Academic Reading Circles

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From required summer reading lists to being told a book is too difficult or too easy, school-age children aren’t always given a choice when selecting reading material. Yet according to Mason, choice is essential. It’s part of what makes reading fun for adults and that needs to be extended to children as well. With so many choices, including graphic novels and e-books, teachers can have children reading the same book or following the same storyline in different media. Give students a choice of books and/or authors to select from. Giving students this choice will allow them to choose a literary work that speaks to their interests and will engage students from the beginning of the activity.

Therefore, book club discussions may be more unstructured and less focused (“Who’s your favorite character?”). Repeat this process until everyone in the class has had a chance to practice the Vocabulary Enricher role. Discussion prompts can be given by the teacher to encourage a direction for the students' responses, such as "How does the setting affect the characters?" "What are alternative solutions to the character's conflicts in the text?" "What connections can you make with regard to the character's situation(s)?" Explain that during this session, everyone will have a chance to practice being a Discussion Director. After the chapter has been read, have students re-read the questions on the Discussion Director role sheet and make any revisions.She’s also found that literature circles can be a powerful way to connect students, even during remote learning. Letting students choose the book is also important and can promote engagement. “Even in remote spaces, when they’re talking about a book they care about, you can feel the investment, emotion, and pride in their conversations.” If there are remaining issues on the chapter that students want to discuss, be sure to allow time for this exploration as well. The resources will help teachers understand the various key aspects which are involved in developing the skills to support reading and writing. They will also help teachers highlight strengths, difficulties and offer guidance to plan the next steps appropriately. You may want to provide students with a list of questions to answer or conversation starters. If your students are fairly independent, they may not need these; they might be able to jump into a discussion on their own!

Students begin literature circles by participating in mini-lessons on how to participate in a discussion group. To begin with they may be given role sheets to assist them in taking notes on their reading and preparing for the discussion. Pause during the reading, as appropriate, to allow students to add details to the different role sheets that they have; or have students complete the different role sheets after the reading is complete.After a semester of using this technique, overwhelmingly my students reported that the activity “greatly impacted” their learning. On average, with four sections students self-reported their reading compliance rate to be 38 percent in an ESL section and 55 percent in my three other sections. After the activity, students reported a rise to 66 percent in compliance in the ESL section and 85 percent on average in the other sections. There are, of course, many more roles that you could create. (A fun option to add might be an Illustrator, who creates sketch notes of the group’s discussion!)

The amount of structure will inevitably affect the type of assignments students complete. Loosely Structured Tyson Seburn was going to be our plenary speaker at BELTA Day 2020, which unfortunately had to be cancelled. Be very clear with your expectations for reading. How much will students need to do outside of class? How much time will they be given to read during class? I recommend giving them a calendar or list of deadlines with the expectations on it. Literature Circles. ERIC Digest. 2003 publication from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading English and Communication.

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Literary luminary, who selects quotes that are especially significant, descriptive, or controversial; makes an interesting or engaging plan to have group look at particular passages; and is able to explain the significance of passages.