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Interim Dean of Teaching & Learning Emily Pressman discusses St. Andrew’s annual Book Talks and how they cultivate readers beyond the classrooms.
At St. Andrew’s annual Book Talks on Sept. 6, students explored the idea of “slow productivity” with their French teacher, chatted about popular science fiction novel Dune with their religion and philosophy instructor, and pondered the psychology of money with their math teacher.
On a designated day once a year, St. Andrew’s students and faculty gather to chat about what they read this summer—not for a grade, not for an upcoming quiz, but to prepare for a lifelong love of reading.
“The idea of this approach to summer work [is] to really be simultaneously fostering a love of learning and a lifelong love of reading,” says Interim Dean of Teaching & Learning Emily Pressman. “We want to make sure that students are having the opportunity to just be encouraged to read for fun and to just expand their own horizons on their own.”
This is already happening at St. Andrew’s in the classrooms throughout the year, Pressman says, as well as in the student-led Book Club, which recently read and discussed Charlotte’s Web in honor of Banned Books Week over Sunday-morning French toast on Sept. 29. This format of summer reading, however, drives home the importance of reading for enjoyment.
Over the summer, students choose two books to read from a list of nearly 50 recommended by faculty. Faculty are free to pick any book of their interest—whether that’s a book they already love and can’t wait to share with students, or a book at the top of their to-be-read list. Then, during the first week of the school year before classwork kicks into high gear, students gather in small groups—the average group size being 13 students—with the faculty recommenders. The groups identify parts of the book they connected with, share what surprised them about the book, and discuss other topics that you might hear about at a book club meeting.
The timing of the Book Talks at the beginning of the school year serves as an opportunity for new and returning students to develop community. Faculty sit down with students across forms who they might not teach or coach or have on dorm this year, but with whom they may share a common love for sci-fi or mysteries.
“[St. Andrew’s] is a place where learning is always a communal and community act,” says Pressman.
These conversations go beyond this singular day of the Book Talks and serve as an ice-breaker during the early days of the school year, whether that’s between roommates who discovered they read the same book over the summer or between faculty and students.
“I loved at the picnic that the faculty had with the seniors on one of the first nights back, there was a student who came over and talked to one of the faculty members because he had read the book that she had suggested,” Pressman remembers. “Even before we got to the Book Talks, it was this moment of connection and this opportunity to say, ‘Oh, I read that book that you suggested, and I’m so excited to talk about it.’”
Director of Library Lisa Myers takes care of the behind-the-scenes work of organizing the Book Talks, keeping track of what students read and assigning them to discussion groups. Myers and the other librarians assist in ensuring that students have access to the books over the summer, which Pressman hopes also serves as an introduction for students to the services of the library.
This year, Myers says that the most popular books were A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, recommended by Spanish instructor Valerie Vitalo, with a total of 60 students, and All the Light We Cannot See, recommended by IV Form Advisor and Director of Community Service Kelly Lazar, with 50 students.
Pressman is excited for this St. Andrew’s tradition to continue to evolve over the years to address the needs of each particular student body, but hopes to maintain the same spirit of choice and enjoyment when it comes to summer work.
“We are always asking the question of, ‘How do we create something that’s going to best serve these goals that we have for continuing to cultivate outside of the classroom a love of learning in our students?’” says Pressman.
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