My connection with the instructor in the article by Clarke & Holwadel (2007) "Help! What Is Wrong With These Literature Circles and How Can We Fix Them?" is minimal. After reading of the teacher’s struggles I was reminded how very blessed I am with the group I currently teach.
There are no issues with community among my students. All are same race and socio-economic level, come from families with similar political affiliations, values and beliefs. I also have no issues with students coming or going, thus no revolving door issues. I have rarely witnessed issues of unkindness or any sort, or the use of inappropriate words. There are no feelings of hostility displayed. I do not struggle with issues related to interruptions. My class meets every Friday from 8:30 – 4:45. There are no disturbances to our schedule during this time - although I do have to cover history, and science as well as language arts during this time period. Students do not switch teachers during this day. So I don’t have to deal with the issues related to that either.
I think that two of the concerns mentioned may be a problem for me when I begin to implement my first literature circles. One is that I have been presenting material in one fashion for several years, as prescribed by the program for which I work. This new method of student led discussion will be a great change for my students, and I expect it will take a few sessions for all of us to adjust.
The other obstacle discussed in the article, which I feel I may encounter is sharing airtime. I do have one student who would try to dominate the conversation if I am not a direct part of it. I will use the poker chips idea to try to head this off. I will need to give mini lessons on listening to other’s ideas and perhaps have that student be the one who “reports in” what the team discussed to ensure that he is listening to others.
I am sure I will encounter other problems when I begin. Perhaps there will be problems that others have not faced, as my group is so atypical.
Wish me luck!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Literature Circles in a Perfect World
This week we take a diversion from _Teaching What Matters About Literary Elements_ to discuss the application of literature circles in our classrooms.
Mr. Daniels describes for us the ideal situation in which a literature circle flourishes. Many of us look at the list of 11 key features and say, “Yeah, but in my classroom...”
Literature circles are new to me, yet I am anxious to give them a try. While there will be many obstacles for me to overcome, I hope to be able to make these discussion groups a reality in my class of 6-8 grade students.
Since this entire idea will be foreign to my students I will need to begin with training. The training I will need to include is as follows:
1) Explaining how these activities will work and why it is important -
2) Demonstrating a live or recorded group for students to visualize – this will be a challenge for me. I wonder if there is something on Youtube or Teachertube to serve this purpose.
3) We will need to try out a variety of approaches until we find what works best for this group this year.
4) I will need to debrief with students following each circle session – asking kids to notice effective practices.
5) I will need to continuously refine the ideas and provide on going training through mini-lessons and coaching.
Of course this is all easier said than done. Not many of us have total freedom in our classrooms to do just as we would like. The program that I work for is very traditional and I am wondering how I will make adaptations to the perfect scenario to make it fit.
1) Students choose their own books – Right off the bat I have a problem. My program dictates the novels that we will read each quarter. To overcome this I will look for supplemental poetry, short stories, or picture books that could be used as part of an inquiry unit, which would include the assigned novel. This will be a challenge for me. Are there lists put together already somewhere that give titles of texts based on themes or inquiry units? I need to find out. If you know of any, please comment below. I would allow students to choose among these supplemental texts. This would hopefully give them a small sense of ownership.
2)Small temporary groups are formed based on book choice – Since my entire class will be reading the same novel this would not work, unless they form groups based on the supplemental reading choices. That might work. Those groups would be very shout term. Maybe only one day.
3)Groups meet on a regular basis – I think this would be fine as my class meets regularly once a week. The challenge would be to make the circle a priority and be sure it happened each week.
4)Kids use written notes to guide reading and discussion – This will be interesting. My students have never taken notes on anything aesthetic in nature. They will struggle with this at first. They will also not be used to having a discussion that I do not lead. They will probably LOVE this. (So will I)
5)Discussion topics come from students – how refreshing. I think it will take a while for this to happen but I feel it will be great once the kids get the hang of speaking from the heart and not waiting for me to tell them what to discuss.
6)Teacher serves as a facilitator – Leading all conversation is a responsibility I will gladly delegate to the kids. I am sick to death of having to do all of the talking all day long!
