High Quality Literature and Great Discussions
Illinois district prizes “amazing” text selections and the Shared Inquiry approach
Barrington Community School District 220, in the suburbs of Chicago, IL, has been using Junior Great Books® steadily for more than 20 years. Recently, that steady use has grown. The key, according to Becky Gill, the director of elementary curriculum and instruction for the district, is high-quality literature.
One of the advantages of Junior Great Books is that the selection of texts you have created is truly amazing.
“One of the advantages of Junior Great Books is that the selection of texts you have created is truly amazing,” Gill notes. “They are multilayered, they are complex, and there are different ways to interpret and understand them. And so those texts specifically lend themselves to deeper thinking.”
“Over the years, we kept seeing how much of a value it was to our students,” she says. “And now it’s really complementing our current reading curriculum. We’re seeing students able to access complex texts. Junior Great Books provides access to good literature and a scaffold for learning how to discuss texts.”
During the 2023–24 school year, three of the district’s elementary schools were using Junior Great Books, with about 700 children in grades K–5 participating. But just recently, the district was able to add the program to the remaining five of its eight elementary schools. Now more than 120 teachers have taken the Shared Inquiry Essentials introductory professional development course to prepare to implement the program, with more coming on board continuously. An additional 2,300 students will be able to benefit from the program next year.
Text-Focused Program
Gill prizes Junior Great Books for being “text focused. I think that’s what we’ve been looking for in curriculum opportunities and that’s what we see.” She notes that the progression of activities that the program offers gives students the opportunity to have conversations about literature that they wouldn’t otherwise get the chance to have. She observes that “it’s hard for elementary students to read with a question in mind, while looking for evidence and engaging in analytical thinking.” But, she says, “that’s what Junior Great Books brings to our classrooms—a progression of how to do that. There is a gradual release of responsibility where the students learn to analyze a text and critically think about it themselves. Students are able to talk deeply about a question where there are multiple interpretations and find evidence for their thinking and reasoning.”
Teachers implement the program with fidelity, conducting a series of activities that naturally familiarize students with each text. Prereading activities orient children to the subject matter of each story, multiple readings enable students to become well versed in each selection’s content, note-taking activities focus attention on specific aspects of each text, and writing of questions and notes, as well as writing on post-discussion prompts, gives students plenty of practice in putting their thoughts into written words. “I think the writing piece creates additional opportunity for critical thinking,” Gill says. “Students discuss each text with others, and they find evidence naturally, which creates scaffolding for writing. When we talk about something first, it’s easier to write about it—that’s a best practice for sure.”
Speaking and Listening Are Key
In addition, Gill points out that students are connecting listening and speaking. “That’s another big part of Junior Great Books—listening to your peers, to what they have to say about texts, not only their opinions but what supports those opinions from the text, and then being able to connect to that opinion through a piece of evidence, adding additional evidence after what others say, and being able to respond with refuting evidence if you have a different opinion.”
Gill goes into detail about how Junior Great Books facilitates collaboration among students, because she sees both speaking and listening skills as so important in today’s world and complementary to each other. “Listening and speaking are part of our core and state standards,” Gill observes, “and sometimes it’s assumed that kids develop those skills naturally. But we know that’s not always the case. So we’ve clearly seen growth in these areas with students who participate in Junior Great Books. JGB teaches students how to listen to each other and connect what they’re going to say about a text with what someone else says about that text. That listening aspect is so important—while you’re hearing another student talk, you’re not just thinking about what you’re going to say but actually pausing and actually listening to what that student has to say about the text.”
JGB and the Science of Reading
Gill believes that Junior Great Books supports some of the principles of the science of reading, especially when it comes to word recognition, vocabulary, and language comprehension. “If you look at Scarborough’s reading rope, and you look at all the subcomponents of language comprehension—the vocabulary, the background knowledge, the analytical thinking, all of those pieces that go into comprehension—that’s where Junior Great Books really connects with the science of reading.
The conversation piece that Junior Great Books has also connects . . . the dialogue that peers have with each other and the wealth of complex texts. I do think these aspects connect to the language comprehension aspect of the science of reading.”
Shared Inquiry Approach Benefits Teachers Too
Gill credits Great Books professional learning and the structure of Junior Great Books for changing the way teachers teach in general. “I’ve seen teachers transfer the structure that Shared Inquiry™ discussion brings into other subject areas. So we see inquiry in social studies or in science, and our teachers are equipped with the knowledge of how to support students in looking at complex texts, in note-taking, annotating texts, and in discussing texts. The deep questions that teachers ask include interpretive questions and open-ended questions, all of which require students to use analytical and critical thinking. Students are able to answer those questions along with evidence from the text, which is a really great thing to see as a curriculum director—deeper thinking across the different subject areas!”
We see inquiry in social studies or in science, and our teachers are equipped with the knowledge of how to support students in looking at complex texts, in note-taking, annotating texts, and in discussing texts.
According to Gill, Great Books provides instructional tools that help teachers. “The Shared Inquiry approach is greatly beneficial to learning,” she says, “because it teaches teachers specifically how to run an inquiry discussion. It helps teachers guide students who may struggle, or who may need support, as well as how to extend students who are ready for more challenges.”
Gill is pleased that the Great Books Foundation continues to provide top-notch professional development to support teachers. “I think that professional learning is imperative for instruction today,” she says. “Because we don’t always want to invest in programs—we want to invest in people!”
Director of Marketing and Development
Dan Lindstrom is the director of marketing and development for the Great Books Foundation. He promotes the important work that the Foundation does for lifelong learners, helping all who are interested to take part in civil discussions about outstanding literature and other objects of inquiry. During his 30 years with the Foundation, he has spoken with dozens of educators who love how Junior Great Books encourages children to express their own opinions about what they have read.
