In literature circles, small groups of students gather together to discuss a piece of literature in depth. The discussion is guided by students' response to what they have read.. Literature circles provide a way for students to engage in critical thinking and reflection as they read, discuss, and respond to books.
What is a literature circle?
Literature circles: 1 can be heterogeneous groups formed around students’ interests 2 student selected text 3 focus on higher level thinking skills: author’s intent, writing style, characterisation, etc. 4 teacher is more of a facilitator/observer/encourager.
What is the role of the teacher in a literature circle?
In this video, the teacher leads a literature circle to engage students in deeper understanding of the text. Each student has a specific role to play when it is their turn to lead the discussion. This opens in a new window.
What is the difference between guided reading and literature circles?
Literature circles differ from other small group instructional approaches like guided reading in several ways: usually homogeneous groups formed around students’ strengths and needs teacher plays central, guiding role in the lesson. focus on higher level thinking skills: author’s intent, writing style, characterisation, etc.
Are literature circles suitable for early years students?
While literature circles are often seen as more suitable for older students, rich conversations, observations and wonderings about texts are possible at all year levels, even as early as Foundation to Year 2. Teacher support and involvement needs to be adjusted to reflect the students’ abilities and needs.
What do you do in a literature circle?
In literature circles, small groups of students gather together to discuss a piece of literature in depth. The discussion is guided by students' response to what they have read. You may hear talk about events and characters in the book, the author's craft, or personal experiences related to the story.
How do you conduct a literature circle in high school?
By definition, Literature Circles are essentially when you divide students into smaller groups, I prefer 4-6 students per group. Each group is assigned the same piece of literature to read and is given time to meet, discuss, and explore the ideas and theme of their text.
What is the meaning of literary circle?
A literary circle is a small group of students who gather together to discuss a piece of literature in depth.
Are literature circles the same as book clubs?
The biggest difference between a literature circle and a book club is that the book club primarily focuses on comprehension of the story, while a literature circle explores not only comprehension, but also other aspects of literature, such as the author's word choices and the reader's connection to the story.
What does the teacher do during literature circles?
Teachers should observe, offer feedback, and gently guide things back on track when necessary, but they should not micromanage. Encourage reflection. After the students finish their circle, have them write about what they thought of the discussion.
How long do literature circles last?
around four weeksA typical round (completion of one book) of literature circles usually lasts around four weeks, but this is not an absolute for all situations.
Why are literature circles so important?
Literature circles give students the opportunity to talk about books with their peers. Through these conversations they build community, learn critical speaking and listening behaviors, deepen their understanding of books, and… recognize that reading is fun!
What are literature circles in education?
Literature circles — a small group of students that gathers to discuss a book, much like a book club — are not a new idea, and in fact, remain quite popular because they are incredibly effective.
What are the student roles in literature circles?
Students begin by selecting a book together then are introduced to the four jobs in the Literature Circles: Discussion Director, Literary Luminary, Vocabulary Enricher, and Checker. The teacher and student volunteers model the task for each of the four roles, and then students practice the strategies.
What are the disadvantages of literature circles?
A con for the literature circle is that literature circles take a lot of time. When students have one role, they might focus more on that one role than the rest of the book. While doing this, they might miss other important parts of the book. There might be students that don't work as hard on their role as others.
Do literature circles work?
Literature circles are successful tools because they are such a social experience for our kids; we need to harness that energy by teaching them and modeling for them how to use their skills for learning. Spend the first day of literature circles establishing expectations with students.
Are literature circles evidence based?
Literature Circles is an effective, proven strategy based on the principles of collaborative learning, independent reading and group discussion.
How do you run a reading circle?
How do I implement reading circles in my classroom?Step 1: Author & Book Selection. Give students a choice of books and/or authors to select from. ... Step 2: Reading Circle Role Selection & Modeling. ... Step 3: Assigning & Supporting Reading. ... Step 4: Taking the Learning Further. ... Step 5: Assessment.
What are literature circles in education?
Literature circles — a small group of students that gathers to discuss a book, much like a book club — are not a new idea, and in fact, remain quite popular because they are incredibly effective.
How do you make a lit circle fun?
12 Activities to Use During Literature Circles or Your Next Novel...Text Based Drawings. ... Summary or Synthesis Tombstones. ... Mind Maps. ... Character Silhouettes. ... The Spirits of Christmas. ... Tweet Sheets. ... Literary Postcards. ... Personal Crests.More items...•
Can you do literature circles with different books?