I really like the idea of an online wiki or blog spot for discussion where face-to-face meeting is impossible. I learned about blogging this past summer and think it holds much potential for academic application. I would probably be the one posting a Socratic open ended question for students to reply to so the project would not be totally student directed, but I still think this would be a lot of fun and give kids a great reason to be on the computer.
The reality of all of these dreams is that for years we have been teaching students to look for efferent types of correct answers. Sadly, the idea of thinking aesthetically will be a drastic change for them. But nothing good comes easy. I am willing to put in the effort to make literature more relevant, deliver transfer, and teach students about life.
Mr. Daniels describes for us the ideal situation in which a literature circle flourishes. Many of us look at the list of 11 key features and say, “Yeah, but in my classroom...”
Literature circles are new to me, yet I am anxious to give them a try. While there will be many obstacles for me to overcome, I hope to be able to make these discussion groups a reality in my class of 6-8 grade students.
Since this entire idea will be foreign to my students I will need to begin with training. The training I will need to include is as follows:
1) Explaining how these activities will work and why it is important -
2) Demonstrating a live or recorded group for students to visualize – this will be a challenge for me. I wonder if there is something on Youtube or Teachertube to serve this purpose.
3) We will need to try out a variety of approaches until we find what works best for this group this year.
4) I will need to debrief with students following each circle session – asking kids to notice effective practices.
5) I will need to continuously refine the ideas and provide on going training through mini-lessons and coaching.
Of course this is all easier said than done. Not many of us have total freedom in our classrooms to do just as we would like. The program that I work for is very traditional and I am wondering how I will make adaptations to the perfect scenario to make it fit.
1) Students choose their own books – Right off the bat I have a problem. My program dictates the novels that we will read each quarter. To overcome this I will look for supplemental poetry, short stories, or picture books that could be used as part of an inquiry unit, which would include the assigned novel. This will be a challenge for me. Are there lists put together already somewhere that give titles of texts based on themes or inquiry units? I need to find out. If you know of any, please comment below. I would allow students to choose among these supplemental texts. This would hopefully give them a small sense of ownership.
2)Small temporary groups are formed based on book choice – Since my entire class will be reading the same novel this would not work, unless they form groups based on the supplemental reading choices. That might work. Those groups would be very shout term. Maybe only one day.
3)Groups meet on a regular basis – I think this would be fine as my class meets regularly once a week. The challenge would be to make the circle a priority and be sure it happened each week.
4)Kids use written notes to guide reading and discussion – This will be interesting. My students have never taken notes on anything aesthetic in nature. They will struggle with this at first. They will also not be used to having a discussion that I do not lead. They will probably LOVE this. (So will I)
5)Discussion topics come from students – how refreshing. I think it will take a while for this to happen but I feel it will be great once the kids get the hang of speaking from the heart and not waiting for me to tell them what to discuss.
6)Teacher serves as a facilitator – Leading all conversation is a responsibility I will gladly delegate to the kids. I am sick to death of having to do all of the talking all day long!
I really like the idea of an online wiki or blog spot for discussion where face-to-face meeting is impossible. I learned about blogging this past summer and think it holds much potential for academic application. I would probably be the one posting a Socratic open ended question for students to reply to so the project would not be totally student directed, but I still think this would be a lot of fun and give kids a great reason to be on the computer.
The reality of all of these dreams is that for years we have been teaching students to look for efferent types of correct answers. Sadly, the idea of thinking aesthetically will be a drastic change for them. But nothing good comes easy. I am willing to put in the effort to make literature more relevant, deliver transfer, and teach students about life.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Teaching Character With Particular Units and Texts
Previously we discussed prereading instruction which prepares students to work with characterization. This blog will describe how to create a context that directs and rewards students' attention to character during reading.
Inquiry Units
Centered around essential questions – timeless and debatable issues that draw us to literature - inquiry units help students to get the conceptual (what) and the procedural (how) together. A unit context not only focuses students' attention as they read but helps them develop an understanding of fundamental characteristics of effective argumentative writing since the culmination would likely be a written argument of judgment that assesses characters in regards to the big question or an argument providing an extended definition of, say a good friend, using examples from all of the unit readings and the students' personal experiences.
