Literature Circles

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Literature Circles

• Book Study of
• Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles
• By Harvey Daniels Nancy Steineke
• Renee Finley, MS Reading Specialist
• Alexis Swinehart, HS Literacy Coach

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Membership Grid

• Discuss the following question with your group.
• Take notes about your group members responses.
  (You do not need to record your response.)
• What experience or knowledge do you have about
  literature circles?

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Goals for the study group

• Introduction Warm up
• Share ideas and experiences with literature
  circles
• Explore key features of literature circles
• Read and discuss text
• Discuss the thinking and social skills involved
  in effective literature circles
• Discuss management techniques and assessment
  options
• Questions/Concerns

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Ground Rules

• Maintain a positive attitude
• Variation of Home Court Advantage on pg 43

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Did you know ?

• The first recorded literature circle was held by
  Anne Hutchinson in 1634 aboard a boat bound for
  the colonies.

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Eleven Key Ingredients

• Read the two assigned key ingredients.
• Annotate the text for meaning.
• Illustrate your responses on the Eleven Key
  Ingredients Jigsaw sheet.
• Underline the most interesting, important, or
  provocative sentence.

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Why Literature Circles ?
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Why Literature Circles ?The Rationale Behind Them

• Promote a love of literature and positive
  attitudes toward reading.
• Reflect constructivist, child-centered model of
  literacy
• Encourage extensive and intensive reading
• Invite natural discussions that lead to student
  inquiry
• Support diverse responses to text
• Provide choice and encourage responsibility
• Expose children to literature from multiple
  perspectives
• Nurture reflection and self-evaluation
• Source Literature Circles and Response, Hill,
  Johnson, Noe

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Research on Literature Circles

• Greater gains in reading comprehension (Klinger,
  Vaugn Schumm,1998)
• Improved reading achievement in high poverty
  schools (Knapp,1995)
• Enhanced students motivation to read (Guthrie
  Alvermann,1999)
• Benefits for second language learners
  (MacGillivray,1995)
• Increased student enjoyment of and engagement in
  reading (Fox Wilkinson,1997)
• Increased multicultural awareness
  (Hansen-Krening, 1997)
• Promoted other perspectives on social issues
  (Noll, 1994)

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What Really Matters for Struggling Readers

• Reading volume
• High-success reading opportunities
• Engaging in literate conversation (what do you
  think? NOT what happened?)
• Useful, explicit strategy instruction
• (mini-lesson)
• -Richard Allington

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Whats New with Literature Circles?

• De-emphasis on role sheets. Instead capturing
  kids responses using post-it notes, text
  annotation, bookmarks, journals.
• More use of drawn or graphic responses to text.
• More explicit teaching of social skills.
• Not just novels. More use of short text-
  stories, poems, articles, charts, graphs,
  cartoons.
• More nonfiction text, from articles through adult
  trade books.

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Whats New continued ...

• Reaching out across the curriculum book clubs
  in science, social studies, etc.
• Sparking or supplementing out-loud discussion
  with written conversations.
• Multi-text literature circles (jigsawed text
  sets, theme sets multigenre inquiries
• New forms of assessment. Fewer reports and book
  talks. More performances (readers theater,
  tableaux, found poetry, song lyrics, etc.)
• Source Harvey Daniels, 2008, Heinemann workshop

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3-2-1 Break Card

• 3 hopes for literature circles
• 2 obstacles that you might face with literature
  circles
• 1 question you have about literature circles

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Read Reflect

• Read, The Custodian
• Reading Purpose
• Mark the text with any questions and/or
  reactions about the text

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Thinking Skills Social Skills
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Where to Start?

• Create a Classroom Community
• Ice Breakers
• Membership Grid/Partner Grid
• Advertise
• Let the students know its coming
• Book Talk

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Where to Start?

• Model Practice
• Use short stories, articles, cartoons, whole
  class novel
• Focus on
• Good Discussion Skills
• Questioning Skills
• Social Skills
• Establish Classroom Guidelines
• General routine/procedure
• Daily materials (journals/post-its/organizers/high
  lighters)

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General Literature Circle Structure

• 5-10 minutes Mini-lesson on thinking and social
  skills
• 20-30 minutes Group meetings (and/or reading
  time)
• 5-10 minutes Sharing/Debriefing

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Do Not Assume
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Gradual Release of Responsibility

• Teacher modeling I Do
• Guided Practice
• Collaborative learning We do
• Independent Practice
• Application of the Strategy
  You do
• Fisher Frey, 2007

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Silent Literature Circle

• Membership Grid
• New Topic What is your stance on global
  warming?
• Write Around

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Processing

• What were three things your group did today that
  helped with the discussion and enabled everyone
  to get along and enjoy each others company?
• Processing Letter/Journal
• Checklist
• Compliment Letter

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Goal Setting

• What could we change and do better for the next
  meeting?
• Compile class list of improvement areas, and then
  have groups quickly meet to create a improvement
  goal.

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Goal Setting

• When groups select improvement goal, they must
  identify 3 specific actions that all members can
  take to achieve the goal.
• Example. Goal Included everyone equally
• 1. Let the person who talks the least go first
• 2. Address each other by name
• 3. Take turns in the discussion rather than
  letting one person ask everything from his
  notes
• Group improvement goals are authentic assessment

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Assessment Options

• Observation
• Anecdotal records
• Checklists
• Conferences/Interviews
• Portfolios/Work Samples
• Daily Stamps
• Group Improvement Goal
• Student self-evaluation

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Obstacles?
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Ideas to remember

• The teachers main job is not to translate or
  interpret the books, but to facilitate the work
  of the group. (Daniels, p.42)
• Book clubs are for independent pleasure reading,
  not skills lessons. (Daniels, p.80)
• Books need to be at students independent reading
  level, or accommodations should be made for
  reading.

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Ideas to remember

• Investing time initially in teaching both the
  social and thinking skills is critical to
  success.
• Teacher preparation and time demands dramatically
  decrease as children become proficient in
  literature circle groups.

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Gradual Release of Responsibility

• Teacher modeling I Do
• Guided Practice
• Collaborative learning We do
• Independent Practice
• Application of the Strategy
  You do
• Fisher Frey, 2007

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Trial Error
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For Next Time

• Briefly skim Chapter 2 -Getting Ready for Peer
  Lead Discussions

Chapter Reading Purpose Reading Purpose
Ch. 3 Practicing with Short Text Tools for Thoughtful Response Ch. 3 Practicing with Short Text Tools for Thoughtful Response Pick one tool/strategy to try with your class. Be ready to share experiences, examples, and questions.
Ch. 5 Refining Discussion Skills Creating Deeper Comprehension Ch. 5 Refining Discussion Skills Creating Deeper Comprehension Pick one tool/strategy to try with your class. Be ready to share experiences, examples, and questions.
Ch. 8 Assessment and Accountability Ch. 8 Assessment and Accountability Pick one tool/strategy to try with your class. Be ready to share experiences, examples, and questions.