The students may complete several assignments around the text before completing a final essay or project as a capstone to the unit. In a literature circles unit, however, there may be several groups of students with each group reading a different novel.
Why Literature Circles?
Literature circles — a small group of students that gathers to discuss a book, much like a book club — are not a new idea , and in fact, remain quite popular because they are incredibly effective .
Using Literature Circles Successfully
Mason has a few ideas to make them more successful and to help educators overcome common hiccups, like differentiating appropriately and avoiding overly teacher-led conversations, when implementing literature circles.
What is a Literature Circle?
Simply, in a literature circle, students discuss a piece of literature together. Usually, this is done in small groups.
How Long Should Literature Circles Last?
This will vary a lot depending on the length of your class , the length of the novels, and the outcome goals of the literature circles.
What are the roles of a facilitator?
That said, here are some basic roles that you can let students assume during their group meetings: 1 Facilitator: The facilitator guides the conversation, reads the questions aloud to the group, and keeps the discussion moving forward. 2 Timekeeper: The timekeeper makes sure that the group doesn’t spend too much time on a single question or task. He or she sets limits to the discussions and gently lets the group know when it’s time to move on or when time is running out. 3 Recorder: The recorder acts as the group’s scribe, writing down collective answers or taking notes on the group’s big ideas. 4 Encourager: The encourager makes sure that everyone is heard and given opportunities to share. During discussions, the encourager will make a point to specifically ask quiet group members for input or deliberately make sure that everyone has shared an idea before the group moves on. 5 Summarizer: The summarizer takes everything that group members have shared, summarizes it, and helps the recorder decide what to write down.
How many books are in a literature circle?
Literature circles tend to be more structured with a focus on an academic outcome than book clubs. In a literature circle unit, students may only have three or four novels to choose from. Their groups might be anywhere from five to ten students.
Why are literature circles important?
A benefit of literature circles is that they encourage student choice. We know that when students feel that they have a say, they are more engaged. Allowing students to choose their text allows them to feel more empowered and involved in their own learning.
What are the features of literature circles?
One of the great features of literature circles is that they mirror the way readers actually interact with the texts that they read. Literature circles invite students to discuss, question, and debate literature the same way that adults in a book club might.
What is summative assessment?
A summative assessment is any final assignment that is meant to demonstrate mastery of a skill or concept. This could be an essay, a test, or a project. (I’m a fan of authentic assessments as summative assignments.)
What would reinforce scaffolds and supports?
These would need to be explicitly demonstrated and modelled by the teacher before students work independently using these supports. Prompt cards or anchor charts (developed in collaboration with the students) would reinforce these scaffolds and supports. Some of these frameworks or scaffolds are listed below.
What is sample text?
Sample texts are provided and all propose a way that a teacher might introduce a text to a group of students who are to form a literature circle to read and discuss that text. The different scaffolds and frameworks above are then linked to these sample texts to illustrate what conversations might arise from these texts.
What is scaffolding in literature circles?
The important thing to remember is that any scaffolds taught and employed for the purposes of literature circles are intended as temporary supports to facilitate rich, extended conversations around texts.
What happens when students become experienced in meeting in these dialogue-driven groups?
As students become experienced in meeting in these dialogue-driven groups, the need for them will dissipate and the conversations will become more free-flowing and text responsive. Daniels (2006) has himself noted that schools increasingly dispense with his roles – something he intended.
What is a vocabulary enricher?
Vocabulary enricher: to locate important or unusual words that appear in the text.
What is the expectation of students to have the skills to sustain a conversation around a text they have all read?
Expecting students to have the skills to sustain a conversation around a text they have all read is a big expectation (regardless of how much the text was enjoyed). As a result, different supports or structures have been suggested by different writers and researchers as ways that rich talk might be scaffolded.
What role does the teacher play in a lesson?
teacher plays central, guiding role in the lesson.
What is literature circle?
One of the essential elements of literature circles is the discussion piece ; every day or however many class periods you choose to do literature circles, students should be discussing what they have read with their group. To extend their understanding and make connections with other classmates, opening this discussion up to the whole class will also be beneficial. Maybe there are some common themes or topics that students can discuss about each novel. One idea might be to put the common ideas or topics in a hat and have students draw a topic at random. Then, the class must discuss how that idea or topic relates to their book and discuss the similarities and differences between the books they are reading. They may also want to connect the idea or topic to something that is happening in their lives right now. This will create meaningful discussions in the classroom setting.