A variety of essential questions would work well to keep the students' focused on character.
What makes a good parent, friend, teacher, hero, or leader?
What makes a person mature?
What is loyalty, courage, self-government, etc.?
What makes me me?
Using Autobiographical Writing Before Reading
Transfer (one of our goals) is fostered by having students write about relevant autobiographical experiences before they read, taking up issues that are relevant to stories without cueing particular readings of those stories. (Our classmates Amber and Abbie did just this in their lesson plan for Walk On. Way to go Ladies!) “Allowing students to write or discuss relevant, autobiographical experiences before reading helps students to make abstract rather than describing responses to characters” (internal vs external). "In addition, this type of writing assignment activates students' prior knowledge and teaches them that it is powerful and necessary to apply that prior knowledge.”
Personal reflection : I wonder... While these above assignments do help students to focus while they read, don't these assignments cause them to focus on what I see as important in the story and not what they might see as important? Won't these types of activities cause the student to think, “This book must be about friendship because the teacher is asking us to look at that idea and write about our friendships.” How does this fit in with what we have learned about reader response?
Using Character Response Sheets
Since story specific questions are unlikely to prepare student to understand more than the particular story they are reading, a set of questions that can be applied across stories is likely to be more useful. Character response sheets are not very complex, but they capture the heuristics for understanding character and can be used in lieu of reading check quizzes for assigned reading (helping us get away from the efferent type of questions we often ask for the sole purpose of making sure students are reading the assigned chapters.)
Response sheets depart from traditional instruction in important ways. Because they explicitly reinforce activities that precede their use, and because they can be used across stories, they foster transfer. To use them students must be alert for inference cues rather than waiting for teachers to highlight those cues through their questions. It assists students in internalizing the kinds of questions necessary to a sophisticated interpretation of character in literature and life.
Character response sheets ask students to give their preliminary impression of characters and to give specific instances of actions, language, thoughts, body language, and looks from the text which have triggered their initial impression. In subsequent days, weeks etc. students are to explain how their impression of the character has changed or been confirmed, again based on specific support from the actions, language, etc. in the text.
Using Drama
Short, scriptless dramas allow students to participate as actors rather than as an audience. Two types that support understanding of character follow:
In-Role Writing – By writing a diary entry as a particular character students make the character come alive using inference cues based on the character's thoughts and language. Be sure that prompts let students know who they are, what their situation is, what they will create, and how they will share it.
Press Conferences – Students play the role of a character while classmate reporters question them. Be sure to debrief the class focusing on what the students learned about the characters that made them respond the way they did and how they learned what they learned.
Inquiry Units
Centered around essential questions – timeless and debatable issues that draw us to literature - inquiry units help students to get the conceptual (what) and the procedural (how) together. A unit context not only focuses students' attention as they read but helps them develop an understanding of fundamental characteristics of effective argumentative writing since the culmination would likely be a written argument of judgment that assesses characters in regards to the big question or an argument providing an extended definition of, say a good friend, using examples from all of the unit readings and the students' personal experiences.
A variety of essential questions would work well to keep the students' focused on character.
What makes a good parent, friend, teacher, hero, or leader?
What makes a person mature?
What is loyalty, courage, self-government, etc.?
What makes me me?
Using Autobiographical Writing Before Reading
Transfer (one of our goals) is fostered by having students write about relevant autobiographical experiences before they read, taking up issues that are relevant to stories without cueing particular readings of those stories. (Our classmates Amber and Abbie did just this in their lesson plan for Walk On. Way to go Ladies!) “Allowing students to write or discuss relevant, autobiographical experiences before reading helps students to make abstract rather than describing responses to characters” (internal vs external). "In addition, this type of writing assignment activates students' prior knowledge and teaches them that it is powerful and necessary to apply that prior knowledge.”
Personal reflection : I wonder... While these above assignments do help students to focus while they read, don't these assignments cause them to focus on what I see as important in the story and not what they might see as important? Won't these types of activities cause the student to think, “This book must be about friendship because the teacher is asking us to look at that idea and write about our friendships.” How does this fit in with what we have learned about reader response?
