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Literature Circles: How does it help readers? Literature circles are a powerful tool to bring together readers within a classroom. They are also known as book clubs, lit groups, literature studies and reader circles. No matter what they are called they all serve the same purpose - to gather a group of students to collaborate and discuss the same text. These groups can be either heterogeneous or homogeneous. The texts used can either be assigned by the teacher or chosen by the group. The choices can be based on interest or based on what the students are currently learning. There are many different ideas about how to facilitate a literature circle within the classroom. Some teachers are strong proponents of assigning each child a job which creates accountability. Fountas and Pinnell favor this approach in their book Teaching with Comprehending and Fluency: Thinking, Talking, and Writing About Reading K-8. Some examples of suggested jobs are; connector, summarizer, visualizer, leader, questioner, etc. Other researchers are in favor of requiring each student to bring either questions and/or comments to the group. This can encourage the group to focus on the entire rich text experience rather than solely one aspect of it. Literature circles bring together all different forms of communication (4.SL.1). The students are reading and comprehending texts, writing their ideas, communicating their ideas by speaking and also listening to one another.
Throughout my graduate program experience I read a variety of articles on this topic and completed action research studies within my classroom to try both types of literature circles. Both methods have benefits and pitfalls. The one I found to be most effective in my classroom are the literature circles not requiring jobs. Each group was given question starters and sample questions to discuss the characters, the setting and the plot in greater detail. The questions and the discussions were recorded in the group's literature circle notebook. This type of literature circle helped my ESL students with their communication skills. The groups also helped all my students learn to analyze and critique texts in greater detail. The students were able to justify their answers with support from the text. This strategy increased time in text and was a motivation for the students because they were able to get into small groups and discuss. The literature circles can also include a presentation aspect and the students can have the opportunity to create a technology project. **To the left you can view a video reviewing the strategies I use in my classroom** |