Literature Circles sans Readicide

[Heather Fowler]

After finishing Readicide and reading the previous thread about titles used in literature circles in our classrooms, I can't help but wonder if some of the traditional strategies used in lit circles are contributing to readicide in our schools. Whether a student is a discussion director, a literary luminary, or a connector, he is usually asked to fill out some sort of worksheet, to chunk reading so as not to get ahead of the rest of the group and spoil discussion, to interrupt the flow.

With my senior (grade 12) students, I use book groups in 80 minute blocks. After choosing a title, they read for 60 minutes out of the 80 and spend the other 20 minutes discussing their books online. Since I have 7 computers in my room, I can chunk the students appropriately and allow them to read and discuss within these time limits. I got really great feedback this year from an anonymous end-of-the-year survey (many said their book group books are their new favorite books), and I'm looking for more ideas on how to reinvent the traditional literature circle for older students.

How do you use literature circles without spreading readicide?

[Hattie DeRaps]

I was thinking the same thing about lit. circles. Too many roles! Maybe some more choices? My students use blogs, so maybe more blogging (though I hate to overuse this tool). I'll be watching to see what ideas you gather with this question!

[James Miscavish]

They read for an hour straight? I don't even think I could do that...

What books did they use?

What do you mean by having 7 computers let you chunk the students appropriately? Do you mean you can have 7 groups each with a computer? If the students are in the same class, why not discuss in groups?

What do they write? How do you get away with reading for so long?

I have a lot of questions, apparently. I'm pretty sure if I assigned an hour of SSR, I'd get laughed out of my school.

[Heather Fowler]

James, Good questions. I've tried to answer them the best that I can.

"They read for an hour straight? I don't even think I could do that..." - I break the class into 20 minute chunks. Then, I divide the class into four groups. On a rotating schedule, each group gets 20 minutes at the computer for a block. So, one group might read for 20 minutes, blog for 20 minutes, then read for 40 minutes. They get into their books. Not once has anyone slept or been entirely off task. I was amazed. Maybe I had closet readers this year. They also have a choice as to how they'd like to read the book. Some sit in small groups or partners and read to each other, others read silently, if I have a copy of the audio book, others listen to that. My job is basically to read with them and be a timekeeper during this unit. I also respond to their writing on the blogs.

"What books did they use?" - My senior students read one of the following in our current circles, each containing the topic of personal growth:
- Nineteen Minutes
- Feed
- Catalyst
- On the Road
- The Kite Runner
- Damage
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
- Runner
- Prom

"What do you mean by having 7 computers let you chunk the students appropriately? Do you mean you can have 7 groups each with a computer? If the students are in the same class, why not discuss in groups?" -
I teach three sections of seniors, and all of the other seniors were doing the same unit at the same time, so we set up a blog for each book, and allowed them to discuss the book with students in their class, but also with students and teachers outside of their class. It expanded their reading circle.

"What do they write? How do you get away with reading for so long?" -
You can see a sample here. They have a lot of choice, but I'm not sure this is the best format for discussion. Had I known more about them when I did this unit, I would have used a Ning so that students could start threaded discussions, rather than posting comments.

"I have a lot of questions, apparently. I'm pretty sure if I assigned an hour of SSR, I'd get laughed out of my school." I don't do this all year. There are 6 or 7 blocks that look like this throughout the year. Again, I'm looking for ways to improve this system, to make it more balanced and differentiated.

I hope this helps to give you a better picture of this unit. I structured my book groups in this way because I felt the seniors were too old for the traditional roles, and the younger kids weren't doing them so well, anyhow. I posted this discussion because I'm hoping to learn from others about how to use literature circles in a meaningful way. I want to improve what I'm currently doing. How do you run literature circles?

[James Miscavish]

That actually helps a lot. I pictured SSR for an hour straight. That makes a lot more sense now. I think I'm gonna come to you again when I start my own lit circles because these ideas are awesome.