Using Character Response Sheets
Since story specific questions are unlikely to prepare student to understand more than the particular story they are reading, a set of questions that can be applied across stories is likely to be more useful. Character response sheets are not very complex, but they capture the heuristics for understanding character and can be used in lieu of reading check quizzes for assigned reading (helping us get away from the efferent type of questions we often ask for the sole purpose of making sure students are reading the assigned chapters.)
Response sheets depart from traditional instruction in important ways. Because they explicitly reinforce activities that precede their use, and because they can be used across stories, they foster transfer. To use them students must be alert for inference cues rather than waiting for teachers to highlight those cues through their questions. It assists students in internalizing the kinds of questions necessary to a sophisticated interpretation of character in literature and life.
Character response sheets ask students to give their preliminary impression of characters and to give specific instances of actions, language, thoughts, body language, and looks from the text which have triggered their initial impression. In subsequent days, weeks etc. students are to explain how their impression of the character has changed or been confirmed, again based on specific support from the actions, language, etc. in the text.
Using Drama
Short, scriptless dramas allow students to participate as actors rather than as an audience. Two types that support understanding of character follow:
In-Role Writing – By writing a diary entry as a particular character students make the character come alive using inference cues based on the character's thoughts and language. Be sure that prompts let students know who they are, what their situation is, what they will create, and how they will share it.
Press Conferences – Students play the role of a character while classmate reporters question them. Be sure to debrief the class focusing on what the students learned about the characters that made them respond the way they did and how they learned what they learned.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Preparing Students to Understand Character
Putting Theory Into Practice
Here it is!! Finally an applicable, usable blog full of lesson ideas you can put right into use. What follows are Wilhelm and Smith's ideas for lessons designed to help students get the big picture of characterization. These lessons are designed to help students to focus on internal character since they tend to often focus on external traits. Enjoy.
1) Using personality tests – a literacy practice many students have already developed
This activity helps students focus on the type of information we want to know about ourselves and others, because that's just what we want to know about characters in novels. Teenage students have seen many of these from the silly to the serious, from Your Inner Fashonista to Myers-Briggs.
This online test helps students determine which Percy Jackson character they are most like.
www.quizrocket.com/percy-jackson-quiz
Students can fill out tests on themselves and move toward filling out the tests from the perspective of characters in their novel. Completing tests also provides the opportunity for students to think about what characteristics matter the most to our understanding of people. Students could even rank traits in order of importance. This is in line with one of our goals in teaching characterization: that students realize that some characteristics matter more than others.
2) A second goal in our lessons was to ensure that students are able to transfer what they learn to novel situations. One way to do that is to present them with targeted practice using texts designed to focus on the skills you are trying to teach. This is called simulated instruction. One kind of text that provides the targeted practice is ads and portraits, both for print and TV. Many ads call for viewers to make inferences about the products based on characters who sell them.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1jfofjPtEY&NR=1"
Show the ad, have students make a list of three to five important traits of each character. Tally the class lists. Next, have students explain how they came to their decisions. Where their inferences derived from group membership or individual relationship?
3) Personals – drawing on students' understanding of nonacademic texts to help develop strategies they can apply to reading literature.
Smith and Wilhelm use examples such as using student profiles to select the summer camp or dorm roommates that students would most prefer.
Important tips to keep in mind when using ranking activities:
- students do ranking independently before assigned to small groups to work out group ranking
- watch groups for disagreements because they foster elaborated explanations
- help students to make comments like, “I disagree. I see ...”
- items being ranked need to be problematic – causing discussion
- tally class responses somewhere the entire class can see
- begin discussion with the item with the widest array of responses
- make sure to ask students why they thought what they thought
- after discussion debrief, highlight the strategies students used to come to their judgments and the criteria they applied to make them.
Students may come to see that characterizations are made based on a character's actions, language, thoughts, body language, physical description, and how the character relates to other characters.
4) Media – more practice with media texts – using movie trailers, easily found on the internet – can be a fun way for students to practice getting impressions of characters and figuring out what they based their impressions on.
After practicing with each of these venues students should be ready to take on the duplicit Long John Silver, George the curious monkey, or the evil White Witch.
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