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Mini-Lessons for Literature
CirclesChapter 1: Joining the Book Club
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Elements of Lit Circles
• Students choose their own reading materials
• Small groups (3-6) are formed based on book/work choice.
• Grouping is by text choices, not by “ability”
• Different groups choose and read different works
• Groups create and meet on a regular schedule.
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Literature Circles in HS
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Lit Circles Elements, cont.
• Members write notes that help guide both their reading and their discussion
• Discussion questions come from the studnets, not teachers or textbooks.
• The teacher does not lead any group, but acts as a facilitator—fellow reader and observer
• Personal responses, connections, and questions are the starting points of discussion.
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Lit Circles Elements, cont.
• A spirit of playfulness and sharing pervades the room.
• When works are finished, groups share highlights of their reading with classmates through presentations, reviews, dramitizations, book chats, or other activities.
• New groups form around new reading choices.
• Assessment is by teacher observation and student self-evaluation.
• http://www.ohiorc.org/adlit/video/videoClip.aspx?clipID=3&segmentID=8
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What do Book Clubs Look Like?
• 1. A brief introductory mini-lesson led by a teacher.
• 2. A long chunk of meeting time for the students, during which the teacher monitors and assists.
• 3. A short mini-lesson or debriefing session conducted by the teacher at the end.
• http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/girls-read-online-literature-970.html
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What are Mini-Lessons?
• “Short, focused, teacher-directed activities used before and after each meeting of literature circles, book clubs, or any student-centered reading discussion.”
• From 5-15 minutes to introduce a single skill, practice a new strategy, or demonstrate a helpful variation.
• A few 20-30 minute lessons if they include practice time using real literature, not because the teacher talks more.
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Why do we need them?
• Literature circles are complex
• We need to provide a period of training, especially if collaborative small-group work is unfamiliar or difficult.
• We need to make sure students have enough social, coginitive, and literary skills to begin functioning in peer-led groups.
• Need to be partnered with ongoing, systematic strucutre.
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What Topics do they Cover?
• The social skills necessary for effective small-group discussion.
• The cognitive strategies that help readers to understand texts.
• The literary lenses smart readers use to examine and appreciate what they read.
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Social Skills• See list of skills on page 8, which include the
following:
• Take turns
• Listen actively
• Include everybody
• Honor people’s “burning issues”
• Piggyback on ideas of others
• Speak up when you disagree
• Support your views with the work
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Reading Strategies• Visualize: make mental pictures or sensory images
• Connect: connect to own experience, events, other readings
• Question: actively wonder and interrogate text
• Infer: predict, hypothesize, interpret, draw conclusions
• Evaluate: determine relative importance, judge, critique
• Analyze: notice author’s craft, text structures, etc.
• Recal: retell, summarize, remember
• Self-Monitor: recognize and act upon uncertainty
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Literary Analysis• Focus on the craft of authorship (see chapter
7)• Powerful language• Taking notes on strong verbs• Examining the setting with research• Predicting plot and character• Looking at characterization
• Relate to “reader response theory” – response precedes analysis.
• Highlight other approaches? Archetypal?
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When do You Teach Mini-Lessons?
• Sample:
• 5-15 minutes: introductory mini-lesson
• 20-30 minutes: small-group meeting time
• 5-15 minutes: sharing time or closing mini-lesson.
• See pages 13 and 15.
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Mini-Lessons in Book• Name of lesson, time needed, and
rationale
• Teaching the Lesson
• Getting started
• Working the room
• Reflecting
• What can go wrong?
• What’s next, and Variations.
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How to teach them well
• Adapt them to your class (grade level, schedule, unit concept, students)
• Provide students with journals: think of these as double column response logs.
• Be ready to switch roles from coach to instructor
• http://www.slideshare.net/KatieMcKnight/literature-circles-start-to-finish