LLSS528 Getting Started With Literature Circles Chapter 3

As I'm reading through this book, I find that I am getting more and more disappointed that there is not discussions that follow the readings in class. My CT reads to her class, however, once she has read aloud, no discussion follows. Literally none. We just move on to the projects for that day. I asked her about it, and she advised me that since The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is an easier text, she doesn't feel the students really need discussion time to understand the reading. Though I don't really agree, and I feel that discussion is valuable no matter how easy or difficult the text is, she promised we would be doing more discussion with our future texts. Now that I have ranted, let's get into the book!

Chapter three in Getting Started With Literature Circles is all about structure. Structure becomes sort of a broad subject, but this topic includes setting timelines, deciding how to formulate groups, what kind of responses you want the kids to practice (written or oral or both), etc. One of the most important elements when structuring literature circles is to have your groups of students choose the books they want to read. Sure, there has to be some structure, so a good way to do this is to provide your students with a list of books that their group can choose from. This allows you to control the type of texts they are reading, while still allowing for the students to have freedom of choice and take ownership for their choice. So the students are not going into a book blind, one of my favorite suggestions was to have a "book talk" where you introduce the different books with little blurbs. As you are doing this, have the students make a list of what books interest them most so in the end, their group can compromise on one group book. Another option may also be to form the groups after the students have provided a list of the top three books that interest them most.

Another important choice is deciding how much students should read for each literature circle. If your students are reading chapter books, it might be easiest to assign reading based on chapters, ie. 2-3 chapters per discussion group. Also, you need to decide how long each group will meet for, and at what times. Interestingly enough, the book suggests that only one group meets at a time while other students do journaling or writing so that the teacher can observe the group without bouncing from one to the other. Some options might be (as a teacher) to be a facilitator, or a group member, or even just an observer. Lastly, the book recommends that for primary grades, literature circles should happen once a week, where as for upper grades, they should happen more often.