Literature Circles

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Literature Circles

• Dr. Peterson
• Literature Circle Resources obtained from
• http//fac-staff.seattleu.edu/kschlnoe/LitCircles/
  

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What are Literature Circles?

• Students choose literature that they would like
  to read and form groups based on the literature
  selection they chose.

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Components of Literature Circles

• Choice
• Meeting regularly in groups
• Groups are comprised of students who are reading
  the same literature titles.
• Responding

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Selecting Literature

• Provide a variety of options
• Picture books
• Illustrations support or extend the text.
• Vocabulary and interest level appropriate for
  primary grade readers.
• Picture books for older readers
• Illustrations accompany text
• Includes more challenging vocabulary and content.
• Early Reader
• Illustrations on every page or every other page.
• Serve as a transition from picture books to
  chapter books
• e.g. Frog and Toad Series

• Early Reader
• Illustrations on every page or every other page.
• Serve as a transition from picture books to
  chapter books
• e.g. Frog and Toad Series
• Easy Chapter Books
• Illustrations are limited as written content
  becomes more dominant.
• More in-depth content for young readers
• Chapter Book
• Organized by chapters
• Appropriate for independent readers in the
  intermediate or middle grades or for more capable
  readers in the primary grades.
• Young Adult
• Chapter books w/more challenging vocabulary and
  more mature content.

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Selecting Literature

• Theme
• Genre
• Time Period

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Choosing Books for Literature Circles

• Qualities of Good Literature Circle Books
• Compelling content
• Action, suspense, dialogue, humor, controversy
• Realistic characters
• Picture books with strong, colorful illustrations
  that support the story.

• Finding Books
• Think about your goals
• Begin with what you have in your classroom.
• Find out what is available in your school.
• Check out other resources.
• Libraries
• Professional books
• Literature Circles Resource Guide (Hill, Shlick,
  Noe, and Johnson, 2000)
• Invitations (1991, 1994)
• Using Multiethnic Literature in a K-8 Classroom
  (Violet J. Harris, 1997)
• Choose books with a range of difficulty.

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Meeting a Range of Reading and Interest Needs

• Structure Time for Reading
• Schedule time for students to read their
  literature circle books.
• Students can do this independently, as partners
  or in small groups.

• Beginning Readers
• Read the book aloud during Shared Reading time
• Students can then read it a second time with a
  volunteer, older reader, or at home with a family
  member, or a partner in the classroom.

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Meeting Reading Needs

• Challenged Readers
• Provide additional time to complete the reading.
• Read the book with the teacher, partner, or other
  support teachers.
• Listen to the book on tape and read along.
• Teach students how to make good book choices.

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Making a Good Book Choice

• Five Finger Rule or Rule of Thumb
• Pick up the book and begin to read anywhere.
• If you come to a word or place in the text that
  is hard, put up a finger.
• If you get to the end of a page or two and all
  five fingers are extended, the book may be too
  difficult for you.
• Too Easy, Just Right and Too Hard Books
• Students describe and create a list on chart
  paper.
• Hang chart in the classroom.

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Introducing Books

• Introduce books through book talks.
• Build in time to preview the choices.
• Students select first, second, and third choices.
• Form groups
• Four to five students in a group
• Give students their first choice as much as
  possible.
• Make sure students in the group can work
  effectively together.
• Provide some balance of gender, ability,
  experience, and interest
• Give first choices to students who did not get
  them last time.

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Formats for Literature Circle Discussions
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Formats for Literature Circle Discussions
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Teaching Students How to Have Discussions

• Identify the elements of a good discussion.
• Experience discussion
• Develop guidelines

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Brainstorm Elements of a Good Discussion

• Make a chart of what students think a good
  discussion includes.
• How do we act when we listen to or discuss a
  story?
• Discussion Etiquette
• What do discussions look like/sound like?

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Experience Discussion

• Immersion Experience
• Have students meet for a shortened period of
  time in discussion groups (10 minutes)
• Have veteran students come in and model
  discussion techniques. Class observes.
• Teacher models with select students from the
  class that are good discussion models. Classroom
  observes.
• Afterwards discuss what they liked about the
  discussion groups.
• Discuss what they need to improve upon.
• Generate discussion guidelines from student
  responses.

