Getting Started With Literature Circles

Instruction on how to create, organize and inspire literature discussion groups, study groups, or book clubs.

Embarking on your first solo road trip. Receiving a special surprise that arrives out of the blue. Finding a sudden flash of inspiration that sets you on a wondrous new path. When we think about the moments that stand out in our memory, it's clear that our minds hold onto the unusual or unexpected. By tapping into students' innate curiosity, you can design memorable, meaningful learning experiences that captivate their interest and ignite their imaginations. Structured around four key elements that fuel engagement-surprise, curiosity, freedom, and inspiration-Keeping the Wonder offers practical strategies and abundant inspiration for K-12 educators to create lessons that are fun and compelling. Combining enchanting anecdotes, real-world experience, and a wealth of research, the authors share their collective expertise as educators and founders of the innovative Keeping the Wonder workshop. In this dynamic handbook, Jenna, Ashley, Abby, and Staci offer a fresh approach to learning through the lens of wonder. By providing creative ideas for switching up standard lesson plans in ways both subtle and profound, they show us how to recapture our fascination with the world by employing all of our senses, and enhance engagement and critical thinking for students and teachers alike. Endorsements Before reading Keeping the Wonder, I saw my social studies classroom for what it was: brick walls, desks, and a few colorful posters. Today, I see magic seeping through the cracks of every space. Keeping the Wonder reignited my passion for student engagement and learning with every turn of the page. -Dr. Jacob Bauer Zebley, high school social studies teacher and 2015 Cecil County Teacher of the Year From personal stories, practical advice, and research-based strategies, Keeping the Wonder is a book you will reach for time and again. After reading, you'll start looking not just at your own classroom and curriculum through the lens of wonder, but the world around you. A must read for any teacher who is looking to bring that sense of curiosity and love of learning back into their classroom. -Caitlin Mitchell and Jessica Cannata, cofounders of EB Academics and bestselling authors of The Empowered ELA Teacher

What do we know about literature circles now that we didn't understand eight or ten years ago? What new resources and procedures can help teachers organize their classroom book clubs better? What are the most common pitfalls in implementing student-led discussion groups? And getting beyond the basics, what do mature or advanced literature circles look like? In this thoroughly revised and expanded guide, you will find new strategies, structures, tools, and stories that show you how to launch and manage literature circles effectively. Advanced variations are explored and include alternatives to role sheets and flexible new guidelines for their use. The second edition includes: four different models for preparing students for literature circles using response logs, sticky notes, and newly designed role sheets;dozens of variations on the basic version of student-led bookclubs;new models and procedures for primary, intermediate, and high school grades;new materials for assessing and grading literature circles;an inventory of common management problems and solutions;new scheduling patterns for group meetings and reading time;ideas for using literature circles with nonfiction texts across the curriculum;research on literature circles, including correlation with increased achievement on standardized tests;an explanation of how literature circles match with the national standards for literacy education.With detailed examples provided by twenty practicing teachers, Harvey Daniels offers practical and concrete suggestions for each aspect of book club management and proven solutions for problems that arise.

Here are the detailed strategies teachers need to introduce and use literature circles: implementation, management, organization, and assessments. The book also includes extension activities and dozens of reproducible masters. Activities are correlated to McREL s Standards.

Harvey Daniels' Literature Circles introduced tens of thousands of teachers to the power of student-led book discussions. Nancy Steineke's Reading and Writing Together showed how a teacher can nurture friendship and collaboration among young readers. Now, Daniels and Steineke team up to focus on one crucial element of the Literature Circle model; the short, teacher-directed lessons that begin, guide and follow-up every successful book club meeting. Mini-lessons are the secret to book clubs that click. Each of these forty-five short, focused, and practical lessons includes Nancy and Harvey's actual classroom language and is formatted to help busy teachers with point-by-point answers to the questions they most frequently ask. How can I: steer my students toward deeper comprehension? get kids interested in each others' ideas? make sure kids choose just-right books? help students schedule their reading and meeting time? deal with kids who don't do the reading? get kids to pay more attention to literary style and structure? help special education and ELL students to participate actively in book clubs? get kids to expand their repertoire of reading strategies? make sure groups are on-task when I'm not looking over their shoulder? introduce writing tools (including role sheets) that support student discussion'. help shy or dominating members get the right amount of "airtime?" give grades for book clubs without ruining the fun? use scientific research to justify the classroom time I spend on literature circles? Each mini-lesson spells out everything from the time and materials needed to word-by-word instructions for students. The authors even warn "what could go wrong," helping teachers to avoid predictable management problems. With abundant student examples, reproducible forms, photographs of kids in action, and recommended reading lists, Mini-lessons for Literature Circles helps you deepen student book discussions, create lifelong readers, and build a respectful classroom community.

These ready-to-use, reproducible role sheets make literature circle discussions exciting, informative, fun and easy to manage. Literature circles accomodate a wide variety of reading levels and allow for differentiated instruction. In addition to promoting reading, writing and listening skills, literature circles encourage cooperation and courtesy, allow for individual assessment and motivate students to read! Updated list of books for text sets and end-of-book projects suggestions included. Descriptions of how to get started, troubleshoot problems and assess have been expanded.

Two potent ideas - independent reading and cooperative learning - come together in this practical and exciting book. This unique model of literature circles was developed by a team of midwest teachers who combined local inventions with models appearing in the national professional literature. Daniels and his colleagues have been especially concerned with the issues of management, the preparation of students, and enacting the principles of classroom democracy and group dynamics. Their special contribution has been to add to literature circles the key formal elements of collaborative learning-particularly through the varied roles used to guide students in newly-formed groups. The book presents a particularly effective way of getting started, using temporary role sheets to create quick, successful implementation of student-led discussion groups. Also offered are a variety of structures and procedures for managing literature circles over the long run, strategies that solidify and deepen the contribution which this special activity can make to balance the curriculum across grade levels. Drawing on stories from twenty-two classroom teachers who work with students from kindergarten through college, this book delivers ample guidance and inspiration for teachers who want to implement literature circles for themselves.

Grand Conversations, Thoughtful Responses is built upon the premise that all students can become active, independent, thoughtful readers. The structures and strategies in this book are proven to help students develop confidence and competence in their reading. Student engagement with text soars through participation in grand conversations with peers and reflecting on reading with thoughtful, written responses. This unique approach includes: student choice in books students reading at their own pace, thus creating flexible groups literature circles where students discuss the shared text they are reading strategies for teaching written response strategies for co-creating assessment criteria additional activities to develop and deepen comprehension book lists This new edition has been expanded to include examples and book lists for grades K to 12.