Bring Literature Circles Into Your Classroom
Tips and strategies for adding literature circles to your language arts curriculum.
By Kelly Weymouth
Today, educators are looking for ways to increase critical thinking in the area of reading comprehension. It is not enough to simply expect students to recall information they have read. There is a movement in teaching to get learners to think more critically about the literature they read. This deeper level of thinking isn’t just about checking to make sure they understand basic story elements. Instead, it involves making inferences, drawing applications to self and the world, and creating solutions to real-world problems. There are few teaching strategies that address some of those critical thinking skills, while also ensuring that each individual is involved and participating. Literature circles, however, provide an engaging and evaluative way for everyone to demonstrate the depth of their understanding for a particular story or novel.
What are Literature Circles?
Literature circles are small discussion groups comprised of people who have read the same book. They can be done in nearly any grade level or with any reading level. In the discussion, each participant has a particular role they must fill and contribute to the overall group conversation. Everyone can be grouped either homogenously or heterogeneously. Often, grouping according to reading or fluency level allows each group to select a work of literature that is at an appropriate comprehension level for the majority of the group. Similarly, by grouping homogenously, one person is less likely to try to dominate the conversation.
How to Implement Literature Circles in the Classroom
Depending on the class, there can be anywhere from three to eight in each group. Groups of four or five ensure that everyone has adequate time to contribute to the discussion. It is easy to add more roles to the larger discussion groups. The first role included in nearly all literature circles is the role of summarizing. The “summarizer” gives a brief recap of what the group read, paying close attention to listing main events in the correct order. Most literature circles have a “discussion leader” who makes sure that everyone is participating and the discussion stays on topic. Another important role is that of the “vocabulary clarifier.” It is this person's job to look for unfamiliar words in the work of literature, research the meaning of those words, and share the meaning with the rest of the group. Some circles include the role of the “connector.” He makes connections between events in the text, other stories the class has read, and real-life scenarios. Other possible roles include making predictions, clarifying events or other story elements that are unclear to group members, or illustrating the portion of the text discussed in the circle. (See worksheet resources at the bottom for more role descriptions and worksheets).
Scaffold: Teach, Model, and Practice
In order to ensure successful literature circles, it is important to set clear expectations and to clearly define each role. Teachers should model every role for the whole class with a story that all learners are familiar with, like a fairy tale or a work of literature the class has read earlier in the year. Group members should then be given ample time to practice each role with a well-known story. During this time, it is important that they receive feedback about their practice with each role. Initially, the teacher should circulate the classroom while they are practicing to try to observe each group. As an extra scaffold or modification for those with special needs, or English learners, make role cards with the name of the role, a basic description of the role, and even some sentence starters to aid in their participation. As they become more familiar with each role, allow each group to choose different books or stories to use for their literature circle discussions.
Assess
It may not be possible to make it to every group and hear every participant, but by allowing them to self and peer evaluate, you can gain a good understanding of each individual's participation and completion of their assigned role (see below for an example of a self-assessment worksheet). Create a rubic for each role and have each group member evaluate one another’s participation by filling out the rubric. If there is access to sound recording technology, each group can choose a day to record their literature circle discussion for you to listen to later. This is another great way for your class to receive feedback as they learn the each of the roles. As with most teaching strategies, the more opportunities they have to practice, the more valuable their discussions will be.
Resources:
This worksheet allows the predictor to write down their predictions before sharing them with the group.
This graphic organizer has space for recording unknown words, the page on which they were found, and their meaning.
The role of discussion director may be one of the most difficult, but this aid provides six questions to get the discussion started.
Each person is able to assess himself and record his participation in different categories on this worksheet.