Learning about Literature Circles

Literature Circles are a great way to get your students engaged and excited about what they are reading. Literature Circles for text discussion is a teaching tool that is used with small groups of students to engage them in discussing literature that all of the participating students have read. After reading the selected text, students guide their own discussion by responding to what they have read. Students may discuss characters, events, writing style, or personal experiences related to the story. Education World highlights the use of Literature Circles by getting insights and advice from two experts about using this instructional strategy.

Katherine L. Schlick Noe, Ph.D., associate professor at the School of Education at Seattle University, told Education World why this teaching approach is so effective: "Literature circles offer students a chance to be readers and writers, to apply the literacy skills that they are learning."

Education World also shares that according to Harvey Daniels, author of the book Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in the Student-Centered Classroom (Stenhouse Publishers, 1994), literature circles are small, temporary discussion groups of students who have chosen to read the same work of literature. Each member agrees to take specific responsibilities during discussion sessions. The circles meet regularly, and the discussion roles change at each meeting. When the circle finishes a book, the members decide on a way to showcase their literary work for the rest of the class.

Daniels likes the idea of assigning students individual roles within the Literature Circle. The use of roles allow student to see how what they do affects work within a group. The use of roles is very helpful, especially in the beginning, in giving students a sense of responsibility and ownership. However, once students are comfortable with engaging in the Literature Circle, teachers may choose to discontinue assigning student roles. This allows for more freedom of discussion.

The use of Literature Circles in the classroom provides a way for students to think critically about what they have read. Collaboration is essential to the implementation of Literature Circles as students learn to listen to other students' thoughts and opinions and learn from them - even if they don't agree. Literature Circles allow students to develop a deeper understanding of what they read through structured discussion and response opportunities.

Pepper has released a new workshop focused on Literature Circles as part of its new Pepper Online Workshop (POW!) content. This workshop is provided in two sections - one focused for elementary and a second for middle and high school. You can check all of our new POW content by visiting the Courses and Workshops section on your dashboard.

Introducing Pepper Online Workshops (POW!)

POW! Are you ready to add some Pepper into your personalized, online learning plans?

PCG Education is introducing a new series of content collections - Pepper Online Workshops (POW!) – focusing on the hottest topics that educators are dealing with across the country. Our new workshop series is based on WestEd’s powerful collection of resources from their Doing What Works project featuring amazing videos, interactive planning tools, and other research-based materials.

In the spirit of keeping with Pepper’s core values, these online workshops – although much shorter – will remain true to our vision – to provide K-12 educators with high-quality, interactive, engaging, research-based and applicable to your school environment.  

Currently, users can find workshops focused on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for Math, Science, and Language Arts. You can learn more about UDL by checking out a previous blog post, Making Learning Accessible for All: Universal Design for Learning.

Look for our new workshops this week focused on using Literature Circles in the classroom.

PCG Education will be releasing new POW content collections every week. To find these new workshops, visit your Pepper dashboard and click on the updated "Courses and Workshops" link.

Then, find the tile labeled "keep learning" to access our new Pepper Online Workshops.

Please visit us at PepperPD.com/courses to review the new online workshop series and sign-up today.

Using Socratic Seminars and Literature Circles: Teaching by Questioning

The use of Socratic Seminars, also known as Literature Circles, in the classroom gives students the opportunity to engage and connect with their peers around a commonly read text. It should be noted that the use of the Socratic Method is not just for high schoolers, but can easily and effectively be used at all grade levels. Ross Cooper, Supervisor of Instructional Practice K-12, Salisbury Township School District, Allentown, PA, uses Literature Circles in his 4th grade classroom and talks about it in his recent article, “(Almost) Paperless Literature Circles”. The biggest thing to see here is that students own this process and thus are directing and managing their own learning - with some careful guidance from Cooper. Key to his implementation was his making sure that each student, in each group, had a role. Here are the “jobs” that his students performed:

• Connector: Go into detail regarding a specific text-to-self or text-to-text connection.
• Passage Picker: Find one or two paragraphs that are moving in some way. Write why you picked each passage and describe your thoughts.
• Plot Twister: What exactly would you change in the chapters that you read for homework to make them go the way that you would have preferred? Why?
• Wonderer: As you read, create a list of relevant statements starting with "What if?" or "I wonder."
• Predictor: Based on what you read for homework, explain what you think is going to happen next. Also explain why you made your predictions.
• Psychologist: Give advice to one of the book’s characters. What would you tell him or her to do, and why?
• Journalist: Pick a character and, based on what you read for homework, write a passage in his or her personal journal.
• Student Choice: Decide how you would like to respond to the chapters that you read for homework. If you aren't satisfied with any of the jobs, create your own idea.

These roles ensure that each student is actively engaged in the process. It also gives students the opportunity to direct their own learning.

The Paideia Institute focuses on training schools, administrators, and teachers to use the Socratic Method in their schools and classrooms. The word Paideia is pronounced (py-dee-a) from the Greek "pais, paidos": the upbringing of a child. According to The Paideia website, “socratic seminars continue the tradition of Socrates, the classical Greek philosopher who taught his followers by asking questions. Today, Socratic dialogue can transform students’ learning experience in classrooms from elementary through high school and beyond. When facilitated by a skilled teacher, the Paideia approach to Socratic Seminar can lead to:

• Significantly improved student achievement in core Language Arts skills, including reading, speaking and listening, and writing
• Increased student motivation because students get to generate and express their own ideas"

The use of the Socratic Method is generally characterized as "teaching by asking questions". Paideia officially defines Socratic Seminar “as a collaborative, intellectual dialogue facilitated with open-ended questions about a text.”

Pepper Langauge Arts Courses provide a great launching point for incorporating the Socratic Method and Literature Circles into your classroom practice. In the K-5 group, two courses, Text-Based Discussions in Elementary School and Balancing Informational and Literary Texts, provide great opportunity for engaging students in question-based learning. At the Middle and High School level, Text Discussion and ELA/Literacy Shifts courses are available for teachers.

Pepper Courses and your Pepper Learning Community can be great resources for implementing new ideas. Utilizing the experience and skills of teachers from around the country can provide unique opportunities for networking and sharing lesson ideas and classroom management tips.