In the back of the library, laden with books, stood the U-shaped tables where Wendy Howard’s sophomore English students searched for possible reads for their independent novel.

“The reason I have them choose the books allows us to narrow our talk to something they might actually be interested in instead of just what we think they might be interested in,” Howard said.

Once books were chosen, Howard and librarian Joann Hettenbach took turns talking about the books the students found, in what they like to call Book Talks.

“For us, it keeps Book Talks fresh and a little more interesting because, if I were to book talk just the books that I knew, and then we did them over and over, the same thing, then it would sound tired and we wouldn’t be pulling them new things,” Hettenbach said.

At the end of the talks, the hope was that students would check out a book they would enjoy reading.

“It also prevents us from judging a book by it’s cover when [Howard and Hettenbach] explain about it,” sophomore Celeste Feldhausen said.

With their independent assignment, Howard’s students will read 50 pages a week and then respond to one of six prompts each week.

”The thing I guess I’m most proud of is the fact that it’s so student centered,” Howard said. “It’s a way to allow them the independence of reading their own book, but I still can have some [control and] hold them accountable and be able to check on my end.”