Starbooks Cafe and the OCSS!
Have you ever attended or presented at the Ohio Council of Social Studies conference? I am excited to say that I have! It was a fantastic learning opportunity. I learned so much from all of the great educators attending as well! State conferences like these do so much to restore the energy level of educators. Being around people who are so passionate about the content focus of the conference propels learning to another level.
I met another fantastic educator, Colleen Boff, during the conference and found that we share a passion for literacy and books. After my session took place at the conference, we collaborated on writing a proposal to present at another conference and it was accepted. We then presented on the same topic at another conference.
I was so happy to be able to share this literacy cafe format and promote delicious book tasting with other educators. There truly is nothing better than a cuppa joe and some great picture books.
To set up your cafe, choose 20-30 book titles (depending on the number of participants who will be book tasting). A great resource to use is the NCSS notable trade book list-a yearly published resource that include title specific to Social Studies concepts or strands. And tell participants to choose a book to taste-tasting is previewing a book, checking out the cover, end papers, and then read as much as you like until the 5 minute timer goes off-then you switch books and start the process over again. It's a great way to learning about a lot of books in a little time. You may also want to set up a tool for keeping notes of books you've reviewed so you can track specific titles you'll want to utilize at a later date.
