USING LITERATURE CIRCLES TO SUPPORT STUDENT
LEARNINGDoug [email protected]
Differentiation in the
Middle School Classroom
COMMON LANGUAGE DEFINEDDifferentiation instruction is “shaking up” what goes on in the classroom so that students have multiple options for taking in information, making sense of ideas, and expressing what they learn.A differentiated classroom provides different avenues to acquiring content, processing or making sense of ideas, and developing products so that each each student can learn effectively.
Tomlinson, C.A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
IT WASN’T WORKING…Traditional teaching doesn’t work for me, didn’t show all students challenging themselves
I wanted:Students to have choice because it leads to better resultsChoice = student interest and engagementWanted kids to enjoy readingKids like working in groups (plus, it can be an effective learning tool!)
Increase autonomy AND responsibility among my kids
STRATEGIES AND IDEAS USEDLiterature circles (small group book study) to teach concept and skillsChoice of novels with a variety of interestCheck in daily with every student group multiple timesVariety of activities during small group discussion time for different learning styles
STRATEGIES AND IDEAS USEDRole sheets
BlogsWritten responsesGraphic representationsPost Mortem activityCreate a song
End of Unit AssessmentChoice
LITERATURE CIRCLE UNITSetup
Book choices
Lexile Range: 410-680 2nd-4th gr reading level
Lexile Range: 700-8604th-6th gr reading level
Lexile Range: 940-1040:7th-11th gr reading level
LITERATURE CIRCLE UNITSetup
Voting SheetSchedule of reading and discussion daysTeam and self evaluations after each discussion day
ActivitiesRole Sheets (oral discussion)
Student-generated questions
One Pager (graphic activity)
Edmodo blog (online discussion)
Reader Response (written response)
Character cut out/Post Mortem of a character
Fake Facebook activity (interactive tech)
Questions in envelope (oral discussion with less help)
Create a song
LITERATURE CIRCLE UNITActivities Edmodo online discussion sample
joshua1 | 1:10 pmThe outsiders so far has been a pretty good book. Dallas has not changed yet but Johnny has because he stood up and ran into the burning chuch.That was on page90. Johnny especially changed because he killed a man.
kennedyn | 1:21 pmno DAVID for your information i dont agree with you in a polite way. they were thinking of other people for a change, they just trying to be sweet. tell me why you don’t think they should have not gone into the church?? just curious )
LITERATURE CIRCLE UNITEnd of Unit/Novel Assessment
“Squares”Think of Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs for assessment ideas (design, create, etc.)