BOOK CLUBS: INFORMATION AND SELECTION CATALOGUE

INTRODUCTION TO ETFO BOOK CLUBS

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) is committed to providing
professional development for it members in a variety of forms. Teachers are best able to
determine what professional development they need to pursue as life-long learners and
ETFO Book Clubs are designed for voluntary participation of interested members.
As ETFO professional development programs and services continue to evolve to meet
the challenging needs of educators and their students, the new season of offerings has
been expanded to include ETFO Book Clubs with a focus on classroom management,
differentiated instruction, Kindergarten and equity and social justice.
Professional book clubs provide an excellent opportunity for members to reflect on their
classroom practice, enhance their professional knowledge and engage in the
professional learning that best meets their needs and the needs of their students.
An ETFO Book Club is a learning experience that gives educators an opportunity for
professional networking, sharing and reflection through an in-depth examination of
ideas, concepts, research and strategies presented in a professional resource.
ETFO BOOK CLUBS MAIN GOALS
 To enhance the professional knowledge of our members.
 To enhance the professional practice of our members.
 To foster leadership at the local level.
 To implement high - yield, research - based instructional strategies.
 To monitor the impact or effects of instructional decisions on students.
 To reflect on current teaching practices.
When professional book club experiences are tied to the real work of teachers and to
authentic issues they are grappling with in their classrooms, teachers have a deeper
understanding of their impact on classroom practice and student learning.
HOW TO FACILITATE AN ETFO BOOK CLUB
ETFO Book Clubs provide a chance for our members to come together to build on their
professional knowledge and classroom practice. ETFO Book Clubs are designed as
four two-hour sessions; however, the sessions can be held over a series of weeks or
consolidated into one or two half-days of professional learning. Facilitator guides are
currently available for over 20 different ETFO Book Clubs at
www.etfo.ca/professionaldevelopment/etfosbookclubs/.
An ETFO Book Club consists of:
 four weekly sessions of approximately two hours in length (flexible)
 small group size of 15-20 participants; and
  Book Club fee is the book cost.
The ETFO Provincial Office will provide facilitator guides for each of the featured Book
Clubs currently available along with additional information, help guides and supports to
assist you in running a successful ETFO Book Club.
Work with the Professional Learning (PL) Chair in your local to select a book club from
ETFO’s Book Club Information and Selections in order to select a book title that would
be of interest to your local members.
The Book club structure is flexible to accommodate member needs within the local. It
can be run as four-hour, two-hour sessions, two half-day sessions, or as an entire
professional day activity. Similarly, the location can also be a local decision. Some
locals use their office, others use their schools and still others offer the ETFO Book
Clubs at a combination of locations.
LOCAL INFORMATION
Local(s) can access a range of ETFO Book Club resources online to provide
professional learning opportunities for their own members, right in their own local!
Local(s) can choose dates and secure the sites for each of the four sessions. Local can
choose a book club facilitator. Ensure to provide any required audio visual (AV)
equipment and materials (chart paper, markers, sticky-notes) in order to help facilitate
the book club.
Advertise and distribute (mail or email) book club registration flyer and registration form
to local members and collect fee from interested members to cover book costs can be
organized and administered from each Local individually. (Note: Some locals may elect
to pay for associated costs in relation to facilitating the book club cost, in which case
participants would not pay any fee or related costs).
PLANNING AND DELIVERING AN ETFO BOOK CLUB
Facilitator Will ...
 Read the book chosen by the local.
 Review the facilitator guide provided to them.
 Plan, prepare, and present each session.
Participants Will ...
 Attend each session and complete assigned homework in preparation for the
next session (e.g., read appropriate chapters for next session discussion, try
different strategies, bring student artifacts).
 Submit registration form and fee (if applicable).
As a Facilitator ... before the Book Club:
 Arrange the book club environment so that all can see and hear one another
(chairs, handouts, materials).
 Arrive early.
  Read the material ahead of time to feel comfortable with the content.
... during the Book Club:
 Always honour session start and end times.
 Begin with an inclusion activity to help members transition into the session and
feel comfortable.
 Establish, post and celebrate group norms with group members.
 Model the group norms.
 Establish a predictable format for learning:
 Before – set the context for the session.
 During – all members focus on and monitor group’s attention to the topic.
 After – reflect on key learnings and assign homework.
 Remain neutral promoting teacher discovery and inquiry.
 Keep the sessions moving according to topic or task at-hand.
 Encourage everyone to participate and acknowledge each group member’s
involvement and contributions.
 Encourage personal reflection.
 Create a ‘parking lot’ using a flip chart and post-it notes to post issues and
questions.
... and after the Book Club:
 Ask participants to fill in an evaluation form to let you and your local know how
you have met the needs of your membership, and what changes you might
consider.
 Celebrate your contribution to your membership!
 Make your selection for your next ETFO Book Club.
TIPS AND TRICKS FOR HOSTING AN ETFO BOOK CLUB
ETFO Book Clubs provide an excellent opportunity for members to reflect on their
