When doing literary analysis with your students, the theme of the story can be one of the most challenging parts to discuss. The theme does not always have a
Start Using Literature Circles TODAY! Find out how to easily implement literature circles with grades 3-5. So easy, you can get started today (or tomorrow).
Socratic seminars. Fishbowl discussions. Harkness method. Jigsaw. There are many wonderful structures and strategies for facilitating classroom discussions which deepen student learning about a text or topic, while also developing vital communications abilities: a true life skill. However, I know that when I was a new teacher, I found class discussions challenging at best, and painfully awkward at worst. So, here are some questions many teachers struggle with, along with some answers I have come to through lots of trial and error, and plenty of practice. Any time! Whether studying literature or analyzing persuasive language, having students engage with each other in small groups to share and deepen their knowledge, while also developing critical communication skills, is just solid practice. Moreover, especially when working with teenagers, student-led discussions encourage them to take responsibility for their own learning, and help them to learn how to work well with others. Personally, I step back and have students run discussions almost every 2 or 3 classes. The more they do it, the better they will become. There is no one-way to do this; it will completely depend on your class size, dynamics, objective, and more. It could be the whole class sitting in a circleand all discussing. It could also be a fishbowl discussion, with an inner circle having the discussion while the outer circle observes (read more about Fishbowl discussions here). It could be multiple smaller groups each having their own discussions at the same time. You want to vary your types of discussions to keep students engaged, and on their toes. You know teenagers: do any one thing too often and they get bored! However, two key things I have learnt through practice: Stay out of the discussion as much as possible to really let students muddle through on their own; while I may interject occasionally, I really try to do so as little as possible to force students to take responsibility for their own discussions. Discourage students from raising their hands; while this can be a challenge at first, it does break away from teacher-led formats, and it teaches them to be assertive, mindful of others, and collaborative. Preparation is key. While it is great to have informal, on-the-spot discussions, this really favors the engage, confident, assertive students; it can be highly challenging for the quieter, more reluctant members of the class. If you want students to engage and lead the discussions, you must let them prepare thoroughly first. Let them pick the topic themselves. I often put students into small groups and have them decide what might be an interesting question for discussion around a text. The mere process of deciding is valuable as they explore the text/topic being studied, and assess the validity of essential questions. To scaffold this process, you can give them a list of possible questions to select from. Have students write questions. Before the class discussion, I will assign homework for students to work together to come up with a list of about 10 essential questions they will discuss. This also teaches them how to write good open-ended questions, and I stipulate that I want a range of types: clarification, analysis, comparison, opinion-based, etc. This works beautifully in Google Docs, as students work together on the same document to write, critique, refine, and agree upon their set of questions. It also allows me to see if they all truly participated! *GRAB THIS FREE WORKSHEET TO HELP STUDENTS PREPARE AND PARTICIPATE IN A FORMAL DISCUSSION* Teenagers are awkward. We get that. If you are going to hold formal discussions in the classroom, you may well encounter everything from students feeling self-conscious and barely speaking, to students dominating and oversharing. That’s ok. It is all part of the learning process. However, you need to be prepared to sit back, outside of the discussion, and let them battle through: embrace the silence. The more that they practice, the more natural and easy it becomes. *In terms of balancing out participation, see my recommendation below, for the app Equity Maps. Check out these DISCUSSION GOAL CARDS to help give students tangible goals to focus on during the discussion! Just last week I put students into groups to prepare a discussion on Shakespeare’s Othello. While I busied myself in the background, they chatted about what topic they would like to pick. My teacher heart was overflowing with pride: critical thinking was on full display as they tossed around ideas, assessed the validity of topics, listened attentively to each other, backed up their opinions with textual evidence, and thoughtfully included even the quietest of members. I was thrilled, and really excited for the ‘real thing.’ The next day, I sat back, eagerly anticipating more of their rich dialogue and collaborative sharing. Yet, that’s not what I got. Instead, I was greeted with stilted conversation, forced interest, self-conscious interjections, and little evidence of the depth of which I knew they were capable. The difference? Grading. The quickest way to make a discussion inauthentic, static, and forced, is to grade students. I am not advocating that we don’t do it - it is an important process - but we need do so many ungraded discussions formatively, that it takes away the performance anxiety and fear around the ‘formal’ discussion. I only have a graded discussion perhaps twice a term, yet we hold student-led discussions almost every week. Often for the quieter students it is not a case of not having something valuable to say, but it is often a case of not being able to find space, feeling too shy, or not knowing how to jump in. For this, I have a couple of tips: Give all students incentives: I have students sit with 5 chocolates in front of them (my favorite: Cadbury’s Mini-Eggs) and encourage them that each time they contribute, they get to eat a treat. This not only incentives participation, but it also gives them a clear goal, and a great way to monitor their interactions. Have students write alist of possible questions beforehand, and have this in front of them. This way, even if they struggle to think on their feet, or struggle to voice their opinions, they still have something with which they can enter in. Half way through the discussion, get up and “press pause” on the discussion. For a couple of minutes let students collect their thoughts and jot down some notes, then for the following few minutes let only those who have not had a chance to speak yet, do so. Use these FREE opinion signs to have students engage visibly. This way, they are forced into coming up with an opinion, indicate it to the whole group, and then other students can ask them why they agree or disagree. Remind students of all the possible ways to engage. Participation should not just be through giving opinions: it could be through asking for clarification, validating a peer’s