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I develop independent, self-guided learners by a number of strategies, and
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one of the most popular ones in my classroom is literature circles.
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And my students love literature circle so
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much, not only because the books they're reading
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are so great, but also because they have a lot of choice in their learning.
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First of all, they're allowed to choose the book they'd like to read.
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Second of all, although there's are, there's a
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lot of structure within the group, they're allowed to
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choose which job they would like to do.
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There are five jobs, and they're allowed to pick which one.
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The students also as a group decide, how much they're going to
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read in the book, and when they're going to discuss the book.
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So today in your groups, I'd like you
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to concentrate with your jobs on character development.
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For example, if you're the summarizer, you're going to sp-, pay
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special attention to summarizing the things that the main characters do.
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If you're the discussion director, you're going to be asking
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questions tomorrow of your group, that are specific to characters.
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For example, a question like, what did Sophie do as soon as she saw the BFG?
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How did she act?
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What did she think?
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If you're the passage master you're going to picking out passages that focus on
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the characters, things that show: what they're
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doing, what they're thinking, what they look
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like, how their facial expressions are changing.
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And if you're the character captain, you have lots to do, because you'll be
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hitting on all four of these things, on how your main characters are developing.
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Now what I'd like you to do, is get out all
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of your lit circle stuff, and you may move with your groups.
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Although there's a lot of choice in the
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literature circle discussion groups, there's also a lotta structure.
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For example, one of the jobs is
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discussion director, and it promotes leadership, because
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there are specific questions and things that
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the dis- discussion director has to do.
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One of them is, have all of the students speak In the group.
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There's also a lot of choice with that job,
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because that discussion director gets to choose what questions will
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be asked, and how much they would like to share,
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or if they would even like to share with the group.
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I choose to do self-directed learning
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activities, because it promotes social skills
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with the students and how to get along and how to resolve conflict.
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The students learn so much more from each other than they
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do from me standing up, and lecturing at them all day long.