classroom practice, enhance their professional knowledge, and engage in the
professional learning that best meets their needs and the needs of their students. These
book cubs offer an opportunity for professional networking, sharing and reflections
through an in-depth examination of ideas, concepts, research, and strategies presented
in a professional resource. The books have been chosen due to their relevance to the
real work of teachers and to authentic issues teachers are grappling with in their
classrooms, so that teachers have a deeper understanding of their impact on classroom
practice and student learning.
ETFO Book Clubs Facilitator guides …
... have been written for teachers, by teachers. These resources engage your members
in enhancing their professional knowledge and practice. Participants attend four two-
hour sessions that focus on specific chapters of the various resources highlighted,
consider strategies they can try in their classroom, and reflect on and share their
experiences within a community of learners.
ETFO Book Clubs are adapted to the needs of your members …
.... and have also been field tested by teachers and revised to reflect this. They have
probably not been tested by you in your local. With that in mind, ETFO field testers
would like to offer the following suggestions:
Respond to your members’ needs …
... as the goal is to create rich discussions that are meaningful and worthwhile for
teachers and worth their investment of time. An ETFO Book Club will vary from site to
site depending on the interests and needs of each group.
While the session order is suggested in the facilitator guide, the facilitator should feel
welcome to make changes, as long as there is consistency among the sessions.
The timelines are approximate, and not all activities must be completed. It is not like
covering the curriculum, but rather professional learning, and that can travel in some
surprising directions, so let it!
Own the scheduling of sessions ...
... as the guides have been written for four two-hour sessions. Please feel free to modify
the number of sessions and duration to meet the needs of your members.
You’ll need time to get teachers registered and also to order the books and get them
into the teachers’ hands prior to your start date. While the sessions were planned for bi-
weekly delivery, you might choose to schedule once a week for a month. As long as you
allow time for active participation and lively discussions.
Some field testers found the book to be excellent but the time frame too short. Feel free
to make necessary adjustments to the session to make it comfortable for participants.
The discussions are the important thing, because the big ideas are addressed in the
conversation. Take the time needed to have those conversations, even if it means
skipping some of the activities and readings.
While the sessions are planned as four, two-hour sessions, you may find, as some field
testers did, that you want to add more sessions to allow for more discussion and
sharing of ideas among participants. Go for it!
ETFO Book Clubs are a social time among members. Allow time for your members to
eat, and network, and decide how to best allocate that time. It is up to the facilitators to
own the decisions and meet the needs of each particular group.
You are welcome to modify the listed activities …
... as the guides have been developed deliberately to engage your members in thinking
and discussing. Whatever activities you decide on as a facilitator, make sure that you
involve teachers in sharing opinions with others in the teaching field and brainstorming
new ideas to try. The mix of new and experienced teachers combined with a dedicated
time to learn together in a comfortable relaxed setting should be rich for all!
You might choose to have teachers bring in samples of a book or lesson, bags of tricks
or even artifacts from school to share with each other and generate new thinking.
It’s about what is best for teachers …
... and that will depend on your group. In some cases, a fair amount of effort and time
will be needed to keep up with the demands of the course or the book study. Please feel
free to rework the plans as needed. ETFO Book Clubs should be supportive.
If teachers don’t have a classroom to try things out in, then be flexible about how you
have your participants apply their learning to the classroom.
If teachers can’t find the time to do the reading in preparation for the session, maybe
sections of the reading can be completed during the ETFO Book Club session.
FEEDBACK FORM
Please forward this completed Feedback Form to: Janet Millar Grant at
jmillargrant@etfo.org or by fax to 416-928-5340.
ETFO Book Club Feedback Form
Please check which ETFO Book Club was offered.
ETFO Special Education Handbook: A Practical Guide for All Teachers -
REVISED
I am the Teacher
Jardin d’enfants
Learning Through Teacher Research A Guidebook for Your Action Research
Learning Together: A Teacher’s Guide to Combined Grades
Making Math Happen in the Junior Years
Making Math Happen in the Primary Years
Planning for Student Learning
Possibilities: Addressing Poverty in Elementary Schools
Primarily Play: Engaging Primary Learners Through Play
Primary ETFO Arts
Re-Think, Re-Connect, Re-Imagine: Thinking About Ourselves, Our Schools, Our
Communities. Reflecting on White Privilege
Revised ETFO Arts
Social Justice Begins With Me
Teaching for Deep Understanding
The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning: Practical Ideas and Resources for
Beginning Teachers
Thinking it Through: Introduction to Assessment That Informs Instruction
Thinking it Through: Introduction to Learning in Centres
Thinking it Through: Introduction to Child Development
Thinking it Through: Introduction to Literacy and the Young Child
Thinking it Through: Introduction to Playing Is Learning
Thinking it Through: Introduction to Science and Technology
Thinking it Through: Introduction to The Arts - Joyful Learning
Thinking it Through: Introduction to Thinking Mathematically

