Man. Silver bullets stink.

Literature circles, for the uninitiated, have the curse-like blessing of being effective. This nearly guarantees them being extrapolated wholesale to educational environments where they won’t work well. Case in point? My classroom.

Now, I have to admit up front a deep, deep personal bias against fads. (This goes right back to tiny metallic Jordache purses decorated with feathered clips in 4th grade.) Consequently I was already looking at lit circles askance, and doing my damndest to balance this out against the positive testimony of my two 7th grade colleagues. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of tamping down my suspicions– particularly when I consulted with my buds recently, and found that they were working around the same kinks I was. Here’s a few of them:

Issue

What’s Happening Now
Pacing

Slower readers are dragging down speedy readers. Assigned “jobs” also depend upon the speed and comprehension of student, which holds up real conversation.

Time

56 minute periods

-5m transitions

-10m free reading

= 41 minute lit circles

=NOT ENOUGH TIME.
Contrivance

Assigned “jobs” within lit circles limits the spontaneous responses a student can make to the reading, and does not build a true group dynamic.

Choice

We chose 5 biographical books, targeting different levels of reading and focusing on male protagonists for “roping in” our boys. Did so over the summer by educated guess. Not engaging a significant minority of students.

And, of course, to top it all off, I found the smartest and most concise resource on lit circles out there–two weeks after I started the unit. Sigh.

Remember the theme, however, children: silver bullets suck.

Thankfully, it is made clear by Ms. Brownlie that a specific set of circumstances are required to make her approach to lit circles work. Let’s see how they stack up against my givens.

Issue

What’s Happening Now

Recommendation (Brownlie, 2005)
Pacing

Slower readers are dragging down speedy readers. Assigned “jobs” also depend upon the speed and comprehension of student, which holds up real conversation.

Everyone moves at their own pace. Group discussions center around the teacher-guided Say Something Strategy, which is not dependent on kids reading the same pages at the same time.

When a kid is finished with a book, they choose another and move into that group—groupings are fluid.

Time

56 minute periods

-5m transitions

-10m free reading

= 41 minute lit circles

70-90 minute blocks. (Not even my entire period comes close here.)
Contrivance

Assigned “jobs” within lit circles limits the spontaneous responses a student can make to the reading, and does not build a true group dynamic.

Say Something strategy and individual journaling. Assigned jobs are junked.

Choice

We chose 5 biographical books, targeting different levels of reading and focusing on male protagonists for “roping in” our boys. Did so over the summer by educated guess.

Wait until the middle of the year to start lit circles so that your book choices (6 titles minimum) hit the levels and interests of every student, based on a few months of observation.

Yikes. So what’s a girl to do?

Junk it.

Yep. The bottom line is, what I’m doing isn’t working, and I have to get it working.

So here’s the plan. Much like the beloved Wall-E, I am sifting through the garbage mound that I have created by hoping I could slap down literature circles without modification, looking for something salvageable. I’ll keep the general aims and essential questions (which is a unit on biography), but tinker with the insides.

Issue

What’s Happening Now

Recommendation (Brownlie, 2005)

Modification
Pacing

Slower readers are dragging down speedy readers. Assigned “jobs” also depend upon the speed and comprehension of student, which holds up real conversation.

Everyone moves at their own pace. Group discussions center around the teacher-guided Say Something Strategy, which is not dependent on kids reading the same pages at the same time.

When a kid is finished with a book, they choose another and move into that group—groupings are fluid.

Adopt fluid grouping and guided meetings each class period with Say Something strategy. Put up a large poster with names so students (and teacher!) can keep track of who is reading what.

Time

56 minute periods

-5m transitions

-10m free reading

= 41 minute lit circles

70-90 minute blocks. (Not even my entire period comes close here.)

Cut free reading by 5 minutes.

Tighten transitions to 2 minutes.

Then work with what I’ve got.

Contrivance

Assigned “jobs” within lit circles limits the spontaneous responses a student can make to the reading, and does not build a true group dynamic.

Say Something strategy and individual journaling. Assigned jobs are junked.

Can’t give up jobs—this wanders too far from what my colleagues are doing. Instead, create a journal where kids are required to rotate through job-related activities for each class, but at their own pace.
Choice

We chose 5 biographical books, targeting different levels of reading and focusing on male protagonists for “roping in” our boys. Did so over the summer by educated guess.

Wait until the middle of the year to start lit circles so that your book choices (6 titles minimum) hit the levels and interests of every student, based on a few months of observation.

Drat. Now what?

Changing books is not an option this time around. Instead, check reader’s surveys done in Sept for patterns of interest, do an additional survey of famous lives kids may want to learn about, and choose 2 or 3 alternate texts to round out choices.

In this way it is my sincere hope to meld the goals of engaging in the collaborative doppelganging prized by my administration, and working to make things better.

I suppose if there’s a life lesson in this, it’s what the angelic multitude says to the shepherds.

Do not be afraid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For a terrific article on literature circles drifting from their intended origins in middle school from the National Council of Teachers of English, try the file below.

Literature Circles

UPDATE: Tried “Say Something” for the first time today with a group of kids; explaining it to them, and seeing their bright and engaged faces, set free from page constraints, literally sent chills down my back. We’ll see how this works with my more emergent readers next week, but for now, the evidence is sick encouraging.

SECOND UPDATE: I roped my colleague Kim in at lunchtime today. In a show of bravery I can only hope to emulate, she junked her plans for the next period and tried the alternative model with her neediest class. She came into my room afterwards with lips tightly pressed together and welling eyes; I thought someone had died until she hugged me. “THANK YOU,” she said.

Now we’re gunning for our third colleague. I love teaching.