Teaching students how to appreciate literature can be a struggle. Literature Circles are a great way to get students engaged in reading, but they can be difficult to incorporate in small, diverse classrooms. But, it's not impossible. Learn how to work with and modify regular Literature Circle techniques made for groups of six or more for groups as small as two or three students.
Literature Circle Preparation is Worth It
The preparation for literature circles is high, but the outcomes of such a structure are quality understanding of reading, comprehensive feedback and genuine interest in literature. Students tend to have a sense of empowerment with Literature Circles as they lead the discussions themselves and they are more able to work at a suitable pace for their individual group, while leading to the same goals and due dates as the rest of the class.
Incorporating Literature Circles into Smaller Classrooms
When teaching a smaller class or a class with diverse levels of reading and/or comprehension, literature circles are a good way to make teaching more effective and less stressful. Students who are of lower reading abilities are able to work with peers to understand the book. Students who are of higher reading abilities are able to exemplify their strengths and help other students in a leadership role. Also, working in smaller groups enables students who are shy or less inclined to participate in all-class discussions to have the opportunity to get involved and demonstrate their knowledge in a less threatening environment.
Teacher as Facilitator
To teach a literature circle, the teacher must be willing to give up some control. The role of the teacher in literature circles is to facilitate rather than to instruct, which means for teachers who like to direct the lessons learned, they are going to have to learn to take a step back and instead attempt to facilitate students in keeping on topic, coming up with adequate responses, ensuring that students understand what they are reading, and also keeping track of who is participating and encouraging all students to participate equally.
Literature Circle Roles
With larger classes, students are generally broken up into groups of six or seven. However, in smaller classes, students will have to take on multiple roles. Generally, the roles are as follows:
- Connector
- Discussion Director
- Literary Luminary
- Summarizer
- Travel Chaser
- Illustrator
- Vocabulary Enricher
Modifying Reading Group Roles
Some of the roles can be abandoned or they can be paired together for a three person group. For example the Illustrator may be deemed less important, although it is an effective creative tool. The Illustrator could be an additional activity for the teacher to direct with the whole class as a means of satisfying artistic learners. If the teacher wishes to pair jobs together, try matching as follows:
- Connector and Discussion Director
- Literary Luminary and Travel Tracer
- Summarizer and Vocabulary Enricher
Set Literary Discussion Expectations
Before setting students loose on Literature Circles, it is important to discuss expectations with them. Ensure that students understand that they are to be mature about their discussions and is probably a good idea to model what a good discussion looks like so that students have a clear idea. Remember, what is often obvious to adult instructors is not at all obvious to students.
When the teacher models a good discussion for his or her students, prompt them to ask a lot of questions and to come up with a plethora of ideas in addition to summarizing and discussing the setting and characters, like:
- Their favorite or least favorite part of the book so far,
- Questions they have about what has happened in the story,
- Inquiries they may make about what is going to happen,
- What they think the author means by something he or she has written, or
- Why they think the author wrote the book or a particular passage from the book.
The teacher can also try to get students to recommend similar books or infer what they think parts of the book mean; students should look at morals presented or themes that are represented as well as whether or not characters go through any notable changes. Modeling all of these ideas should give students a solid jumping off point for leading their own Literature Circles.
Cycling Literary Circle Roles
Students' roles can be dynamic and flexible as well, in that they can be assigned different group roles for different days, so each student has the opportunity to take on every role. To this end, if matching up jobs is too much work for students, the teacher could try cycling the roles so that they are all eventually covered, but not necessarily all during one class time.
In short, despite the time that goes into preparing Literature Circles, they are more than worth it because, even in smaller classes, the roles can all be covered through several different means and students enjoy the self-directed learning element of the group discussions. After a brief model of an appropriate discussion along with some guidelines and reminders of respectable and appropriate behavior, and along with some prepared handouts, students are able to lead thorough, meaningful and interactive discussions about literature all on their own.
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