Our book tasting journey began with the elementary-level social studies methods course. Dr. Angel Bestwick and Prof. Karen Wanamaker developed book tasting at KU as a way to engage preservice teachers with children's literature that they could use to teach content aligned with the NCSS standards. The students struggled with understanding what text sets were and how they could find and use quality children's literature to teach content. The first tasting took place in RL22 in Spring 2014. We conducted a qualitative action research project during our adventure, and we wrote an article that details our work with this book tasting:
Using Book Tasting in the Academic Library: A Tale of Children’s Literature, Collaboration, and an Increased Appetite for Books
Abstract: This qualitative action research study investigated the influence that participating in a book tasting had on Pre K-4 pre-service teachers in their social studies methods course. The findings indicated that book tasting helped pre-service teachers to conceptualize what a text set is, learn how to create one using library resources, and incorporate quality children’s literature successfully into lesson plans that are designed to meet the NCSS standards using the NCSS themes and the C3 Framework. The findings also indicated that book tastings changed the attitudes and perceptions that pre-service teachers had about using children’s literature to teach content.
Book tastings display various books, toys, manipulatives, posters, QR codes, and other item that relate to a common them together for the audience to enjoy. These displays started out with items we had on hand and included some print and some plastic table cloths, fabric-covered boxes to elevate books, pots and pans and baskets for books, posters, etc. Here's one of our first text sets for forests--under NCSS Theme 3: People, Places, and Environments.
The room provided space in the middle for the class to sit, complete with a table setting that included a menu, a bookmark, and a pen. They were surrounded by text sets on tables all around the room. The setup is meant to be impactful, and we spend time discussing the set up, how we choose books, and why we take the time to display them nicely. The students were given significant time to taste the books, guess the theme for each text set, and fill out their menus with their favorite books. The numbers on the wall indicate the 10 NCSS themes, but the students are not told that until later in the tasting when the themes are revealed.
"Wild Women" Women who engage with their environment for a different example of Theme 3. This one can be easily adapted to a science text set, too! It's a great opportunity to point out interdisciplinary ideas and the use of biographies. Notice that we provide a QR code for this text set. It accompanies the biography for Georgia O'Keefe and takes students to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum for further exploration.
"Rule Makers and Rule Breakers" for NCSS Theme 6: Power, Authority, and Governance
Note: While Dr. Bestwick has moved on from KU, I am here to help you if you have any questions.