contribution, signalling agreement or disagreement, asking for evidence to deepen someone else’s thinking etc. For more tips on how to encourage participation, check out Room 213’s great blog post on the topic. She has a wealth of experience with class discussions, and some simple, easy-to-implement ideas! Having students reflect on their growth and learning is a vital part of any educational experience (read more here). The same is true for discussions: after any class discussion, encourage students to self-reflect, and assess their own participation. Simple bell-ringers work well here. Nothing fancy: I just pick an appropriate one, write it on the board, and have students write down an answer in the last few minutes of class: In what way are you proud of your participation? Which area do you need to grow? How can you improve next time? What is one think you will focus on next time? Who do you think displayed good facilitation skills in today’s discussion, and how? As mentioned earlier, I rely heavily on Google Docs for students' collaboration and preparation. However, another app which I use regularly is Equity Maps: with this app, you can record the whole discussion, visually map the conversation, and collect all kinds of data: seeing the gender dynamics; timing students’ contributions; and seeing how balanced the discussion is. There is a feature which even assesses the group on how even the participation was (green for highly balanced and fair, blue for high levels of equality, yellow for medium etc.); my students now see this almost as a goal or game to aim for, and they are so proud of themselves when they reach Green status! If you have anymore questions about facilitating meaningful discussions in the classroom, feel free to post them below. In the meantime, check out these incredible blog posts and resources: Encouraging participation in Discussions by Room 213 Engage your students with Fishbowl Conversations by The Daring English Teacher Holding silent discussions by Presto Plans Tips for Successful Lit Circles by Addie Williams Holding Whole Class Discussion for Any Novel by The SuperHERO Teacher Discussion Activities by Presto Plans
Classroom discussions can range from awkward silence to complete chaos, but when they are done well, it's a magical learning experience! These tips can help improve the structure and quality of classroom discussion that can be applied to Socratic seminars, literature circles and more!***************...
At the start of each year, I like to brainstorm a list of engaging new strategies I want to try in my classroom. Once I have a few, I make it a goal to pencil…
Short stories and poetry are great, but it's usually a novel that fosters a true love for reading in the English classroom.This #2ndaryELA Twitter chat was all about teaching novels. Middle school and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed the novels they use at different grade levels. Teachers also shared their methods of reading: whole class or literature circles, in-class or independently as homework. Read through the chat for ideas to implement in your own classroom.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how techie would you say you are as a teacher? Personally, I'm pretty tech-savvy. I use Google for a lot more than questions, I handle Adobe like a
Hello everyone! We were back at school today after yet another day off for rotten weather. It sure is hard to have any continuity when we are gone a day or more out of every week! Our next big unit in reading involves historical fiction book clubs. Getting fourth graders to have meaningful book discussions […]
Lit circles for any reader. Literature Circles: organizing, running, and grading How to do lit circles in a guided reading class.
If you are new to literature circles or want enjoy talking about books with your students, teacher led lit circle discussions may be the way to go.
Free printables created by Laura Candler to aid teachers with their literacy circles in their classrooms to get students excited about reading.
If you are one of the many upper elementary teachers who incorporate some type of book clubs or literature circles in your classroom, you'll want to grab a cup of coffee and check out today's post! See if you might find a new helpful hint or idea to shake things up for your next round of book clubs! There are tons of decisions that need to be made before book clubs, aren't there? What books? Who will read each book? How will I decide? How much can they read each day? What reading and writing skills will we work on? What OTHER skills (cooperation, "accountable talk", technology, and so many more!). How can I get to each group and keep the other students working? It's no wonder teachers are tired! So let's think about how many different ways we can do book clubs--and this is just a sampling! Small groups talk and reflect on a read aloud book (picture book or section of a novel) Small groups work to read a whole-class novel in small, mixed ability groups Small groups work to read a whole-class novel in ability level groups--with varied levels of support Small groups read different books or stories on a theme Small groups read different books based on reading levels Small groups read different books from one author And the list goes on! And more decisions...will you, the teacher, select the books for the students? Will the students select? Will you give the students a chance to give their input and then make the best decision for them as readers? Here is a set of books I used recently as we did "social issues" book clubs! I did book talks on all the books, then let students fill out a google form letting me know their preferences. I then made groups based on interest, reading skills with a nod toward groups I thought would function well together! So the first step is finished--NOW what? Time to plan! The first thing I do is reread my books a section at a time to make sure I know what talking points I want to make sure we cover--but the farther into the year we get, the less I do and the more I ask my STUDENTS to do! In fact, where many of my students had book clubs in third grade with specified guiding questions, I try to move my students gradually toward a more "grown up" book club by the end of the year. Instead of ME determining what they talk about, I make my students do it! After all, we have spent all year learning about the features of texts...how they are organized...how to get into characters' minds and critique their words, thoughts, and actions. We have predicted and confirmed predictions. We have summarized and looked for theme. We have compared and contrasted...you get the picture! So...at this point in the year, I ask my students to plan their discussion groups! Sometimes I might assign roles like in a traditional "literature circle" where I put one member in charge as the leader and other members with assorted roles. But for my most RECENT book club, I wanted it to be as authentic as possible. No hands raised. No "around the circle" turn taking. I reviewed with my students the different ways groups can share ideas (click HERE to see an older post about this!) and we practiced using accountable talk to do the following: Agree with others Politely disagree and explain why Piggyback off other people's ideas Ask for clarification Ask others to repeat when necessary Give compliments for great ideas We also reviewed how to make sure our BODIES look respectful in a book club...we want our eyes on the speaker, we don't fiddle with things or get off task, and we participate fully and encourage others to participate as well. I use the term "balance the power" to help students remember that being in a book club involves give and take, sharing the spotlight, and being an active participant. I have another post about this very idea HERE if you are interested! Once this is reviewed...it's time for my students to plan their book clubs! Sometimes I ask them to use sticky notes to jot down ideas that come to them as they read...other times they use their reader's notebooks--and, most recently--I've had them start to use "digital reader's notebooks" on their Chromebooks! By keeping their notes handy (no matter WHAT way you do it), students can learn to pause as they read to jot down ideas they want to talk about. This is new for some of them--they are more used to reading and responding after they finish. I want them to feel like this process is really interactive...I model using "think alouds" with the book I am reading aloud to show exactly how I pause when something captures my attention...something I am wondering about...or I want to make a prediction...or something shocks me...or I notice something about a character...or I think a character has said something important. Explicit modeling has REALLY improved the quality of my students' reflecting! Now the fun begins! After students have read their section and prepared their discussion ideas, it's time to put everything you've done into practice! I ask my students to sit in a circle and bring their books and their notes...I let them know that DURING the discussion is not a time to add on--that they need to have full attention on the group and the discussion. Earlier in the year, I am a part of the circle throughout the duration of the book club, but at this point in the year, I start in the circle for the first meeting or two--but as each group shows me that they are ready to roll independently, I back out and sit outside the circle. I still listen; I want to hear their ideas and watch for those accountable talk stems. I want to see how deeply they are comprehending and how well they are functioning as a group. I want to see that "balance of power"--and if I am NOT seeing these things, I can ease back into the circle for a while until I feel like they have made some changes. My favorite book discussions are the ones where I can just sit back and enjoy the discussion! After all, these kiddos are only 9 and 10 so watching them sit and chat about a section of a book for 15-20 minutes is pretty impressive, in my mind! One thing I do encourage is keeping their books handy because "proving your ideas" is big in our room. When students have something to share, they often will say something like, "Check out the second paragraph on page 143. Why do you think Melody's mom said that?" So they need their books so they can follow along and chime in with their thoughts. This is particularly useful when students bring up confusing parts; all students can then refer to their notes AND the section of text so they can problem solve together. This is one of my favorite things to watch. Sometimes I need to jump in--but those accountable talk stems really work to help guide them without me most of the time! These students have all their notes on their Chromebooks with our digital reader's notebooks...so they might refer to their screen for those discussion ideas they jotted down as they read, and then move back and forth between their books and discussion. After the group meets, I always felt something was missing. Typically, the group meets, disbands, and then heads back to their desks to start reading the next section. I thought and thought about what I wanted them to do and realized that I wanted them to take the great discussions they were having and to DO something with them. Because this most recent round of book clubs was completed using a digital reader's notebook, I asked them to go back and spend 10-15 minutes adding on to their thoughts in their notebooks and writing a true "reflection". Where their book club PLANNING consisted of questions, bullet points, and small jotted notes, I wanted this reflective writing to be more thorough and complete. I wanted them to spend some time "synthesizing" the discussion and taking all the great ideas the group generated and recording them for later. This helps "capture" the great ideas as well as providing an authentic way for students to do some real-world writing. This is tricky for some students at first, so this is another time I like to model this type of writing with a chapter of a book I am sharing with a class. Here's the form I used with my digital notebook--but you could just as easily have them turn to the next page of their reader's notebook. So your students have spent a few weeks together reading, chatting, writing, and reflecting chapter by chapter. At this point, I want to see if students can put it all together. No, it's not time for a diorama about the book...it's time for more writing! I teach in a district where we grade on a standards-based report card, so I need concrete evidence about how students handle "theme", and summarizing, and character analysis. Watching them during book clubs is a GREAT way to get this information, but I like to have them finish things off by doing some writing COMPLETELY independently. Some students do like to rely a little too much on their group members, so this is a chance for them to really shine on their own. I ask them to write a short reflection about what they feel the theme of the book is. I ask them to write a short character sketch to show their understanding of a character of their choice. I ask them to write a paragraph stating and defending their opinion about the book. When they finish, the group reconvenes one more time to share their final findings. This is a great celebration of their work! I think it's so fun to watch the students grow as readers--and to watch them do it without me guiding every step! Interested in seeing the digital resource I mentioned? I am LOVING moving toward a more digital, reduced-paper classroom and can't wait to try even more next year! Thanks for stopping by--and I hope the end of your school year is filled with fun and learning! Follow me on... Facebook Pinterest Instagram @Fourthgradestudio Twitter @FourthGrStudio Periscope @ FourthGrStudio Teachers Pay Teachers Store Blog
Have student choose questions from sheet or laminate the individual questions and have them “draw a question” for discuss with their partner
When doing literary analysis with your students, the theme of the story can be one of the most challenging parts to discuss. The theme does not always have a
