Bibliotherapy is a intervention strategy that has gained popularity over the past decade. Watch this video and learn about this strategy. After watching, describe three ways that you can use this strategy in your classroom that will nurture the social/emotional development of gifted and talented students.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Bibliotherapy: 10 Books to Nurture your Gifted Child
Bibliotherapy is a intervention strategy that has gained popularity over the past decade. Watch this video and learn about this strategy. After watching, describe three ways that you can use this strategy in your classroom that will nurture the social/emotional development of gifted and talented students.
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Bibliotherapy is a wonderful way for students to see themselves reflected in the written word. Having watching “10 Books to Nurture Your Gifted Child”, there are several ways that such books could be inserted into a gifted classroom. Four specific ways are as follows:
ReplyDelete1. Book Club – I like the idea of having students read books as part of a “book club” that meets during class. Each class is different; each student is different; with enough research, there is a book to meet the need of each student a teacher is likely to encounter. I would anticipate having one book every six to eight weeks that would allow students to see themselves on the pages they read; doing so has the potential to have a profound impact. Additionally, reading about others who may experience real-life situations in the context of fictional works may open the door for tough conversations that may never surface otherwise. Developing the social and emotional understanding to deal with life could quite possibly begin with encountering fictional (and non-fictional) characters that encounter life’s trials and tribulations throughout the chapters of the book.
2. Peer Mentoring – One of the best things educators can do for a gifted child is to find a peer and/or community mentor for their students. Much can be gained from finding someone in real life who shares the same interests and struggles. Educators are naïve to think they can be the answer to all of their student’s questions. Successful educators are the ones who see themselves as bridges, taking students from where they are, to where they want to be. Bibilotherapy can be an ideal way to help peer mentors/mentees establish a relationship and find common ground. It can also be a way for peer mentors/mentees to deal with situations that could be uncomfortable if dealt with directly, but when brought up in the pages of a book, create a safe distance to navigate social and emotional issues that may be sensitive, painful, or even unbeknownst to the mentee.
3. Parent, Teacher, Student Resource Center/Interest Center (Bibilotherapy Library) – Being able to provide resources to teachers in the form of professional development, book clubs, or just recreational reading may help teachers who do not understand the gifted population to begin to comprehend the complexities that are likely to exist within the mind and body of a gifted student. Parents are much the same. They may know they have a gifted child, but what does that mean to them? To be able to provide a book that might help explain the complex development of their child might ease some tension, apprehension, and increase understanding as parents struggle to identify and connect with their gifted child.
4. Project Related Reading – In conjunction with the output or product for each unit, finding a book to tie into the curriculum for the unit may take a bit of time, but can pay dividends. For instance, for a unit on The Civil Rights Movement, the group could also read or be read the book The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine which features two girls, one Caucasian, one African American, who become best friends during the Little Rock School Integration Movement. The historical significance is quite obvious; what’s not quite as obvious is that Marlee, one of the girls, is brilliant but restrains her ability in the classroom, so as not to stand out. This is a classic characteristic of a gifted female.
Bibilotherapy is a very useful tool for any gifted classroom. With the myriad of issues the gifted population is likely to deal with, both in school and in life, being able to see themselves reflected in the literature they read can help aid the social and emotional development of these students. Educators must be intentional in inserting this philosophy into their curriculum – it could be the bridge that one student needs to crossover to achieve social and emotional understanding and success.
I loved NuMind’s book choices and the proposed questions that can accompany them as catalysts for discussion. I will definitely use this is the future. Bibliotherapy sounds like an extremely effective classroom tool for helping students gain more frequent and meaningful moments of insight in relation to their social and emotional lives. The beauty of this strategy is that it is an indirect, inquiry-based style of pedagogy which demands a lot (identification, catharsis, and insight) of the student without seeming like it’s asking too much. Books give students permission to explore their own inner questions and challenging feelings through characters with whom they relate.
ReplyDeleteWith this in mind, it seems that well-designed bibliotherapy curriculum would ideally use various texts to address the individual needs of each student. However, gifted students don’t mind working in groups with other gifted kids- and I think sharing perspectives is an important aspect of psychosocial development and finding a sense of acceptance. Maybe there’s room for a spectrum of specificity or a combination of both when implementing this method. Here’s one proposal…
All entries kept in a journal for the year:
1. Personalized Picks: After spending a few weeks engaging students in exercises that require in-depth feedback and making formal/informal observations to narrow down students’ specific points of need, instructors will be able to make informed decisions about which books connect to which students. Each student is assigned his or her own book along with a question similar to the ones suggested by NuMind. This is basic, but I think, an essential starting point to ensure that students experience both that critical moment of insight and establish a level of comfort in confronting issues that may be out of their control, as a tailored prerequisite. It also ensures that no one’s needs are overlooked. Students read their book and answer the teacher’s question as entry #1.
2. Reading Relay: After the first exercise, have kids write their own question or give an instruction (“draw a picture of the main character’s feelings on page 18”; “describe one time when you..”; name one part of the book that made you (smile, frown, angry, sad…). Why?; tell a joke about x situation; write/draw an alternate ending to the story, interpret the sequences of the story into a strip of watercolor, write a letter/rap/poem/song addressed to the main character) to their classmate about the book they just read. Pass the book and the new peer question to the next person. That person answers their peer’s question as Entry #2 and proposes a new instruction/question for the next student. Repeat until all books have been read by all students and there is a list of student created questions/answers (ultimately a one-way, circular dialogue) for each book. This would require temporal planning according to the number of students in the class.
3. Collective Conscience: At the end of the year, a collective theory or interpretation about each book will exist. The teacher can present each book’s “portfolio”, created by the class. If there are any entries that are off limits or that need to be anonymous, have the student indicate that beforehand. This would be a great opportunity to talk about how we can see the same situation differently, depending on our identities and personal experience. It would also be a way to for peers to indirectly share perspectives and insights on each other’s books (or, situations) in a non-threatening way, which may lead to the original reader’s expansion of or revision of his/her original conclusions. Lastly, it would underline similarities between students (social support), make vulnerability “ok”, and add humor and levity to issues that can feel very heavy to the students bearing them.
I would not limit the books to the students’ age group, and would include a diverse mix of poetry, short story, picture books, non/fictional, and comic.