Instructional Strategy: Literature Circles
www.litcircles.org
Literature circles are not a strictly formatted instructional strategy. Rather, they are a concept that directs learning toward collaborative, small group-based discussion. The classroom is divided into groups (usually based on book choice) where students actively participate in discussing the text. Literature circles are reader response centered (as opposed to teacher centered), so they are guided by the students' own opinions and ideas. They are designed to give students independence, responsibility, and ownership of their learning. Their concept is flexible, so teachers can adapt this instructional strategy to fit the needs of their classroom. Some teachers find it useful to assign specific roles to each member of the circle. For example, a group may include a discussion leader, someone to identity and define difficult vocabulary, and someone who creates a visual representation of the reading. These roles encourage students to engage with the text prior to class time and provide structure for the discussion.
As a future English teacher, this is a strategy that particularly appeals to my teaching philosophy. I am not a strong reader and I don't love writing (compared to a lot of English majors) but I found high school English classes to be very important in my development as an individual. I love the discussions that take place. I only enjoyed reading because it provided such interesting material to discuss. I hope to facilitate similar discussions in my own classes, discussions which lead my students to discover more about themselves and their community. Literature circles give students control of the discussion, which hopefully will excite them to engage with the ideas being formed.
-Happi
Comments (2)
Literature circles take me back to high school English! I also enjoyed literature circles as it gave me a time to discuss idea, opinions, questions, with fellow peers. I enjoyed the process of selecting a book to read, forming personal thoughts/opinions, and then collaborating with classmates to hear their take and opinion on the literature. I agree with you and feel that literature circles are an effective way to give control to students and allow them to facilitate their own learning (given some guidance of course!). Instructional strategies such as literature circles allows teachers to be flexible, creative, and innovative with their students and is a great tool to facilitate and foster a
mature way of book discussion.
-Rochelle
Posted by Rochelle Medvec | March 3, 2010 12:28 PM
Posted on March 3, 2010 12:28
Wow, I haven't done lit circle in so long I have almost forgotten about them...
Anyway, great activity, as you point out, lit circles allow students to talk about a book and what they took away from it without all the prompting, and therefore sometimes faking. It trains reader independence and competence, providing students take the assignment seriously, so I suppose the teacher should often involve themselves. I especially like that you admitted to maybe not being the strongest reader/writer and that you value literary classes due to the development they foster, I feel pretty much the same way! and I think that's the most important thing one can take away from any class.
Posted by Troy | March 3, 2010 12:49 PM
Posted on March 3, 2010 12:49