Add some depth and complexity to traditional Literature Circles with this complete and ready-to-use resource! You will be amazed by the level of discussion and critical thinking that will take place among your students. Each Literature Circle role (listed below) is directly connected to 11 elements of critical thinking: Big Ideas, Rules, Trends, Patterns, Language of the Discipline, Ethics, Relationships Over Time, Details, Unanswered Questions, Across Disciplines, and Multiple Perspectives). Just print, select the text (or have students select the text), and you are ready to get started! Two versions–with and without icons–are now included!! This Depth and Complexity Literature Circle Unit includes the following: •"Discussion Director" graphic organizer "Connector" graphic organizer "Vocabulary Enricher" graphic organizer "Literary Luminary" graphic organizer "Investigator" graphic organizer "Plot Profiler" graphic organizer "Illustrator" graphic organizer Detailed job descriptions for each role A student rubric to assess Literature Circle performance. BYOB! Build Your Own Bundle Pick and choose the Depth and Complexity resources you want and receive a bundle discount. The more you buy, the more you save. The discount will appear in your cart for all qualifying quantities. 3+ Depth and Complexity Resources = 10% off 6+ Depth and Complexity Resources = 20% off 9+ Depth and Complexity Resources = 30% off This resource was created based on the Depth and Complexity framework, which was created by Dr. Sandra Kaplan under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Research and Improvement: 1996 Get all the latest Teacher Thrive news! ➜SIGN UP for my newsletter! ➜FOLLOW me on TeacherThrive.com! ➜FOLLOW me on Facebook! ➜FOLLOW me on Pinterest! ➜FOLLOW me on Instagram! Please read: This is a nonrefundable digital download. Please read the description carefully and examine the preview file before purchasing. © Copyright 2018 M. Tallman. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy pages specifically designed for student or teacher use by the original purchaser or licensee. This is intended to be used by one teacher unless additional licenses have been purchased. The reproduction of any other part of this product is strictly prohibited. Copying any part of this product and placing it on the Internet in any form (even a personal/classroom website) is strictly forbidden. Doing so makes it possible for an Internet search to make the document available on the Internet, free of charge, and is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
If you love the idea of book clubs, literature circles are another great way to engage your secondary students in discussion. This post has everything you need to know about creating engaging roles for high school and middle school students. This post also includes distance learning tips for hosting literature circles virtually.
Interested in launching literature circles in your middle school classroom? Be sure to check out this detailed post on how to set them up and facilitate them digitally from start to finish!
By Presto Plans There is nothing better than a deep and thoughtful discussion or friendly classroom debate, but as we know things don’t always go as planned. In classroom discussions, I'm sure we have all been faced with both a sea of blank stares with no response as well as out-of-order chaos. Below are some of the activities you can use to strike a good balance, keep control, engage students, and break away from the traditional whole-class discussion. These activities allow for more reflection, interaction, and thoughtful expression. The silent discussion method allows everyone (even your most reluctant students) to share their ideas. It gives time for students to reflect on their own thoughts as well as learn about the perspective of others before sharing out loud. - Develop a variety of discussion questions related to what you are teaching. Write them or project them on the board. If you have 25 students, you’ll probably want at least 12 questions. - Number students off and have them write the discussion question connected to their number on a piece of paper, or you can use this free template: Silent Discussion Template - Students respond to the question they wrote with their own opinion. When they are done, they get up, circulate the room at their own pace, and find an available seat with a new discussion question. - Students read the new question, the responses already made to it, and add their own thoughts to the “discussion” in writing. - This continues for as long as you like. When you are done, you can have a whole-class open discussion on all of the topics, or put students into small groups to discuss. If you want to read about how I use this method in more detail you can read this blog post I wrote: SILENT DISCUSSIONS If you have a class that doesn’t engage well in discussion or debate, ethical dilemmas or what if? prompts are the perfect way to bring out their opinions. - Ethical dilemmas are situations where a person has to make a choice based on a moral situation. What If? prompts are situations where a person has to consider how they would react if something in their life or the word were different in some way. - These prompts can be used in a variety of ways. I use them as a weekly bell-ringer to spark a short discussion in small groups at the start of class. Although discussions are not always used to start a class, I find it a great way to warm up student brains for the lesson ahead. Gallery discussions are an effective way to get students out of their seats and collaborating in small groups. All you need are a few pieces of chart paper, some markers, and 5-6 discussion prompts. - Create 5-6 discussion questions about the content you are studying and write them on a piece of chart paper. Hang them around the classroom in stations. - Put students into small groups and have them elect a scribe. - Students circulate to each of the stations for a specified amount of time. - Have each group elect a speaker. This person will share with the whole class the topic that brought out the most discussion for them and what their thoughts were on it. This method is useful for tackling controversial topics and helping your students prepare for a debate or persuasive writing. - Put up 4 signs around your classroom that read Strongly Agree / Agree / Disagree / Strongly Disagree - Make a controversial statement and have students write down on a small piece of paper whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree (so they make an independent choice instead of following their friends). - Students move to the corner of the choice they made. - Students spend 5-10 minutes discussing the topic and making point form notes on their thoughts. - Afterwards, have a member from each group summarize their discussion for the whole class. - As a final activity, have students write a paragraph on their opinion on the statement now. Have them consider if they feel the same way they did when they started, or if the other groups were able to sway their opinions. If you want signs to print, you can check out these free ones from Stacey Lloyd: Opinion Signs. She uses these signs as a creative and engaging way to poll her whole class during discussions, but they can also work for the 4 corners activity! Short video clips are an excellent way to engage your students in discussion. I use videos as journal writing prompts, but they could also