ALAN Workshop-Literature Circles

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ALAN Workshop-Literature Circles

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ALAN Workshop-Literature Circles

Nancy Steineke

Reading and Writing Together: Collaborative Literacy in Action

A discussion group is more of a teacher directed activity. Literature circles have choice built into them and thus are more of a student directed activity. Literature circles become a way of addressing more readers and are also an opportunity to teach higher order thinking skills.

In the preparation of literature circles, you have to some times persevere longer than they persist. One important thing for literature circles is to have an ice breaker every time the groups meet. That allows students time to adjust to each other again and to get themselves into a frame of mind that allows them to more easily participate in literature circles.

One of the problems with literature circles is that students are some times just marching through their notes and not really taking any time to listen to what others say or to engage in discussion. One way to help students with this is to implement strategies such as "Save the last word for me".

Another is to process what worked well. It's important to affirm what students do well so they can build on that.

Hand-outs for this presentation can be found here.

Steineke took a moment at the end of the workshop to talk about the value of using historical fiction. It creates a personal connection and lets the reader remember more. It also inspires more research.

Click here to return to NCTE Convention Notes.

Last Updated April 11, 2011

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Reading and Writing Together: Collaborative Literacy in Action

A discussion group is more of a teacher directed activity. Literature circles have choice built into them and thus are more of a student directed activity. Literature circles become a way of addressing more readers and are also an opportunity to teach higher order thinking skills.

In the preparation of literature circles, you have to some times persevere longer than they persist. One important thing for literature circles is to have an ice breaker every time the groups meet. That allows students time to adjust to each other again and to get themselves into a frame of mind that allows them to more easily participate in literature circles.

One of the problems with literature circles is that students are some times just marching through their notes and not really taking any time to listen to what others say or to engage in discussion. One way to help students with this is to implement strategies such as "Save the last word for me".

Another is to process what worked well. It's important to affirm what students do well so they can build on that.

Hand-outs for this presentation can be found here.

Steineke took a moment at the end of the workshop to talk about the value of using historical fiction. It creates a personal connection and lets the reader remember more. It also inspires more research.

Click here to return to NCTE Convention Notes.