Please check when the ETFO Book Club was offered.

 Fall (September – December)
Winter (January – April)
Spring (May – August)

3. Please check the number of members who participated in the ETFO Book Club
that was offered:
5-10 members
10-15 members
15-20 members

4. My overall impression of the ETFO Book Club that was offered was:
Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor

Please explain:

5. Identify the most useful feature(s) of the ETFO Book Club that was offered and
why.
Book Club Selections
ETFO Special Education Handbook: A Practical Guide for All Teachers - REVISED
The ETFO Special Education Handbook: A Practical Guide for All Teachers (Revised)
was developed as a resource for all teachers in Ontario, including classroom teachers,
subject teachers, special education teachers and occasional teachers, as they work with
students with special needs. Participating in this book club will provide teachers with
practical classroom strategies to support the learning of students with special needs,
and will increase their understanding of special education in the province of Ontario.
Learning Through Teacher Research A Guidebook for Your Action Research
The Learning Through Teacher Research, A Guidebook for Your Action Research
Journey book club supports educators conduct a systematic inquiry, whether formally or
informaly. The guidebook itself shares the journey of more than 600 teachers. This book
club will explore the research journey and allow participants to develop research
processes, practices and develop new skills as educators through a research journey.
Planning for Student Learning
The Planning for Student Learning book club shows teachers how to manage
curriculum planning on long-range, create unit lesson plans and use daybook pages
that contain practical processes as well as use a variety of templates. It is a book club
that will allow participants to take charge of their own professional development with a
focus on sharing their own experiences and strengths to further develop their skills to
become problem solvers.
Re-Think, Re-Connect, Re-Imagine: Thinking About Ourselves, Our Schools, Our
Communities. Reflecting on White Privilege
The Re-Think, Re-Connect, Re-Imagine book club will use the booklet to extends
ETFO’s White Privilege project to offer reflection and concrete suggestions for grappling
with the issues of privilege and racism in our practice as educators. Free posters,
buttons and postcards also available upon request from EWS.
Revised ETFO Arts
The Revised ETFO Arts is a practical step-by-step handbook for Junior/Intermediate
grade teachers who have limited experience in teaching arts education. In this book
club, based on the Revised ETFO Arts resource, participants will explore the elements
of dance, drama, music and visual arts and how to use the arts to support literacy and
other subject areas.
I am the Teacher
In this book club, teachers will consider I Am the Teacher and discuss the challenges of
creating an effectively managed classroom environment as Occasional Teachers.
Occasional Teachers are a diverse group. This diversity will allow participants to
examine the critical role of classroom management through different lenses and to
explore how classroom management affects the learning environment of students they
visit.
Jardin d’enfants
This resource discusses the principles of developmentally appropriate practices and
shows you how to bring play-based learning into your Kindergarten classroom. This
book provides theoretical information about play based learning and its importance in
our Kindergarten program. It offers practical information about how to plan different
centres and gives specific ideas of what to include. It offers practical schedules and
important components of the learning environment.
Learning Together: A Teacher’s Guide to Combined Grades
This book club will provide educators with a framework for teaching combined grades.
This resource offers practical strategies, clearly defined criteria and sample templates,
which support the successful organization and management of combined grade
classes.
Making Math Happen in the Primary Years
In this book club, teachers will explore the book Making Math Happen in the Primary
Years and discuss the implications of this research based work on classroom practice. It
is a book club for both new and experienced teachers and will provide concrete ideas
about implementing effective mathematics practice into the classroom to support
student’s understanding.
Making Math Happen in the Junior Years
In this book club, teachers will explore the book Making Math Happen in the Junior
Years and discuss the implications of this research based work on classroom practice. It
is a book club for both new and experienced teachers and will provide concrete ideas
about implementing effective mathematics practice into the classroom to support