easily be used as small group or pair discussion starters. - Put students into small groups or pairs and show them a short video clip based on the content you are teaching (or I like to just use a general topic of interest to engage students). - Provide the related discussion prompt and give them a certain amount of time to discuss. Everyone should respond to the discussion prompt in the small group. - Have each pair or group share what they discussed with the rest of the class. Pyramid discussions are useful when you want to scaffold to make a whole-class discussion less intimidating for those students who are more reluctant to speak. They are also useful in preparation for debate or persuasive writing. - For this activity, you’ll have to develop topics where students must come to an agreement on a particular topic. For example, you could provide a list of survival items and students must determine which three are the most useful. You could also have a more general prompt like “What are the three greatest inventions of all time?” - Have students start in pairs. The two students discuss this prompt and must work together and compromise in their discussion to come to an agreement. - Once each pair is in agreement, two pairs move together to form groups of four. The new larger group must then share their ideas and again all come to agreement. - The groups of four then move into a larger group of eight and again must share their ideas and come to an agreement. - After groups of eight, have students move back to their seats and have a whole-class discussion on the topic. Discussion Speed Dating is a fun way for students to share their own thoughts on a topic and also hear multiple other perspectives. If your students don’t know what speed dating is, you could start by showing them this short clip from Gilmore Girls to give them a sense of what a speed dating session looks like: The Gilmore Girls Speed Dating Clip . Be sure to first preview the clip to ensure it is appropriate for your particular students. Get this free activity here: Speed Dating Discussion - Arrange the classroom so that two desks are facing each other in a line. Each student gets this free speed dating discussion sheet that they will need during the activity. Have students choose any seat. - Give each of the two rows a letter (A & B). - Give students a persuasive topic or statement to discuss or debate with their partner for 3-5 minutes. Set a timer! - Have students spend 1 minute filling in the first section of the speed dating discussion reflection sheet. This is meant to be quick, point-form thoughts to remind them of their discussion later. - Tell all of row A to move one seat over so they are facing the next person. - The discussion continues and this process is repeated as many times as you would like. - In the end, have students write a paragraph on their own thoughts on the topic using their reflection sheet as a reference. They may refer to the other members of the class that they spoke with in their writing. For example, “I agreed with ____ when they said…” or “While _____ made some strong points, I disagreed with their thought that ….” Looking for other discussion activities? The other Coffee Shop ladies have you covered! Check them out by clicking the links below: The SuperHERO Teacher - Literature Interviews: A Whole-Class Discussion for Any Novel Room 213 - Speaking and Listening as Part of the Pre-Reading Stage The Daring English Teacher - Fishbowl Discussions
This structure for literature circle discussions is perfect if students are new to lit circles or if you want students to run their own discussions.
Do you ever feel like you're in a "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" book? Sometimes my train of thoughts works like that! The latest mouse episode happened on my FB page. I gave a link to a list of best chapter books and then someone asked for a list with grade level equivalents. Then I shared one of my favorite teacher tools - Scholastic Book Wizard. Next, I gave a link to a post I wrote giving suggestions for organizing Literature Circles. Then someone asked how you could use Daily 5 and Literature Circles. Are you caught up with the trail of cookie crumbs? At the end of the trail, I thought I should tell you how you can use the Scholastic Book Wizard when you plan Literature Circles. This is a hypothetical class which we will call Mrs. Mouse's class. Mrs. Mouse has 25 students. Mrs. Mouse has divided her class into 5 literature circles. With today's hectic schedules, one way to use your time wisely is to integrate subjects and skills as much as possible. Mrs. Mouse is going to use the Scholastic Book Wizard so she can find books on the appropriate levels about the objects and subjects she is currently teaching - ancient times (Greece, Rome, Egypt) Step #1: Click on Scholastic site (click on picture) Step #2: First, type Ancient Rome in the search box. Second, choose what type of reading level system you use. I chose grade level equivalent. Third, choose "search by level" Step #3: Mrs. Mouse chose reading levels 2.0 - 4.5 Step #4: This step is very important when you use Literature Circles with older students. I found this out the hard way when I helped my friend who is a 6th grade teacher organize her groups. Fluency plays an important role with older students. You can have 2 students reading on the same level, but if their fluency rates differs greatly you will have issues. So, a word to the wise, look at fluency rates if you teach older students. If you don't have time to test your students' fluency rate, you can take a quick survey. Ask your students to write down their 3 favorite books and the title of the book they are currently reading for pleasure. Generally speaking, the longer the book, the higher the fluency rate. Step #5: Mrs. Mouse put her students into the following groups: Group #1 (level 2.0 - 2.4 / Low fluency) Vacation Under the Volcano by Mary Pope Osborne (level 2.2) Group #2 (level 2.2 - 2.6 / Average fluency) Hour of the Olympics by Mary Pope Osborne (level 2.2) Group #3 (2.5 - 2.9 / Average fluency+) The Curse of Cheese Pyramid by Geronimo Stilton (level 2.7) Group #4 (3.0 - 3.5 / (High fluency) Ancient Greece and the Olympics by Mary Pope Osborne, Natalie Pope Boyce (level 3.3) Group # 5 (4.0 - 4.4/ High fluency) Flat Stanley's The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery by Sarah Pennypacker and Jeff Brown (level 4.4) Step #6: Mrs. Mouse took her list of groups and the list of books she found in her Book Wizard search to the library. Mrs. Books, the librarian, was happy to show Mrs. Mouse which books the library had multiple copies of and said she could borrow more books from the public library for her. With some planning and organization, Mrs. Mouse class was able to learn about Ancient times during their reading lessons, which were also differentiated. Do you follow my Facebook page? I am going to give 4 copies of the books in the pictures above to one of my FB followers. Click for more literature circle ideas. Looking for more ideas? An InLinkz Link-up
Literature Circles in the elementary classroom. How to do literature circles with 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students.
