Lit Circles: become less teacher (me) -centered

Literature Circles

Okay, I've overcome the uncertainty of what to do as I am reading the texts - write a variety of questions: discussion, quiz, and essay. From these will spring the themes and foci of each unit. But what about constructivism? naturalism? student-centeredness?

Like the principal who notices his hiring committee chooses candidates they would most like to be friends with, I have forgotten to prioritize the kids (also breaking my Teacher Rule #18. Students First).

Thankfully my MT's wife pointed me to a fabulous resource Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles by Harvey Daniels and Nancy Steineke. Now, they want their students to run their own lit circles and come up with their own discussion questions and lenses. I'm not sure a former teacher-centric, control-loving newbie like me can venture that far from her comfort zone. But I do love and can customize a few of the ideas for teacher-included small discussion groups (aka, Guided Reading), which would come from kids' answers to my questions as well as discussion of their own questions (which I could ask for first):

PRIMING DISCUSSION

An ice-breaker type activity where the kids can also come up with the categories by submitting answers to the question "What is something about you most people don't know?" This forces conversations to get the right people; you'll know who's faking; and you can see which kids are friends with whom.

Once I have my Guided Reading groups, the members will further bond by interviewing each other about topics of their choice. Later, you can use the grid again when you ask students to answer in "character" from their novels.

How adorable, fun, and QUIET. Students practice partner-discussion skills by exchange written letters back and forth ONLY. Both partners write at the same time. Hm... What is a good system for having partners? Maybe using the Find Someone Who grid and numbering each category? Or clock partners?

TEACHING DISCUSSION

A wonderful reading strategy is Visualizing from words. Here are ways to turn drawings into a catalyst for discussion.

Students share their Most Important Passages but they don't share their thoughts about it until other members of the group have chimed in. To demonstrate why Saving the Last Word for Me leads to better discussion, sample a passage where you immediately offer your pre-thought analysis - no one feels like saying much after that!

Questions to extend discussion, or even types of questions I would model from the very beginning. This will leave kids chockfull of ideas from the get-go. We'd practice each strategy with a shorter, maybe non-fiction text, first. Or I would distribute mini-lessons throughout rather than front-loading them as the book suggests.

REGULATING

There will probably have to be regulation of manners, but to fix flaccid discussions, I would do a mini-lesson on Skills that Make Discussion More Fun and Skills that Make Discussion More Interesting: seems to cover social and cognitive tips without being too lecture-y.