Making LiteratureCircles Come Alive

Kelly GardnerPARATESOL 2009

My Background

What are literature circles?

Book Clubs Students meet in groups regularly

to talk about a book they haveread.

Literature Circles are... Reader response centered Part of a balanced literacy program Groups formed by book choice Structured for student independence,

responsibility, and ownership Guided primarily by student insights and

questions Intended as a context in which to apply

reading and writing skills Flexible and fluid; never look the same twice From Getting Started with Literature Circles

by Katherine L. Schlick Noe & Nancy J. Johnson© 1999 Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc.

Literature Circles are not... Teacher and text centered The entire reading curriculum Teacher-assigned groups formed solely by

ability Unstructured, uncontrolled "talk time" without

accountability Guided primarily by teacher- or curriculum-

based questions From Getting Started with Literature Circles

by Katherine L. Schlick Noe & Nancy J. Johnson© 1999 Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc.

Why use literature circles inyour classroom?

It provides opportunities to read, write,speak, and listen.

Students interact in groups and are heldaccountable for individual roles.

They are student directed. They are engaging.

Literature Circle Roles andStructure

RolesRoles Discussion Director (questioner)Discussion Director (questioner) ‏‏ Literary LuminaryLiterary Luminary Vocabulary EnricherVocabulary Enricher SummarizerSummarizer ConnectorConnector IllustratorIllustrator

Adapted from Harvey DanielsAdapted from Harvey Daniels

Discussion Director

This role is designedto promote discussionand to ask higher levelquestions about thetext.

Literary Luminary

This role is designedto get students tochoose passages fromthe text. They maychoose them becausethey´re... interesting funny confusing important

Vocabulary Enricher

The vocabularyenricher´s role is tochoose difficultwords from the textand find out whatthey mean. Theythen explain themeaning to the restof the group.

Summarizer

The summarizer´srole is to choose themost importantevents that occurredin the passage.These are sharedwith the group andother groupmembers add theirideas.

Connector

The connector relatesthings that occur in thepassage with his orher life, the real world,or another book reador movie seen.

Illustrator The illustrator´s job is to

draw something from thepassage that caught hisor her attention. Theimage is then sharedwith the group and othermembers guess what ishappening in the pictureand discuss this part ofthe passage.

Challenges of ManagingLiterature Circles

Developing an understanding of roles Teaching students to work in groups Helping students stay organized Maintaining and English environment Making sure students do the reading Keeping the conversation going

Addressing Challenges Developing an understanding of roles

Practice, practice, practice Teacher guides students through the process Student volunteers have conversations in a “fish

bowl”

Addressing Challeges Teaching students to work in groups

Establishing what good groupwork looks like Good conversations vs. Bad conversations

Developing Clear Expectations Modelling by teacher Modellng by students Evaluation of mock conversations Self and group evaluations after each

conversation.

Addressing Challeges Helping Students Stay Organized

Keep role sheets, meeting calendar, notes, andself evaluations in a folder that stays with theteacher

Spend time at the beginning determiningstudents roles, pages to be read before eachmeeting, and meeting dates.

Addressing Challeges Maintaining and English Environment

Establish the expectation of English whensetting up groupwork expectations

Hold students accountable for English speech Video camera Fish bowl Teacher observations

Addressing Challeges Making sure students read

Create time for reading in class Choose books that are at students´ independent

reading level

Addressing Challenges Keeping the conversation going

Give students conversation sentence starters, In my opinion.. One connection I made... I agree/ disagree... What do you think, _______? Etc.

Establish the expectation of keeping theconversation going.

Practice commenting on other group membersideas.

Useful Links Literature Circle Resource Center

http://www.litcircles.org/ http://www.literaturecircles.com/ Literature Circles: Getting Started

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=19

Literature Circle Roleshttp://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/reading/literature_circles/http://www.edselect.com/Docs/Litcir.pdf

Resources Daniels, H. (2002). Literature Circles: Voice and

Choice in the Student Centered Classroom. Portland: Stenhouse Publishing.