’t know how fun it will be.
Choose what you will read.
Your books need to be high interest and accessible. Choosing something that appeals to a wide range of readers is important. You could choose young adult materials you hope to read with students or the latest novel everyone at the local bookstore is talking about. Your book club does not need to be limited to any one genre or particular scope, but because this is the first book, it needs to appeal to a wide range of interests. A novel with a strong plot, interesting characters, manageable length, and good writing is ideal for a first book.
Choose a point person, but rotate leaders.
Ideally, one or two people can take charge of the logistics: choosing the first book, advertising the meetings, setting a time and place, planning the discussions. To keep cohesion in the club and to build the habit of reading, it may be best to plan monthly or bi-monthly meetings—long enough for everyone to get and read the book, but not so long that people forget—and to set the dates ahead of time so everyone can plan to be there. The club organizers should send out information about meetings and make sure everyone knows what is happening, and the whole group gets a chance to experience different genres and perspectives.
After the first meeting, it may work well to let other members choose books and lead discussions on a rotating basis. Just as in the classroom, no one wants to read the same type of book over and over. Some clubs choose all the books for the year at the start and plan them for each month; others go month by month. Whoever suggested the book would also lead discussion.
Share what you’re reading with students.
Students benefit from seeing your learning and growth in a book club. If you share with them what you’re reading together and your enjoyment and analysis of your books, it helps students see that reading together can be a lifelong process and delight. Add the books you’re reading to your email signature, or post them outside your door or in your classroom. Keep them on your desk to finish a few pages in a spare moment. Let students know that you are also always looking for your next great read.
Celebrate together.
Buy yourselves bookmarks, or hold your last meeting of the year in a restaurant. Bring in snacks at meetings that remind you of the book you’re reading. Give your group a silly name, and be proud of it. Keep the book club door open, and keep inviting new teachers into the community. It’s no small thing to choose to read together, to open yourselves to new worlds, possibilities, and meaning, and ideally it will bring much joy to your reading life. Celebrate the books and the time you spend reading together.
Whatever you choose to read and however you choose to celebrate it, whether your club has 40 teachers or is just you and your neighbor across the hall, embrace the joy and wonder in reading together and in finding your next great book.
