What is it? Junior Great Books is a text based discussion group for Grades 1 - 5. The program inspires students to think for themselves through careful reading of thought-provoking stories. Students read and discuss classic and global literature through the shared inquiry method. Junior Great Books helps students develop essential literacy skills—reading carefully, thinking critically, and listening intently. First introduced to schools in 1962, Junior Great Books is now used by more than one million students in all 50 states and in countries around the world. By combining age-appropriate literature with the shared inquiry method of discussion, Junior Great Books brings literature to life and helps students discover a joy of reading they will carry with them into adulthood. Junior Great Books include children's classics, folk tales and fairy tales, poetry, and modern short stories from cultures around the world. When is it?Junior Great Books meets during the lunch hour from 11:15 - 12:15 every other week for 8 weeks. The sessions usually begin in November and end in February. Parent Discussion Leaders also need to commit to a one day training class in order to be a facilitator. What happens in a Junior Great Books session? Students read an assigned story before each session and come prepared with questions or comments about the story to share with the group. The story is discussed through "shared inquiry," where a Junior Great Books parent leader asks questions to help students work together to discover the meaning of a story. Your group will meet in an assigned classroom each week and the children will eat their lunch during the discussion session. The final session is a celebration usually with a pizza party congratulating all the children on their participation. Parent Discussion Leaders need to come to each session prepared to lead the discussion about the story for that week. Volunteers needed?Chairperson and/or Co-Chairs to administer and lead the program. They are responsible for publicizing the program and recruiting parent volunteers, scheduling and coordinating the new parent facilitator training session, communicating with the staff at Lincoln, working with the PTA to set the budget, collecting fees from participants, then ordering the material through the Great Books Foundation, organizing and assigning grade level groups, meeting with the facilitators to answer questions and provide them with materials, planning the end of program celebration for the students, collecting and maintaining the facilitator manuals and materials at the end of the program and evaluating the program for the future.
- Parent Discussion Leaders need to attend the facilitator training session. They need to plan the lesson for each session, and be in charge of their group of children. If your child is participating in Junior Great Books, we of course will try to match you and your child together if you'd like.
- Assistant Facilitators are a great addition to each group (especially with the younger children). The Assistant Facilitator does not need to attend the Junior Great Books training session. They need to ensure that they have read the story each week and are also prepared to assist with leading the children through the discussion sessions.
How much time does it take?The Chair(s) role starts with the preparation listed above in October. Obviously organizing and preparing for the program take some time, however most of the early work can be done from home and scheduled as you see fit This program is well documented and has been running for many years at Lincoln, so there are many resources already prepared for the Chair. Discussion Leaders need to attend a training session in order to be a group facilitator, and then are responsible for reading the story and being prepared to lead the discussion about it during the 8 week program. Assistant Facilitators need to also read the story and be prepared to assist with the children and the discussions.
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