Social Issues Book Clubs

Our current reading unit in 6th Grade is Social Issues Book Clubs. The books students are reading throughout this unit are fictional, but they include characters who deal with social issues we see in our world. As students read these books, they identify struggles faced by the characters and how we can name these as social issues. Some of the themes include loss, identity, bullying, family relationships, immigration, race, poverty, divorce, physical disabilities, and mental disabilities.

As teachers, we LOVE this unit. Students learn about common challenges faced by people in the world from the perspective of someone around their age going through it. They track relationships in their books and notice how those impact the characters both positively and negatively. Students are truly learning right alongside the characters in their books. Students are in book clubs so they are able to have conversations with others reading the same book in order to grow their ideas and deepen their thinking.

Why teach this unit? The ultimate goal: awareness, acceptance, and empathy. A recent Washington Post article titled “Does Reading Make You a Better Person?” concludes that the answer to the title question is “Yes!” Reading literature especially has proven to increase people’s ability to empathize with others, and to be more socially aware. A driving force in this unit is the power of reading to transform how we see others and to show us new ways to be kind, to connect, and to stand up for what’s right.