I don't run lit circles at all. I'm reading 'mini lessons for lit circles' so I imagine mine will look something like that.

I'd like to go without roles, though, if I can. I think my freshmen will like having structure in the group, but I also want to live in my pipe dream world were they can sit and discuss literature without needing graphic organizers.

Feel free to check out my classroom ning if you want any ideas using it next year.

[Lori Zimmerman]

James, I don't think that's a pipe dream at all.

I work with fifth-graders, and we hold discussions without formal roles, role sheet or graphic organizer in sight. Now, they ARE fifth-graders so they do need some kind of guidance. I spend a lot of time teaching them about higher-level thinking and questioning, so the only requirement I have for preparing for a discussion is that they plan three good higher-level questions to bring to the table.

We also spend a lot of time during the early days doing "fishbowl" lit circles, where one group holds a discussion while everyone else watches. We debrief, and then put another group in the bowl, and debrief ... You get the idea. The second discussion is always so much better than the first :-).

What I like about this is that at my school, we also use response notebooks, so the kids come away with such rich fodder for reflection in the notebook after a discussion. It extends the thinking and talking and gives me a vehicle for assessing them authentically. Next year we plan to "train" the kids in notebooks, and then eventually transition to our school Ning for response. With older kids who are Ning- or blog-savvy, you could certainly do this right away. Mine have not participated in lit circles until fifth grade, so we have to lay a lot of groundwork.

[Heather Fowler]

Lori,

Thanks for sharing your ideas! Do you find that the students outside of the "bowl" have enough to say or do while each group gives a discussion in the middle? How do you keep the "outsiders" engaged?

[Lori Zimmerman]

Heather, I enjoyed reading your ideas about how to operate lit circles with a class of high school students. When we do fishbowls, I keep them very short and give the watchers some kind of task, although their primary job is just to watch and learn. The task is usually something very simple so their focus is on the discussion (i.e. listen for a really good question that someone offers and add that to your list, etc.) I normally run four groups, so over the course of two days, we might fishbowl every group but have a different purpose each time. For example, with the first group, I might tell the watchers our focus will be how the group establishes order of speaking and how they manage their eagerness. With the second and third groups, we might focus on questions. With the fourth group, we might look at leadership. This gives everyone some kind of thing to be watching. We also "talk back" after the discussion and give the group inside the fishbowl first crack at discussing the pros and deltas of the event. They're less defensive if they've already exposed their flaws themselves .

It helps, but I find that I have to go back and "fishbowl" every once in a while because it's easy for groups to develop bad habits. I have also stuck my Flip camera in the middle of a group and then let the group watch the video the next day. That always produces some enlightening conversation.

[Heather Fowler]

I read Mini Lessons for Literature Circles before doing them with freshmen and sophomores, and I had great success with many of the tips in that book. I've found that the younger students enjoy the structure more than the older students.

I used a Ning with juniors for book groups and had success there, too. However, I would like to have more interaction in class, and I hope other people have some ideas to offer.

[Michelle Montooth]

Many (the vast majority, actually) of my students also give literature circles excellent feedback on the end-of-yer evaluations of the class, so even if I'm doing something wrong, I have to say it's mostly right. When students read during lit circles, they seem a lot more excited, and even though I only have them meet and discuss once a week, I find my students discussing their books much more frequently than that -- sometimes outside the classroom, sometimes as they're putting away their books and getting out their other materials -- it's like they can't stop. Which, of course, is the goal.

So here are some things I do that I think address some of your concerns. I'm working with sophomores (many of whom are reluctant readers) not seniors, so it's possible my bit about role sheets won't apply so much to your students.

