HIT: Literature Circles (long) Part 1

[Jan Birney <stmark6614@YAHOO.COM>]

I am sorry that this HIT has taken so long to be
posted. I attended a workshop on Monday on Literature
Circles and I have begun to write a curriculum with 2
of our school's Language Arts teachers. I wanted to
wait to post the HIT when I could help illuminate the
topic.
Most of the members of LM_NET who responded to my
original query about Literature circles wanted me to
post a HIT. I must admit that when my principal
assigned this project to me, I had never heard of
Literature Circles and I had to do a google search to
learn the first thing about them. That, by the way, is
a good place to start. Go to www.google.com and use
"Literature Circles" as your search term. You will
find some great sites that explain Literature Circles
and can give you some advice on how to begin using
them.

Here is the introduction to the Literature Circles
Unit that we at Jockey Hollow School will be using
this year:
"In an effort to foster a life-long love of reading in
middle school students, we have designed this unit of
study as part of the Unified Arts Exploratory
curriculum for the seventh grade students of Jockey
Hollow Middle School.
Realizing that this objective can only be reached when
a child takes responsibility for his or her learning,
is trusted to choose material according to his or her
interests and abilities, and is allowed to discover
connections between literature and real life, we have
designed lessons that encourage the development of
these goals.
The unit takes thirty-five days to complete. It will
provide opportunity for small group discussions,
creation of literature response questions, role
definition, and a culminating project. Students will
evaluate their progress and performance and will meet
criteria set forth in the unit plan. The over-arching
goal of the unit, however, is to help students claim
ownership of their learning and to encourage them to
discover the joy of reading for pleasure." Jan Birney

Literature Circles are a way for kids to discover the
joy of reading. The kids choose their own reading
material--often from a list of books provided by the
language arts teacher or media specialist. As they
read their books, they form discussion groups to share
the enthusiasm they have for their books. Each group
consists of about 4 or 5 students who are reading the
same book. During their group discussions, each
student takes on a particular role in the group that
helps move the discussion along. For instance, one
student may be a Word Wizard, recording interesting,
puzzling, or intriguing words he or she finds while
reading a portion of the book. Another student may be
a Discussion Director, one who helps keep the group on
task and sharing. There's an Artful Artist, a
Connector, a Passage Master, and several other roles
that students may take on. Ideally, students rotate
their roles so that they may gain experience in each
role. The teacher acts as facilitator. It is the kids
who own their reading, their discussions, and their
management of the Literature Circles--with help given
as needed.
To be continued....




=====
Jan Birney, Library Media Specialist
Jockey Hollow Middle School
Monroe, Connecticut 06468
stmark6614@yahoo.com

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