While sorting through the immensity
of chapter six, I noticed that the bulk of the chapter is spent introducing and
explaining several different comprehension strategies. As future teachers I’m
sure that we are all familiar with the majority of these strategies and
remember them from elementary or middle school, but it is now that we have to
learn the importance of these strategies and decide which ones will work best
in our future classrooms.
One comprehension strategy that I
am quite familiar with and support is literature circles. Literature circles
consist of a small group of students who are reading the same book that come
together to dig deeper and partake in discussion with one another. (The book can either be decided by the teacher or by the group themselves). This strategy
is different from many others in the aspect that it is done predominantly
without the assistance of the classroom teacher. This feature is what I believe
makes this strategy so successful. Literature circles is a time when the
students can speak freely with their peers about how they feel about the book,
connections they have found to their own life, predictions, etc.
Although the teacher is needed in
the beginning to model what literature circles should look like and how they
should run, eventually the children should be able to carry out this
comprehension strategy independently. The children will typically be given a
job within their group that may rotate time after time, but after awhile if the
children are able to carry on a discussion without those assigned jobs they may
be dropped. Generally jobs assigned include; discussion director, word finder,
illustrator, creative connector, and summarizer. These jobs are primarily used
to get the students started, and where the discussion goes from there is up to
them.
I found a great PDF that provides background information on
literature circles, what they are and what they are not, how to initially organize
them, job ideas, discussion strategies, adaptations that could be made to make
literature circles kindergarten and first grade friendly, and assessment or
extension ideas. That PDF can be found by clicking here. So I am curious, what are
everyone else’s opinions about using literature circles in the classroom?
I love how thorough your explanation of literature circles were! I remember using these in school and then using them in book clubs after school as well. I think that you have a great point when you say students gain the most from this strategy because the teacher is not the one leading it. When students are given a responsibility, they usually take it more serious. If you have each student that has a job that they need to do, they're more likely to take it serious if they know no one else has that specific job. It gives students a sense of belonging and community, like they NEED to do their work because someone is counting on them. I think literature circles are beneficial if the teacher is a good classroom manager. For this to work, the students will need to be well-prepared and have procedures in place. This would not work in a classroom where there was no organization. If a teacher doesn't use this strategy appropriately, the students will not get the benefits that this idea offers up.
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