Not the Class Novel: A Different Reading Program

Simpson, Anne. "Not the Class Novel: A Different Reading Program." Journal of Reading 38.4. (1994): 290-294.

This author of this brief article is a teacher in Australia who implemented literature circles in her classroom in order to develop new reading strategies with her students. Her article defines literature circles and their purpose, how they work, how to implement and run them, and how to assess and use sticky notes. She outlines a weekly response assignment that could be useful for students while participating and easy to assess for the teacher. Instead of assessing the students on their participation, they are graded on their written responses each week, as well as their final response assignment.

One of the things this author takes into consideration in her practice of literature circles is that this method of discussion is "less threatening" for many students who are uncomfortable speaking in front of a group. Students felt they actually got to know the other students and the teacher better through the process of small group discussion.

This author is a teacher, who claims to have successfully transferred a middle level method of teaching into a high school setting, which is also what I’m aiming to do in my research. She backs up her methods with a section of student evaluations, which were all positive. I wish she would have alluded to the negatives, just for argument’s sake, because it appears that nothing went wrong for her in this process. I will use her information as a guide for the transfer of practices from middle to high school students.

Changing the Classroom Climate with Literature Circles

Burns, Bonnie. “Changing the Classroom Climate with Literature Circles.” Journal of Adulescent and Adult Literacy. Newark: 1998. Vol. 42, Iss. 2; pg 124-130.

The aim of this article was to prove that using literature circles in the classroom would motivate students to take greater academic risks. This teacher chose six novels with a specific theme, and students were allowed to choose one of the six to read and discuss in the smaller group setting. While reading in the groups, the classroom climate became more “cooperative, responsible, and pleasurable.” The article covered several aspects of the lit circle project, from implementing to assessment, and was largely student dialogue. This author would follow every claim that was made with quotes from students in her classroom. Things that stood out were that the students enjoyed the choice that this assignment offered and that everyone in the group had an opportunity to speak in the small group setting. They seemed to like being in charge of the learning that was taking place: setting their own schedules and assigning their own roles in the group. The article goes on to mention that literature circles should be used in conjunction with other teaching methods to change the climate in a classroom. Whole group and independent reading should not be tossed by the wayside and replaced by literature circles.

The only issue I had with this author’s experience was that she was teaching a relatively heterogeneous population. She was in an upper middle class suburb teaching above average to gifted students, so that, to me, casts a shadow on her findings. I can’t say that all classes could be as successful as hers.

I believe this will be relevant to my research in that this is the only article I’ve seen so far that includes other methods of teaching in addition to literature circles. Whole group instruction – not mini lessons – is still important according to this author.

How Can you Grade Literature Circles?

Daniels, Harvey. “How Can you Grade Literature Circles?” Voices from the Middle. Urbana: Sep 2003. Vol 11, Iss 1; pg 52

From a teacher standpoint, this article is controversial. The author, Harvey Daniels, is considered the “lit circle guru” in English classrooms. He addresses assessment in this article, and the result is unsatisfying. He says we can give students points for bringing their materials, and following directions, but the rest of the grading is basically subjective. He advises his readers to observe the students in action and give them points based on their participation in the group. Then he says teachers should create a rubric with the students’ assistance in order to grade the effectiveness of their group members. While I agree that making an assessment rubric together is a good idea, I disagree with his point that the students should come up with the criteria for grading. I don’t think many administrators would be in favor of that. In education today, at least where I am, teachers need to have a goal in mind, and a formative assessment at the completion of an assignment. Daniels also says that the best assessment is that kids come away from literature circles wanting to read more books, and we can’t really assess that, and that is entirely true. In my experience, assessment must be objective and defensible. I would not be able to grade students on their participation, because when parents and administrators challenged a grade, I wouldn’t have a proper leg to stand on. I would need to assign a project or assignment to assess the students at the end of their literature circle.

Daniels has project ideas in his books, but in his mind, adult book clubs don’t “put on puppet shows and make dioramas,” so neither should our students. I don’t feel that this article will be useful to me, because it leaves me with more questions than answers. If anything, it makes me question how I will have my students display their knowledge in a meaningful way when their lit circles are complete.