1. With regards to not getting ahead: I have no problem with students getting ahead. When students choose their books, they do some math and make a tentative reading schedule so that when they meet each Thursday no one is behind. Some students read ahead because they desperately want to know what's going to happen (isn't that a good thing?), some simply read faster, etc. Those students then move on to self-selected reading, and during their group discussions often pitch whatever new book their reading. My only request of students who get ahead is that they don't spoil the ending for students who are still reading, and they usually comply. The students who read ahead tend to be the stronger readers, and they serve an important purpose in the groups through clarifying details for the more struggling readers, providing background information, etc. Sometimes the student who reads ahead encourages the other students to read ahead as well, and then they all pick a second book together and read that together, too -- all within the timeline provided for one book.

The only point of the schedule is to have some accountability and some consensus about what will be discussed. It is not there to hold people back.

2. With regards to the role sheets: I highlighted a lot of things in Harvey Daniels' Literature Circles book, so bear with me. Here are snippets of his defense of role sheets, with which I whole-heartedly agree:

"When kids have internalized the perspectives of sophisticated, multipurposeful readers, they are ready to have natural conversations about books without the role sheets, using just their memories and notes jotted in a personal response log" (25).

"The goal of all role sheets is to make role sheets obsolete... they exist to help spark or sustain natural conversation, not to guide or provide the bulk of the talk" (61).

The role sheets are there as a starting point. Some of my students come into my class having never finished a book on their own. They are willing to do just about anything rather than read a book, so those students are not going to have had practice with natural conversations about books -- they need guidance. The role sheets themselves are not too cumbersome. In my class, students have four or five weekly discussions per lit circle, so dividing a book into four or five chunks, I think, is not chopping it up too much. Having to fill out a brief role sheet every 50-100 pages is not like having to fill one out every five pages or five minutes, and I don't think it interrupts the flow too terribly (I say from experience because I was skeptical, so I tried out lit circles myself). The fact is, I can't even read junk literature without finding some golden passage I want to share with someone else (most recently, I found a profound page in the ninth book of the Dresden Files -- it isn't Nabakov, but that passage is still dang good). I think real readers do often want to talk about what they're reading before they're quite done, so I don't find the relatively large chunking cumbersome.

Eventually, the role sheets disappear. I allow this on a group-by-group basis based on my observations of their conversations. So far, I always start new lit circle groups with role sheets, even if it's the second time we've done it and some people have moved on from them, simply because when new groups form, the students need to warm up to each other a bit before the conversation is completely free. The role sheets give people who are shy an "in" to the discussion that is not threatening until they grow comfortable with their new groupmates (again -- my own experience speaking here. I was painfully shy growing up, and I see that reticence in a handful of students each year. It goes away after a week or so in a new group); also, the group may be comprised of two people who have moved beyond the role sheets and two people who haven't, for example, and the two people who haven't still need to be weaned away slowly. The stronger/more natural conversers serve as a great model for the ones still temporarily tied to the role sheets.

As yet, I haven't had a single complaint about the role sheets from students, and these are students who sometimes complain about having to bring a pencil to class.

I would venture that I haven't committed readicide through my lit circles. In other areas of my class? Absolutely. But lit circles are pretty successful in helping students enjoy reading and motivating them to read more.

[Ron Shapiro]

I allow students to determine their own roles on a rotating basis. Most prepare well, but I also give them an activity that will motivate them to seek out the deeper aspects of the book's section under discussion. Here's a sample for the first portion of All Quiet on the Western Front. I have difficulty grading the circles. If anyone has an easy-to-use rubric, I'd love to read it. Thanks.

[Teresa]

I see you point about how the traditional use of lit. circles could contribute to readicide. When I first started using lit. circles, I used to have them complete worksheets everyday. I found this to be too much. I also used to have lit. circles run the full 80 min. block, until I figured out this was too long.
Now, I give them a reading schedule (I do like for all the groups to get done reading on the same day) and one day a week, for 40min. they share their completed role sheets. The other 40 min. we do a bit of writing and some sharing aloud of their books. This sharing aloud part really helps to get other kids interested in reading that novel next.
I always allow for silent reading time and for completion of their role sheets in class.
I find that my changes helped because they were "allowed" to read larger chunks at a time instead of slicing and dicing a la Ronco!