Literature Circles

Literature Circles. (2016). [Online Image]. Retrieved
October 29, 2016 from http://bit.ly/2f50dzm

Literature Circles

Motivating students to love reading can be a challenge, especially for students who struggle with reading.  This is why there is an urge for teachers to implement new strategies that engage students in the world of reading and get them to realize reading is fun!  One way to do this is through literature circles in the classroom.

What Are Literature Circles?

Literature circles are essentially based around the idea of book clubs, wherein students form groups and will all discuss a particular piece of text.  The group will have a discussion facilitator that will prompt students with questions to engage critical thinking.  Other students will then play different roles in the discussion such as, someone who finds connections, someone who finds interesting vocabulary and someone who finds interesting passages.  Literature circles are such a great strategy for the classroom since they combine collaborative thinking with student based inquiry.  By taking the focus off the teacher, students have to take control of their own learning, which arises questions and thinking they may not have had in a teacher led discussion.  This is because often when teachers lead discussion, students sit there, listen, retain information and maybe place it into their memory bank, but what fails to initiate is critical thinking.  Students are then led to take the text from a surface level to a more in depth level and deepen their understanding.

Literature Circle jobs. (2016). [Online Image]. Retrieved October 29, 2016 from http://bit.ly/2f4iCfG

Why use Literature Circles?

As literature circles have become quite prominent in the classroom, so has discussion based around the concept.  Various articles, blogs and videos have surfaced for teachers to effectively implement literature circles, one in particular was posted by Education World at http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr259.shtml.  In this blog, two experts delve into what literature circles and what makes them so important.  The blog discusses how literature circles build excitement for books and reading and provides various resources and insight for teachers who want to implement literature circles.  One of the most important reasons to use literature circles however is for this reason that they build excitement for the love of reading again! 

Introducing Literature Circles Anchor Chart.

[Online Image]. Retrieved October 29, 2016

from http://bit.ly/2fmJ3Rs

In another blog The Power of Literature Circles in the Classroom, the author also discusses why we should use literature circles.  In her discussion she illustrates how her son never cared for reading, but once became apart of a literature circle, he loved it!  In his first literature circle he reads the infamous Green Eggs and Ham, and as the connector, goes to class ready to discuss the ethics of eating animals.  This perfectly illustrates how literature circles can take reading to the next level of learning by prompting debates surrounding real life situations.

Literature circles are great for the differentiated classroom because groups do not have to be based around reading level.  This is a debatable concept, as some teachers prefer groups to be based off of similar reading levels, however, on the flip side, some teachers find that placing students in a group with varying reading levels can increase the comprehension process even if they are having difficulties with certain words.  This is based on the collaboration process, as students collaborate, students who may have struggled gain powerful insights they may not have had prior.  This further motivates students to work on their reading strategies to improve their reading level.  

Teachers can also play a role and place questions they want students to focus on while reading.  Students will then go home, or read at school independently, but at their own pace.  This is why students are various reading levels can be placed together, because as one student may take several hours to finish a chapter, another may have only taken 40 minutes, but students will nonetheless, come into class ready for discussion.  This allows students to read at a pace that best fits their learning style.  

Relating to the Curriculum 

The Ontario Language Curriculum. (2016). [Online Image]. Retrieved October 29, 2016 from http://bit.ly/2fmEXZv

Literature circles also apply to multiple areas of the language and literacy curriculum.  Through the form of literature circles, students can collaborate and practice their oral communication skills.  Through this students deepen their understanding by hearing different perspectives from their peers.  These different perspectives can also promote diverse points of view and encourage cultural inclusiveness.  Literature circles also give the flexibility to explore a variety of texts.  With this students can explore plays, short stories, novels, newspapers etc.  This is a perfect opportunity to implement current events into a lesson instead of having students do individual presentations.  Lastly, the collaboration aspect of literature circles motivates students to want to read more!  Students gain a desire for further reading after sharing their opinions and thoughts.