Why are literature circles important?
Anne is a teacher and freelancer with a passion for writing. She has helped many young people develop strong writing skills. Literature circles can help keep students more engaged in classroom instruction.
How many students should be in a reading group?
Students should be placed in groups with the students who are reading the same novel as them. I usually like to keep it as 5 to 6 members per group to ensure that there are enough people in the group to participate and have meaningful discussions about the literature. Another great strategy to try is to jigsaw the groups every once in a while, meaning you will group every student together with someone reading a different book, and then they can discuss and explain the book they have been reading to others who have not read the book. This will afford students the opportunity to demonstrate what they know to other students and might also get other students interested in reading another book. In addition, you can have students compare and contrast their books or discuss common themes they found in their novels.
How to keep students engaged in what you are doing?
Instead of having a group make a poster about their project, give them the freedom to showcase what they know by doing something more technology related. Maybe there is a cool app on their phones they can use to create something interesting. There are a variety of different things to choose from, and different avenues you can take with this and the incorporation of technology in your classroom.
Is it imperitive to read?
It is imperitive that students know how important reading is in their daily lives, but students should also understand and appreciate the value of reading for pleasure.
Do elementary students have to take AR tests?
In many schools, early elementary students as well as middle schoolers are required to do independent reading and take tests, such as AR (Accelerated Reader) tests, to ensure that they are reading on their own . However, once students get to high school, the responsibility rests in them to continue reading on their own.
When did Joshua Reid leave Florida?
Joshua Reid from Florida on May 24, 2019:
What are Literature Circles?
Students select a book of choice from a controlled range of options (usually, the books are related in some way, sharing a specific theme, time in history, author background, genre, etc.).
Why Use Literature Circles?
Students come with a wide range of experiences and abilities. Literature circles help to differentiate the curriculum without compromising the academic rigor.
How To Do Literature Circles
Lay the groundwork. Model the roles and tasks with the class as a whole as you read a whole-class novel. Let students know that you are doing the tasks of specific roles required in Literature Circles so that they pay attention to what the job entails. I use To Kill a Mockingbird as my initial novel, and once a week, we all do one role.
What are the roles of literature circles?
Students begin by selecting a book together then are introduced to the four jobs in the Literature Circles: Discussion Director, Literary Luminary, Vocabulary Enricher, and Checker. The teacher and student volunteers model the task for each of the four roles, and then students practice the strategies. The process demonstrates the different roles and allows students to practice the techniques before they are responsible for completing the tasks on their own. After this introduction, students are ready to use the strategy independently, rotating the roles through four-person groups as they read the books they have chosen. The lesson can then be followed with a more extensive literature circle project.
Why do students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts?
Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, ...
Why do you ask students to recall how you recorded information on the Discussion Director role sheet during the previous session?
Ask students to recall how you recorded information on the Discussion Director role sheet during the previous session in order to establish the expectations for this session.
Why should we allow time to discuss the first chapter freely?
Allow time to discuss the first chapter freely in order to show how discussion of questions and ideas that are not on the sheet is also appropriate.
Why are literature circles important?
Literature circles are a strong classroom strategy because of the way that they couple collaborative learning with student-centered inquiry. As they conclude their description of the use of literature circles in a bilingual classroom, Peralta-Nash and Dutch explain the ways that the strategy helped students become stronger readers:
How to introduce literature circles?
Introduce literature circles by explaining they are "groups of people reading the same book and meeting together to discuss what they have read" (Peralta-Nash and Dutch 30).
What happens if a state does not appear in the drop down?
If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.
Getting Started
Lecturing every day can become boring for students and teachers. Break up the monotony and introduce literature circles into your novel units. Students will teach the novel to themselves with you there to guide them as they learn.
Ensure Collaborative Learning is Taking Place
High school students of all levels are still just teenagers so make sure you constantly walk around and monitor their progress within the groups.
This post is part of the series: The Kite Runner: A Curriculum Unit
This series focuses on The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini as a curriculum unit and as a tool to promote independent thinking. This curriculum unit will include study guide questions as well as project ideas and lesson plans for the novel.
