Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles

Daniels, Harvey, and Steineke, Nancy. Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2004. Print.

This book is a collaboration between the creator of the literature circles concept, teacher, Harvey Daniels, and another teacher, Nancy Steineke. The two authors have put together a collection of mini-lessons to guide literature circle instruction, before, during, and after the implementation of the projects. Each mini-lesson includes reasoning behind why the lesson is necessary, a plan for teaching, assessment of the students’ understanding of the concepts taught, and tips for troubleshooting issues that may arise.

The sources are relatively credible. As stated in the introduction of the book, between the two of them, they have 62 years of teaching experience. Also, Daniels is the creator of the concept, so he should be an authority on the subject. Nancy Steineke has little qualification other than being associated with Daniels and using this strategy herself.

This book will be usable in my project, in that the mini-lessons will facilitate my management of the reading groups. The thing this book will not do is give me information about the research behind literature circles. Since I am engaging in an action research project, the implementation of the concept in my classroom will be important, so this source will help my research indirectly.