lit. circles

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lit. circles
By Mrs. D

I do literature circles with my students using novels, and we don't use basals. I'm fortunate enough to teach at a school where we have multiple copies of books. For one group I usually pick about 3 novels on their reading
level that I think they would be interested in. I tell them a bit about each story, they read the back summary, and look at the front picture to see what is most interesting to them (I believe in giving them some choice). When deciding on a book majority rules. I tell those picked a different book as their first choice that they may like to read it on their own.
I usually assign about

4 or so chapters (depending on the length of each chapter and reading ability of the students). If I feel they need more guidance I give them less to read. They are given about 2-3 questions per each reading assignment (not each chapter). I require their responses to be about a paragragh long, include examples from the book, and their own thoughts (text-to text, text to world, text to self connections among others). The questions couldn't be answered "correctly" (sometimes there are no right or wrong answers) by writing a sentence or two. They need to be thoughtful. One example from a recent book was, "What did Mr. Tilton mean when he referred to Alex as an unsung quiet hero?" and "Do you know anyone who could have been an unsung quiet hero? (Including yourself)"

They must also write down 2 words they didn't know, page number, what they think the word means, and then the dictionary definition.

Then they meet as a group (sometimes with me, sometimes I monitor by walking around, sometimes I'm with other groups) and discuss. We practice what a discussion should look like (not reading your answers, but talking to each other instead). Some teachers give each student a specific job in the group (I don't).

They have some pretty good discussions.

My school no longer uses basals (hasn't for about 4-5 years), and I enjoy using authentic novels. It can be a lot of work for me, because I have a lot of books to read myself, but I try to use the same books every year (with some different ones) so I'm not constantly reading chapter books.

I'm not sure what grade you teach, but I've done this with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades.