Six Tips for Facilitating an Effective Book Study

Effective professional development comes in many forms, one of which is a book study.  In order to ensure productivity and value, here are some tips for you to implement your next book study with success:

1. Own the content!  The book study should support initiatives or struggles happening in your school; therefore, participants can easily relate to the content.  Allow participants to be involved in the book-selection process.
2. Find a purpose. Set goals based on what outcomes you want to achieve through the study and make sure you monitor your progress. If the study does not go as well as you are hoping, and you are not meeting your goals, abandon the book.
3. Honor the meeting time. Do not let the book-study time become less important than any other professional development time you would have had. Set meeting protocols and guidelines and adhere to these throughout the study.
4. Motivate participants by involving everyone in the planning and the discussion. Jigsaw chapters, have participants bring related articles or books, create engaging activities, and develop questions to garner discussion.
5. Have fun! Reading interesting content and partaking in exciting discussions should be fun. Be creative by bringing food, developing contests, picking an off-site location, or designing a virtual book-study group.
6. Follow through! The learning should not stop with the end of the study itself. To monitor growth, create an implementation plan and revisit this well after the study ends.

The Leadership and Learning Center offers numerous titles that support educators in the areas of data, standards, assessment, leadership, accountability, writing, and instruction.

Visit our bookstore at www.LeadandLearn.com/books-dvds to learn more and to take advantage of our special discount pricing for school sets.