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Example of Brainstorming and Guidelines after
Immersion Experience

• What do we need to work on?
• Unwilling to share
• What to do when finished
• Noise level
• Active listening
• Not enough to talk about
• No one is responding
• Off task
• Need director, organizer or facilitator

• Guidelines Developed from Student Responses
• There will be no reading ahead.
• You must get started in 1 minute.
• Read at silent reading to catch up.
• Read slow enough to understand the book well.
• Everyone listens and everyone shares their ideas.

Word guidelines as positive statements!
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Tips for Effective Discussions

• Groups of 4-5 are optimal
• Having a conversation does not come naturally.
• Have signals for too noisy, time to begin,
  etc.
• Practice getting into and out of the circle A
  LOT!
• Trust that theyll talk even if the teacher is
  not hovering.
• Have books worth talking about.
• Always reflect after a discussion.
• Rejoice in the small steps students take.
• Remember this is hardeven for adults!

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Preparing for Discussions

• Prompts
• I thought
• I liked
• I wonder
• I felt
• Questions
• Instead of giving them long lists of questions,
  ask students- What questions really got the
  conversations going when you were meeting in your
  groups?
• Brainstorm a short list of questions that seem to
  stimulate discussions.

• Post-it notes
• Identify passages that students want to share in
  discussions.
• Make short notes or write questions on the
  post-its to remind them of what they wanted to
  discuss.
• Bookmarks
• ThinkMarks
• Golden Lines
• Powerful quotes provide for interesting
  discussions.
• Discussion Logs
• More structure way to prompt students to collect
  quotes, questions, and interesting words.
• Provides space for a quick notation.

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Bookmark Sample
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ThinkMark Sample
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Discussion Log Sample
Name_________ Pages_____________
Date_____ Title__________________
Author________________ Journal Response Points
for Discussion (Id like to talk to my group
about I wonder whyIt was interesting
that/when Are you Ready? ___ I finished my
assigned reading and completed my response. ___
I dated and labeled my responses and marked the
parts I wanted to discuss. ___ I
put my best effort into my work.
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Seeing the Big Picture
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Seeing the Big Picture
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After Discussions

• Use debriefing to teach specific strategies
  students can use in their discussions.
• Ways to further discussions.
• Guide students self-reflection
• Begin with reflections in response journals.
• Prompts can be used
• What was something that you did to help the
  discussion go smoothly?
• What will you work on for next time?

• Debrief
• Keep the debriefing short and focused.
• 5 to 10 minutes after the groups have discussed.
• Younger children will benefit from short helpful
  tips in quick debriefings after their
  discussions.
• Start simply.
• Ask students a few simple questions.
• What worked well today?
• What do we still need to work on?
• Can be done standing in front of the guidelines
  chart. Add additional guidelines if needed.

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Literature Circle Roles

• Discussion Director
• Develop a list of questions for discussion
• Creative Connector
• Find connections between the book your group is
  reading and the outside world.
• Literary Luminary
• Locate a few special sections of the text that
  your group would like to hear read aloud.
• Powerful, interesting, funny, puzzling or
  important sections of the text.
• Word Wizard
• Locates words of interest, puzzling/difficult
  words, unknown words, etc.
• Illustrator/Mapper
• Draw some kind of picture related to the reading.
• Summarizer
• Prepare a brief summary of the days reading.

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Evaluating Literature Circles

• Self-evaluation
• http//voyager.snc.edu/Caribbean20Cruisers/selfev
  al.html
• Sample questions
• I actively participated in the discussions of the
  groups.
• I tried to include everyone in the discussion as
  often as possible.
• I did not put anyone down but respected their
  ideas and opinions.

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Evaluating Literature Circles

• Evaluation of Group Members
• http//voyager.snc.edu/Caribbean20Cruisers/member
  eval.html
• Sample Questions
• He/she took an active part in the discussion of
  the group.
• He/she contributed ideas for the project and
  helped to make the project a success.
• He/she listened well and worked well with the
  group.