Lit. Circles--talk to me...

Join Teachers.Net

Chatboards

Recent Groups

Literature

MEMBERS

6 Members

+ Join Group

Pinned Posts

ALLAll Teachers

Teachers.Net LIVE CHAT Support group - Tues eve!

Featured Jobs

Full-timeMontessori Teacher

Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

TemporaryTeachers, rural schools

Peace River North School District

Full-timeHead Teacher: 2nd/3rd Grades – Mills College Children’s School

Mills College

Teaching Jobs on Teachers.Net

Featured Job special only $39!

https://teachers.net/jobs

Become a Teachers.Net sponsor!

Literature Teachers Chatboard

Lit. Circles--talk to me...

by GA/8

Jul 15, 2008

I've been teaching 8th grade language arts for 5 years, and desperately want to implement literature circles in my classroom. I have tried to implement them several times in the past 5 years, but something always seems to get in the way (i.e. lack of time, lack of resources, lack of proper 'teaching' of how to do literature circles, etc.). I am DETERMINED this will be the year that literature circles come to life in my room.

That said, here are my issues: 1. I teach 60 minute classes (4 per day) of Language Arts, so am required to teach reading, writing, and grammar curriculum. Time is an issue, particularly during the 1st semester when our curriculum is VERY focused on expository and persuasive writing. Where do you find the time?

2. Every time that I have attempted to 'do' lit. circles, students inevitably don't talk about their books. HOW do you get it into their heads that this is the time to talk about the book they chose, rather than the party on Friday? I've t...See More

Comment

(16)

report post

view previous comments

Laura Someone mentioned earlier in the thread Harvey Daniel's Mini-Lessons for Lit. Circles. This is a great resource--one that I used last year when trying Lit. Circles for the first time with a 10th grade honors class. Honestly, the most essential lesson to do with students (IMO) is that of teaching them how to create good discussion questions and foll...See More

Jul 24, 2008

report post

new teacher Hi Laura, Could I ask you what books were read in your lit circles? Did groups get to choose anything they wanted, or did you have 4-5 books in mind & then set up groups based on book preferences? Had you read all the books before? Were the books grouped by theme or any other "grouping" quality? Did you continue with other whole-class work duri...See More

Jul 24, 2008

report post

Chele/5/SoCal This is a C&P from another thread. I have many, many sets of 8 books that I offer up for Lit Clubs, a genre (or author study, or...?) at a time. Most any book that might be recommended for 4th, 5th, or 6th graders has been added to my collection. When I show my students my cupboard FULL of books on the first day of school, I admit to them that ...See More

Jul 24, 2008

report post

JGS I teach 5th grade. I tend to pick a theme when I do literature circles. I generally have chosen around 5 books that include a range of difficulty levels. For example, I will begin this year with a "new kid" theme. I've chosen: Hey, New Kid, Anastasia Again, The Kid in the Red JAcket, Knights of the Lunch Table, and Al Capone Does My Shirts. I have ...See MoreI teach 5th grade. I tend to pick a theme when I do literature circles. I generally have chosen around 5 books that include a range of difficulty levels. For example, I will begin this year with a "new kid" theme. I've chosen: Hey, New Kid, Anastasia Again, The Kid in the Red JAcket, Knights of the Lunch Table, and Al Capone Does My Shirts. I have multiple copies of each book. I will place the books on the chalk ledge and encourage the students to spend a little time with each book during their Sustained Silent REading time. When it comes time to choose the book they will read, I may try to exert some influence over the difficulty level. There will always be that struggling reader who insists on choosing the most difficult book and a quite capable reader who tries to choose the easiest book. You just have to be wiley and clever to move them toward the appropriate book.

I have had literature circles where Ihave not read all of the books and ones where I have. I definitely prefer the latter. When I visit groups to listen to their discussions, it really helps if I know what they are discussing. A new teacher I taught with last year asked for parent volunteers to lead each book group. They would come in on Friday and oversee a group. I've never tried that, but would consider it.

I had my literature circles meet each day. Because I generally use assigned roles in the groups they had tasks they needed to perform in response to their reading each day. Generally, as they would finish their tasks, determine the reading assignment for that evening and then move into silent reading time. The more efficient they were, the more time they had to read. I ALWAYS have a directed response log for my groups. It has a page where they keep a list of vocabulary words from the book. It has another page for figurative language, several "reflection" pages, a page or two where they must draw a scene from the book and describe what is happening. A research page (something in the story causes them to wonder about a topic. For example, Al Capone take place on Acatraz Island. They might do a brief research report on Alcatraz.) Each group is also expected to do a culminating project. I don't introduce that until midway through their study. Once I do, some of their group time is used to plan and develop that project. I generally have a Choiceboard of projects to choose from.

Throughout the year I sort of wander from literature circles, to novel studies (whole class, one book), to our basal reader. Since it takes quite a bit of preparation for me to plan a literature circle or novel study, I will fall back on the basal while I'm planning one of the others.

I plan on doing a Civil War themed literature Circle, as well as a World War II themed one later in the year. I have also done a depression era study.

