Earlier in the school year I was trying to figure out a way to have my students talk about the books they were reading without having to crank out a hum-drum book report every month.

I decided to use Google Slides. Students were able to provide a brief synopsis about the book on a slide, and then they could read classmates’ slides and leave comments. I was floored by how enthusiastic my students were about their Book Talks! I had students asking if they could talk about more than one book, and many of my students continue to use the Book Talk slides to find new books to read.

Here is a YouTube video I created for my students to explain how to fill out their slides:

Tips, Tricks, and Ideas:

1. Have students claim their slides–in waves: I made the mistake of saying, “Okay, everyone! Claim your slide!” Uh, no. Not a good idea! There were multiple students typing on slides, and it was kind of a train wreck. When I presented the slides to my 3rd, 5th, and 6th periods, I had students select their slides in groups of four.
2. When leaving comments, use the + to tag people:  The + will allow students to add peers’ names to the comments and this will alert the added individual by email that they have a new comment to read.
3. Allow students to insert and make their own videos: Students can insert videos from YouTube (ex: trailers for books made into movies), or insert videos of them talking about the book.
4. Students can create collages using Google Draw: My students really love Google Draw, and we’ve used Draw to create collages. Students can create collages about their books (a couple of images, quotes, thematic topics/thematic statement) and insert them onto their slides.

How to Get Started:

1. Create a new Google Slides project and title it.
2. You can set it up like I did (see the video), or you can just have one slide with directions and students can add their own slides. If you opt to do the latter,  them trick number one (above) won’t be necessary.
3. Share the link  to the slide deck with your students via email or Google Classroom.

Happy Book Talking!