Reading Across the Content Areas

Stix, Andi. Mixing it up: A Multilevel Book Room and Flexible Literature Circles. Social Education. Arlington: May/Jun 2000. Vol 64, Iss 4; pg. 218, 3 pages

This article discusses the use of literature circles in realms outside of the English classroom. The school being studied had been handed a mandate that each student should read 25 books per year. Since that was next to impossible to accomplish in a single subject area, the social studies department implemented literature circles to introduce themes and topics in their subject areas. They used historical fiction to bring the experience of time periods to middle level students. The article traces their experience through the process: how they organized their books in colored bins to the schedule the teachers followed, to some of the obstacles they faced and how they are planning to change in the future.

This article was copyrighted by the National Council for the Social Studies, so it is likely to be a reliable source. There is also an extensive reference list, which tells me the author did her homework. I will probably use quotes from this article, given that the book I am teaching is non-fiction and there are definitely “social studies elements” to the method I am teaching.

Bridging the Gap Between Fiction and Non-Fiction in the Literature Circle Setting

Stien, Debbie, and Beed, Penny. “Bridging the Gap Between Fiction and Non-Fiction in the Literature Circle Setting.” The Reading Teacher. Newark: March 2004. Vol 57, Iss 6; pg. 510-519.

This article was written to encourage teachers to use literature circles to teach non-fiction. The author implemented non-fiction literature circles in her classroom and reviews the successes she had in engaging her students with material they ordinarily might not have been interested in. She details her purpose in setting up the literature circles and her method of implementation. Student data and quotations back up her affirmations, and she wraps the article up by describing how her students took skills learned in the reading groups and applied them in other academic situations.

Stien seems like a credible source. She implemented this strategy in her classroom and had data to represent her findings. She cited 19 sources throughout the 9 page article, and there were some “big names” in literature circles listed.

Some of this article will be useful. I will look closely at some of the sources Stien and Beed cited. The book I chose for my classroom project is non-fiction, and there was some valid research that she pointed me toward in her article. However, most of the information about interacting with the student groups will not work for me, given that this research project was conducted in a third grade classroom. I will be focusing entirely on interactions with high school students.