On 7/24/08, new teacher wrote: > Hi Laura, > Could I ask you what books were read in your lit circles? Did groups > get to choose anything they wanted, or did you have 4-5 books in mind & > then set up groups based on book preferences? Had you read all the > books before? Were the books grouped by theme or any other "grouping" > quality? Did you continue with other whole-class work during lit > circles? E.G. were certain days "lit circle" days and others for whole > class work? Did you give class time for lit circle reading? Besides > questioning & discussing skills (great points to work on, by the way!) > did you have other activities or projects? > > My apologies for all the questions; I'm curious how this works! > Thank you so much! > > > On 7/24/08, Laura wrote: >> Someone mentioned earlier in the thread Harvey Daniel's Mini-Lessons >> for Lit. Circles. This is a great resource--one that I used last year >> when trying Lit. Circles for the first time with a 10th grade honors >> class. Honestly, the most essential lesson to do with students (IMO) >> is that of teaching them how to create good discussion questions and >> follow-up questions, then requiring them to do so when they meet with >> each other. We spend two days working on this skill, with me modeling >> and them practicing. Then I ask that they try it out during meetings. >> I sat in on the meetings and took notes in addition to also asking >> them to turn in the discussion questions they came up with. It worked >> well and I saw marked improvement in their questioning/discussion >> techniques. >> >> As far as motivation goes, I didn't have much of an issue, but that was >> in an honors class. I will be trying Lit. Circles with my general >> students this year and am hoping that they will be motivated simply by >> being able to choose their books and their reading schedules.

Jul 25, 2008

report post

Laura On 7/24/08, new teacher wrote: > Hi Laura, > Could I ask you what books were read in your lit circles? Did groups > get to choose anything they wanted, or did you have 4-5 books in mind & > then set up groups based on book preferences? Had you read all the > books before? Were the books grouped by theme or any other "grouping" &g...See MoreOn 7/24/08, new teacher wrote: > Hi Laura, > Could I ask you what books were read in your lit circles? Did groups > get to choose anything they wanted, or did you have 4-5 books in mind & > then set up groups based on book preferences? Had you read all the > books before? Were the books grouped by theme or any other "grouping" > quality? Did you continue with other whole-class work during lit > circles? E.G. were certain days "lit circle" days and others for whole > class work? Did you give class time for lit circle reading? Besides > questioning & discussing skills (great points to work on, by the way!) > did you have other activities or projects? > > My apologies for all the questions; I'm curious how this works! > Thank you so much! > > >

I'm happy to share what I did.

I teach in PA, where our standards do not dictate that we "teach" books. Rather, my job as an English/Language Arts teacher is to teach THROUGH literature, so I enjoy freedom in which books I choose to read with students. I just started at my current school last year and the outgoing teacher had spent her time "teaching" The Great Gatsby, The Crucible, and To Kill a Mockingbird. I come from a World. Lit background so hadn't ever taught these books before. In order to make my life a bit easier my first year in the district, I instead asked the principal if I could order some books from Amazon to use for lit. circles in place of one of the American. Lit. selections. He agreed and I ordered the following books around the themes of immigration/finding identity in a new place/The American Dream (or lack thereof...):

Enrique's Journey The House on Mango Street What is the What Interpretor of Maladies The Jungle Funny in Farsi Bone Snow Falling on Cedars

and a bunch of others.

I bought five of each and spent a day passing the books around and allowing students (I had fifteen of them) to choose their #1, 2, and 3 picks. I then put them in groups of 3-4 based on their book choices and personalities. Everyone got their #1 or 2 pick in the end, I believe. I have read most of these books before, but also ordered some that got great reviews but I hadn't read yet. This wasn't a problem with honors students, but I will make sure I've read ALL of the choices when I do this with my general students. I also sent home permission slips of course, as there is some adult content in the books.

Lit. Circle groups were asked to develop a reading and group meeting schedule, create a group "rules" list, and decide on roles. I asked that students have meetings a minimum of four times and that each student play each role once. For each assigned reading/meeting, each student was responsible for doing close reading via reading logs, post-its, or double-entry journals (their choice). They were also responsible for completing their "role" and then, following the meeting, writing a post-meeting reflection. All of these assignments were kept in a portfolio to be turned in at the end of the unit.

A typical week was 2 days of mini-lessons on reading and/or writing and three days where groups were either meeting or reading/working. Because students met on different days, it meant that I could devote at least 1/2 a class period to sitting in on their discussions.

The last element to this unit was the writing component. After students completed their books, they were asked to create two pieces of writing (of different genres, purpose, and for different audiences) inspired by their lit. circle book. They were then asked to complete a final reflection on the whole unit. These three writing pieces were included in the portfolio and then everything was turned in and graded by me.

It went well. I was impressed by the caliber of portfolios I received and though I will change some things for next year, I LOVED this unit. For those who don't have time to allow in-class reading, you can easily change the schedule so that they are reading at home but still holding group meetings on scattered days. In fact, I might do this next year and instead have groups do other work (vocab, grammar, etc) when they are not holding Lit. Circle meetings.

Respectfully, I disagree with L. Swilley's advice to abandon lit. circles. I never lose my role as teacher during this unit. In fact, I feel as though I am doing a BETTER job of guiding them as they figure out how to analyze, question, and discuss literature, then respond to it.

Good luck and have fun!

Jul 25, 2008

report post