When first asked to place book orders for the Humanities course last spring, I was not a little daunted. How, I wondered, can I pick out books until I’ve met the kids, until I know their reading tastes and interests and levels? But I knew it was really important to have a book chosen to start the year, and so after a great deal of thought I settled on Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry. Kira, the book’s main character, was roughly the age of my students, she was strong and self-sufficient, and there were plenty of opportunities to discuss what makes a community and what is each individual 's responsibility to contribute, perfect for a group of girls who would be founding a new community from scratch.

But things don’t always work out as planned, and there always seemed to be one or more pressing needs that kept pushing Gathering Blue discussions back a day. The girls, normally excited about this class, were becoming increasingly upset about this one issue. So, when they finally finished the book, I threw myself into generating questions that would stimulate a really fun, interesting, thought-provoking discussion that would set a good tone for the next book. And, in truth, they did enjoy themselves, with one group asking if they could continue their discussion longer than planned. A number of insights emerged from those discussions, including theories on what the "blue" of the title might symbolize.

However, before we got to that point, we had another one of those community discussions that are periodically needed in this "Founders Program" year to help shape the future direction of the middle school. Everyone, me included, readily agreed that I needed to commit the class to regular discussion of our next book regardless of distractions. From this point, two groups began to dominate the discussion. One group felt very strongly that school is about students doing what they’re told to do, that they needed to work hard this year to make sure they were ready for next year, and that my telling them what to do was the best way to be prepared. The other group felt equally strongly that school might well be about students doing what they’re told to do, usually, but if I was willing to "let them have fun," they might as well take the chance while it was offered. The first group felt all class discussions should be held with assigned books in one large group, basically a traditional classroom model, while the second group felt all class discussions should be held with student-choice books in a series of small groups, something like the Literature Circle model. When it came time to vote, three students voted for the traditional classroom model, six students voted for the Literature Circle model, and one lone student voted for a mix of the two. I had retained my teacher’s right to interpret their vote as I saw fit, and I decided that we would alternate one full-class book, with two small-group books, roughly reflecting the balance of opinions in the class. Everyone seemed comfortable with that decision.

So, following two days of surveys, student suggestions, and time spent choosing from the long, long booklists I had generated over the summer, it looks like the next books will be The Theban Mysteries by Amanda Cross, read by two small groups, and The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, read by a third small group. Of course, the day after they completed the surveys, they walked into class asking if the books were in yet. I told them that I hadn’t even had a chance to order them yet, particularly as one student had been absent and hadn't had a chance yet to complete the survey, but what I really wanted to do was perform a celebratory dance. Their inquisitive spirits were still alive, and perhaps even more so than if everything had gone smoothly with the first book. Now, the goals and the method of reaching those goals were truly theirs.