So you’ve crafted the perfect discussion question about a chapter, but the room is full of crickets. Or, just as bad, you have to wrestle apart two students who have taken things personally and are now ready to rumble, Outsiders-style. How does an ELA teacher sneakily prevent literature discussions from going haywire, and what should we do in the heat of the moment when the drama begins? Chatting with me today are two AWESOME fellow teachers, Jonathan and Lisa from Created for Learning. Pitfall #1: Lack of participation (or an excess of it!) Sara: An “uneven” Socratic circle can be frustrating; it’s hard to let the conversation be organic when only a few hands are contributing. In the past, I have given shy students these sentence starter cards that fit discreetly in the palm of their hand. I’ve also made “deals” with my heavy talkers to limit how many times they could contribute, including making secret hand signals to quietly tell them to tone it down or to include someone else. Jonathan & Lisa: One of the tricks here is to craft sentences and questions that have easy on ramps for anyone. To start out, you ask questions that any of them can answer because it taps into their life experiences or prior knowledge or emotions. You say things like, “There's no wrong answer here .... just share your thoughts,” then you get six or seven or 10 people to answer pretty quickly and thank all of them for answering. We definitely use this on-ramp strategy in our quickwrite writing prompts when we're teaching novels, and we always love the conversations that happened with our learners. And if you're watching the students’ facial expressions, you can tell the student who has a good idea but is hesitant to share it, then word the question to ask that kid so they know their answer will contribute and bring value. Pitfall #2: Only getting surface-level responses and opinions Sara: It drives me bonkers when I drop a really “deep” question on a group of students, but they only give opinions, don’t build on what others say, or don’t refer to the text enough. If you’re doing a Socratic seminar, one option is to activate the outside (usually quiet) circle and recruit them as the example-finders, the ones who find what page a certain quote is on or fact-check what is being discussed in the inner circle. I’ve also included text evidence as part of a speaking rubric before to make sure students are thinking beyond just their own opinions. Jonathan & Lisa: I think we have to recognize what kind of depth we’re looking for, and we have to recognize where we are in the discussion journey. Because there are at least two kinds of depth that we want students to go into: Literary and Human. We want them to be able to read a story and understand what it's saying. We want them to notice the themes and the conflicts and the characters and the symbols that rise out of the story and start talking to us. Sometimes those happened first in the conversation, and then we build from that and let them start talking to us. Then we get to go deeper into our Humanity and what those themes and characters and symbols say about us as people. But sometimes the conversation goes the other way. It starts with our feelings about the characters the themes and the symbols, and we have to figure out what parts of the story are making us feel that way and why. Then we get to walk our students into the themes and the symbols the characters and how they show us ourselves. Pitfall #3: “Wrong” answers or ideas (especially yours!) Jonathan & Lisa: One of the most frustrating parts of literature classes growing up and all the way into college was teachers who had the One Eternal meaning for the text. They knew exactly what it meant and that it couldn't mean anything else. Sure there were times I thought I knew more than I did, but they were definitely other times when the teacher was just being stubborn or obstinate and shutting down our ideas as learners. Lisa and I had a whole vlog conversation about about the skill of not being right all the time and knowing how to be wrong. We think it's hugely important, especially in today's social environment, the model for our students how to be open to other ideas and how to be wrong and be okay with it. Ultimately I see our study of literature as a study of ourselves which is much muddier water than right or wrong. Sara: My teacher-poker-face has gotten better over time. I try to ask, “Why do you think so?” or “What part of the text led you in that direction?” before being critical with my response (or my nonverbals). I’ve also had to become honest enough to say, “I’ve never thought about it that way before. That’s a cool point.” When a student DOES test me with a ridiculous theory that has no text evidence (like the kid who tried to tell me that there were aliens in The Giver… what?), I try to just give them my glasses-half-down-sass-face and make the moment funny. Pitfall #4: Arguments & conflicts Sara: Sometimes, very childish behaviors pop up, like the kid who’s mad that he’s getting interrupted, the two boys who are calling each other stupid, or the girl who can’t handle anyone disagreeing with what she says. Sometimes, it’s enough of a fix when I make eye contact with the student and mouth, “It’s okay.” That way, the student knows I saw the behavior and has a chance to check themselves. Other times, I break in and settle the dispute. Jonathan & Lisa: It sure seems like conflict can pop up in our classrooms at any time. When it does, it sometimes feels like it’s messing everything up. Maybe students are having verbals battles that