Description
Teachers often see a wide range of success when literature circles are used. This often happens because many students come to us without the prerequisite social skills for engaging in sophisticated text discussion with peers. This course will show how to observe students groups, pinpoint specific problems, and then teach appropriate mini-lessons to give students skills that enhance each subsequent literature circle meeting.
Course Goals:
- Recognize the reading and discussion strategies necessary for skillful literature circle talk
- Help students master strategies that will result in closer reading and more refined text discussion
- Learn how to observe student discussion in order to diagnose problems and determine what mini-lessons will help remedy them
- Examine the steps in setting up book clubs and helping students negotiate the various tasks necessary
- Explore assessments that let students demonstrate what they know as a group
Grade 4-12 teachers, English language arts teachers, and staff developers.
Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles.
Harvey Daniels and Nancy Steineke; Heinemann, 2004.
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Students enrolled in this course may choose from these credit options:
- Course completion certificate for 2.0 CEUs (20 clock hours).
Heinemann is an Authorized CEU Sponsor member of the International Association for Continuing Education and Training(IACET). To determine whether this type of unit is accepted, please check with your school district or administration. - Graduate credits (graded) from Plymouth State University
This option allows course participants to earn 2.0 graduate level credits by completing a post-course project. Additional fee of $145. Please follow this link for details and requirements.
Unit 1: Getting Ready for Peer-Led Discussions
Before students become members of literature circles, they need to hone their social skills and their text response skills. In the social skill arena, teachers will experiment with mini-lesson strategies that help students get to know one another and develop positive working relationships and mutual respect with classmates. Then, teachers can use short pieces of text to demonstrate various kinds of literary response and help students apply their new social skills to engaged discussions with classmates.
Unit 2: Getting Started with Whole Books
This unit focuses on helping students take responsibility for managing their own book clubs, including forming groups, setting ground rules, developing schedules, monitoring their own social skills, and running meetings.
Unit 3: Refining Discussion
When literature circles are meeting regularly, the question that every teacher asks is "How can I make them better?" This is the time for using mini-lessons that target three aspects of book clubs: improving the performance of struggling groups, refining the discussion of functioning groups, and helping students move beyond their personal responses in order to further examine the author's craft.
Unit 4: Assessment and Accountability
Participants will explore ways for literature circle groups to show what they know via performance projects that get the word out on good books. We'll also look at many alternatives for grading students' work in book clubs without distorting the trust and spontaneity that energize the activity.
Unit 5: Designing Mini-Lessons
Based on observations of their classroom literature circles, participants will design a custom mini-lesson that solves a problem or introduces a new strategy.