student’s understanding.
Possibilities: Addressing Poverty in Elementary Schools
Elementary school educators are dedicated professionals who continually search for
new and creative ways to address socio-economic issues. This ETFO book club aims to
explore ideas and strategies that encourage educators to not only understand tensions,
assumptions and biases that educators may unknowingly hold but also to take action by
having an overall knowledge of poverty issues in society and how these issues impact
on schooling while showing empathy for others, without holding judgment.
Primarily Play: Engaging Primary Learners Through Play
Primarily Play is a resource for Grade 1-3 educators who are interested in improving
their practice, reflecting and moving to a play-based program for young students. The
resource includes important research about the benefits of play-based learning,
scenarios to illustrate important ideas and questions to get one thinking about their
practice, and to engage in personal reflection. The resource provides a wealth of
knowledge about implementing and planning for play-based learning.
Primary ETFO Arts
Primary ETFO Arts is a resource to support primary generalist educators in Grades 1-3
who have little or no background in dance, drama, music and visual arts. The educator-
friendly book club contains rich experiential learning opportunities within all four strands
of the Arts curriculum. The Primary ETFO Arts book club is designed to support primary
teachers as they lead explorations into the elements of dance, drama, music and visual
arts through rich picture books.
Social Justice Begins With Me
The Social Justice Begins with Me book club aims to explore what it means to teach
with social justice in mind. It begins with questioning what social justice means to
oneself and to others. Learning to teach with social justice in mind is a longitudinal
process that begins with holding a definition which leads to examining one’s own
situation and lived experiences and how these have informed one’s definition, action
and cause. This book club challenges our thinking about social justice, provides for
courageous conversations and practical classroom strategies.
Teaching for Deep Understanding
This book club will guide teachers through an in-depth examination of the collection of
theoretical and practical writing pieces and provide meaningful ways to discuss, relate,
and reflect upon their application to the classroom and the curriculum in order to
improve student achievement. This book club will use the Literature Circles framework
to organize the discussions and ensure that all participants engage in an active and
thoughtful role.
The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning: Practical Ideas and Resources for
Beginning Teachers
This book is meant not only to provide a practical resource for the many “firsts”
beginning teachers will encounter, but also to encourage and enhance each educator’s
personal learning journey along a continuum of professional learning and growth.
Applying the attributes-based approach to the facilitation of this book club means
providing opportunities for authentic knowledge construction and personalization of
learning.
Thinking It Through: Teaching and Learning in the Kindergarten Classroom (11
Book Set)
Thinking It Through is a comprehensive resource for Kindergarten educators who are
interested in reflecting on and improving their practice with our youngest learners. The
book club includes research, scenarios that illustrate practice and reflection, practical
suggestions, information for each area of learning as well as major topics such as child
development, assessment, planning, play and learning centres. For those who are new
to Kindergarten, the book club provides a wealth of information to guide and inform
practice.
Thinking it Through: Introduction to Assessment That Informs Instruction
The book club presents educators of young children with tools and strategies that are
practical for data collection, and resisting external pressures, but also useful for
planning and communicating information to others.
Thinking it Through: Introduction to Learning in Centres
This book club provides practical information for the “what and why” of learning centres.
It outlines the potential, planning and creation of learning centres, organization,
materials and opportunities for assessment.
Thinking it Through: Introduction to Child Development
This book club is focused on child development in all of the domains, assessment,
essential for planning and developmentally appropriate classroom practice that will
support our youngest learners.
Thinking it Through: Introduction to Literacy and the Young Child
In this book club a picture of what literacy “looks like” in the classroom today is created.
It is based on what is known about child development and current research in the field.