have veered way off topic. Maybe the student has decided to fight you and contradict everything you say. If we’re having a bad day or not in control of ourselves, we might let our anger out. But you know what we think is worse than having conflict, NOT HAVING CONFLICT. This may sound like we’re taking crazy pills, but go with us (We blogged about this at length here). In Patrick Lencioni’s business book Death by Meeting, he talks about what makes meetings (aka classrooms) boring and makes us want to die. The solution is, you guessed it, conflict. Arguments and conflict are fantastic toward making good meetings, especially when we steer the journey in the right direction. When we have conflict, we have interested learners. They are talking, listening, likely riveted to the scene because who doesn’t love drama? So when we intentionally construct our discussion to make them interesting via conflict, we get to teach them how to have healthy conflict, how to “fight” peacefully and intelligently, how to clash with ideas and not get snotty at each other (the Interwebs could use this skill, right?). Pitfall #5: (Un)fairly assessing the discussion Sara: Sometimes I use a rubric and tally sheet to record who speaks, how much, and with what quality of content. Other times, I just print a class roster and tally (or cross off names) to mark who has spoken, focusing on getting everyone to pitch in at least once that class period or week. I also tend to be very blunt, saying, “There are five minutes left, so IF YOU HAVEN’T SPOKEN YET, now’s the time to jump in!” As long as students have fair warning about how they’re being assessed, you can do whatever fits your classroom policy. Another life-saver is to nominate at least one student to call on other people so that you don’t have to, or train students to include people they haven’t heard from yet. Either way, the biggest thing I have learned about grading a discussion is to grade those papers the same day, while everything is fresh on your mind. Jonathan & Lisa: You can choose to grade your discussion time or not … either way is fair as long as it’s fair. :) Like Sara said, tell them how they’re being graded ahead of time. But remember, their interest and growth isn’t going to come because of the fear of a bad grade … it’s going to come from the quality of the discussion, the engagement of their minds and opinions, and the direct application to their lives as humans now and future adults. I usually tended to not grade discussion. I wanted to build environments of exploration, intrigue, and real thought about stuff that matters straight from the novel. This rarely fails to draw the learners in with passion and involvement. Pitfall #6: The know-it-alls and talks-a-lots (including you, dear teacher!) Sara: I’ve had to really force myself to NOT jump in during student discussions, limiting my talk to matters of logistics (like time running out) or facts (such as when a student asks me a clarification question). I’ve also learned not to over-explain the activity too much and to just get started sooner! Jonathan & Lisa: We have to remember that more learning happens when students process questions than when we teachers talk. So we have to shut up. We have to become experts at the occasional 15 seconds silent wait time. We have to get better at asking questions than saying answers. In fact, what if we got so good that all our answers were questions? Then what if when they get tired of questions and really want to know our thoughts, we point to evidence in the story or anecdotes from other literature or wise sayings? What if we actually use our answers to model what we’re trying to get them to do in their essays? After we’ve overcome ourselves as a roadblock, we get to help slow down the know-it-all learners. I have no problem invoking my discussion rule: “Thank you, insert student name, you’ve shared already. Please hold that thought till some more people have shared theirs.” Then make sure you come back to them sometimes or they get disheartened. This Thank You (or something like it) helps them feel validated and opens space for other learners. It also helps me to remember that introverts often are long-processors and may never share their thoughts aloud. This does not mean they aren’t thinking deeply. (see Susan Cain’s fantastic book QUIET for more talk about introvert/extrovert/ambiverts) The trick is to get them talking or writing somewhere/somehow. Small groups often works better for that than aloud or calling on them. Do you have more ideas? Tell us in the comments!
Institute of Play was a non-profit design studio founded in 2007 by a group of game designers in New York City. An interdisciplinary team of designers, strategists and learning practitioners, IoP created learning experiences rooted in the principles of game design. The Institute’s research and design work has been widely featured as an innovative and accessible approach to transforming education through play.
If you're new to teaching, or you'd like a few discussion ideas, this post is for you. You will get my best tips for how to hold a successful discussion that I have found through my years as an ELA teacher.
What a weird age, huh? Do they need guided reading, or are they at an age where they have tested out of the guided reading levels? The a...
If you are looking for a way of fostering a class discussion in the spirit of Socrates, this article can help! Open-ended questioning has a way of getting the creative juices flowing and everyone involved engaged. Read on to learn more about this effective classroom method.
