Literature Circles

Over the past two years, I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching novels in literature circles. As I'm sure many of you are familiar with this process, I won't go into endless detail about the small groups themselves. However, what I will share is a way that I've found to create some ownership of the learning and get some really great thinking out of my kids. Before beginning to read the novels, I tell my students that at the end of the process they will determine how they will get a "final test" grade from me for that book. Their choices are fairly limitless, but I let them know that they must "pitch" their idea to me, complete with grading rubric, and that we may need to negotiate point values together. I give them some general big ideas to consider, and I describe 3-4 different projects done in the past. I am always pleasantly surprised and sometimes completely amazed at what these kids come up with. I've had kids videotape themselves doing Siskel&Ebert-type reviews of the novel, including homemade film clips; many different powerpoint presentations, some with video clips; posters; dramatizations; scripted debates; and even a lego-video, where the students created animation by moving the legos between each frame. They added music, words, etc... and provided a great discussion of the importance of their book. I've gotten much more in terms of depth and quality than I ever would have gotten by giving a test or assigning an essay. All projects are presented to the class, so this often sparks an interest in the books that other students did not read. Definitely my current favorite part about teaching literature.