This structure for literature circle discussions is perfect if students are new to lit circles or if you want students to run their own discussions.
Free printables created by Laura Candler to aid teachers with their literacy circles in their classrooms to get students excited about reading.
What is the purpose of literature circles? How do you structure a literature circle? How long should Literature Circles last? What is the teacher's role in
An English teacher’s life is packed, and for the most part on top of that, we are doing more than just teaching English. For me, I’m the yearbook adviser, the graduation coordinator, senior class sponsor, member of the leadership committee, etc. I’m sure your situation is similar. So, when I can cut down on what […]
If you follow this blog, you know that I’m a huge proponent of the workshop approach in my high school English class. For the past few years, I’ve used a combined reading and writing workshop with my tenth and twelfth graders, and it’s been a constantly evolving process. Every semester I’ve tweaked things that weren’t […]
Book clubs in first grade?! It may seem like a stretch, but the Spring is such a great time to get your students ready and used to reading, thinking about, and discussing books with their peers instead of me, the teacher! When done right, it can be such a fun learning experience for both […]
In literature circles, small groups of students gather together to discuss a piece of literature in depth. In this #2ndaryELA Twitter chat, middle school and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed how they select novels to use. Teachers also shared popular themes for connecting novel choices. Read through the chat for ideas to implement in your own classroom.
My literacy blocks are beginning their first book clubs. They will be reading and discussing books in a series. They were supposed to do this unit back in November, but at that time my teammates and I thought it best to go ahead with the nonfiction unit instead. The main reason was that we did not have enough books. Now we are ready to go and the students are really excited! Here are some of the pieces I have put in place to get us started...I will share more as the clubs progress. Each book club completed and signed a contract. We put them on display to remind everyone of the expectations and procedures. Book Club folders contain the following: a copy of the contract, a meeting checklist, a calendar of meeting times and page assignments, the book, sticky notes. Students use the meeting checklist as a self-assessment. Students filled out their own calendars to decide how many pages or chapters they were going to read to prepare for each meeting. Book Club Anchor Charts
Growing up, I was a little obsessed with lists, to the great annoyance of my big sister. A list was often the cause of vast stretches of si...
If the titles of my blog posts are any indication of how well I can focus on one specific task- that doesn't look very good. I never can focus on one thing in these blog posts- hence the extremely long and random combinations in my titles :) My kiddos were WIRED this week! They definitely have spring fever. My. goodness. It probably didn't help that it was Dr. Seuss day on Monday and we had a spirit week the rest of the days. Something about Wacky Wednesday doesn't exactly scream "concentration." :) Don't get me wrong- I love spirit week because I can wear jeans or comfy clothes. Plus the kiddos deserved some fun distractions. BUT. It was a complete battle between spirit/fun and testing/instruction all week. I finally had a "come to jesus" talk with the class on Friday. I actually think it helped. Last year, if I had a talk like that with my firsties, I wasn't always sure it got through, but with third graders this year, it was actually a mutual discussion. We'll see, that might just be my Saturday-induced optimism talking.... :) Speaking of spring fever, I just finished my newest "Spring Fling" and "Happy Snails" clipart sets and posted them to my store! I have used a lot of pastel colors in my spring sets, but I made a new color scheme for these sets (and some other spring sets I plan on making) because I needed some extra energizing sets after this week! Check out these little splashes of spring color.... If you want to check out these sets in my store, you can click on the links below. Happy Snails: $2.00 Spring Fling: $4.00 Onto the other part of my random blog title......If there was one word that would be tattooed across my forehead lately, it would be "EVIDENCE." If I had a dollar for every time I said that word ("Where's your evidence?" "Find evidence to support your claim" "Support your answers with evidence" "Find the evidence in the text" "Do you have evidence for that?" ETC), I could retire. Surprisingly, it doesn't bother my kiddos at all and they FEED off of showing evidence. For this reason, the most precious half piece of paper in my classroom is this little beauty: I made up my own version of a "Showing Evidence" reference sheet because I needed it to include a few more evidence stems than the ones I was finding on TpT or pinterest. In our reading lessons, we are focusing on the kiddos using text AND visual cues, so I wanted some stems specific to each. Also, we have discussed how to talk about poetry, so I wanted one in there with "stanza." My students have been using these little reference strips in pretty much every subject! They even started pulling them out in math and changing some of the wording around to work with their conclusions based on graphs, charts and word problems. God bless them and their evidence-eager hearts! One of my kids suggested that I laminate them for each student so they can "take it to fourth grade with them." I told him that I would make a special "Showing Evidence in Fourth Grade" strip....printed in COLOR....and laminated for everyone in the class if they found evidence to answer every reading comp question on the DCAS (state test). I hope I will be needing to buy lots of color ink soon! If you think your kiddos could use these same strips, you can snatch them up below from google docs. I just print them out and cut them down the middle. And, per my student's suggestion, you could laminate them so they last forever and ever :) {Snatch it HERE} Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead before bed tonight. Nothing like LOSING and hour of sleep- but at least it is more EVIDENCE that spring is on it's way......sorry I couldn't resist :)
Get kids talking about what they've read with these FREE Discussion Question Cards for fiction AND nonfiction texts!
