Immersed in Reading! Literature Circles in the Middle Years By Faye Brownlie Hosted by the The BC Ministry of Education

1. Immersed in Reading! Literature Circles in the Middle Years By Faye Brownlie Hosted by the The BC Ministry of Education

2. What Really Matters for Struggling Readers •   reading volume • high success reading opportunities • engage in literate conversations • useful, explicit strategy instruction • Richard Allington, Vancouver, • LOMCIRA Fall Conference, October 2004

3. Grade 4/5 Strategies: • various strategies for unknown words Comprehension: • identifying main ideas and relevant details

4. Content:Vikings Strategies: • Listen and Sketch • • whole class repeated read aloud • • sketch ‘what’s happening’ • • emphasize one way to learn new words in context • • compare with a partner • • listen again • add on

7. Note Taking •as a class, highlight the words you needed for your sketch on the overhead

8. They have placed me outside their tents where they can keep an eye on me. I notice they took care to stake me in a grassy area empty of anything but myself. There is nothing close by that I can use to cut the bindings that tie my wrists to the stake. Joan Carter – Dream Carvers

9. In partners, read another section of the text • individually, underline key words • together, compare your underlined words and highlight key words

11. Webbing Students are working in small groups, collecting information on their aspect of Viking life. • as a class, create a web of what is currently known about Vikings • use three colours of chalk for the web, one for Viking, a second for big ideas about Vikings, a third for details • students give an idea and tell what colour it should be written in

12. students individually web what they remember about their aspect of Viking life • students meet in partners and add on information – in a second colour • students read independently for 20 minutes • students return to their webs and add on information in a third colour

13. Collaborative Summary • individually each student generates three big ideas about the topic being studied • these are written down, one per strip of paper • students meet in pairs and negotiate their six ideas into three • pairs meet in groups of four and negotiate their six ideas into three • students write one paragraph for each big idea – 10 to 15 minute write

14. each step of the process is modeled • • an idea is a big idea if you can talk about it, adding on, for 1 minute • • students reflect on how their negotiations worked

17. Literature Circles

18. no assigned roles • no limits on amount of reading • constantly changing discussion groups • student choice of books • journals • bi-weekly comprehension strategies

19. Introducing Lit Circles: • Novice: • ‘say something’ • learning how to talk about text • * See My Relatives in Resource Package

20. Experienced: • ‘The Story Behind the Poem’ (Student Diversity; Brownlie, Feniak) • setting the stage (themes and/or critical issues) • * See Hiroshima Exit in Resource Package

21. Marketing the Books • Novice/Experienced: • ‘managed choice’ – choose two books • background/brief summary/length/style – ‘notice that’ • who would like this book/why • read a page

22. Grade 4/5 Number the Stars - Lois Lowry *Stone Fox - John G. Reynolds Midnight Fox - Betsy Byars Woo -Constance Horne Jacob’s Little Giant - Barbara Smucker How Come the Best Clues Are Always in the Garbage? - Linda Bailey Lucy and the Big Bad Wolf - Ann Jungman

23. Grade 4/5, Canadian Historical Fiction Camp X – Eric Walters *Danger at the Landing – Becky Citra (Orca Young Reader) The Lost Sketch – Andrea and David Spalding (Adventure Net) Terror in the Harbour – Sharon McKay (Our Canadian Girls) Across the James Bay Bridge – Julie Lawson (Our Canadian Girls) A Mighty Big Imagining – Lynne Kositsky (Our Canadian Girls) Hobo Jungle – Dorothy Harris (Our Canadian Girls)

24. Grade 5/6 The Breadwinner – Deborah Ellis Parvana’s Journey – Deborah Ellis Good-bye Marianne – Irene N. Watts Remember Me - Irene N. Watts Island – Gordon Korman Bridge to Terabithia – Katherine Paterson Holes – Louis Sachar

25. Grade 6/7, Hope/Courage/Survival/Persecution *When the Soldiers Were Gone – Vera W. Propp Daniel’s Story – Carol Matas Jesper – Carol Matas Willow and Twig – Jean Little The Old Brown Suitcase – Lillian Boraks-Nemetz Goodbye, Vietnam – Gloria Whelan So Far from the Bamboo Grove – Yoko Kawashima Watkins, Jean Fritz

26. Grade 6/7 The Saga of Darren Shan – Darren Shan Roman Mystery Series – Caroline Lawrence Silverwing Series – Kenneth Oppal Run – Eric Walters Feather Boy – Nicky Singer Hitler’s Daughter – Jackie French Petey – Ben Mickaelsen Habibi – Naomi Shihab Nye The Amah – Lawrence Yep The Girls – Amy Goldman Koss The Shadow Children Series – Margaret Peterson Haddix

27. Grade 8/9 Soldier Boys – Dean Hughes Caught in the Crossfire – Alan Gibbons The Shakespeare Stealer - Gary Blackwood Running Loose – Chris Crutcher Hope Was Here – Joan Bauer Search of the Moon King’s Daughter – Linda Holman Private Peaceful – Michael Morpurgo The Garbage King – Elizabeth Laird Lord of the Nutcracker Men – Iain Lawrence

28. Lit Circle Conversations • Novice: • begin with ‘say something’ • each student responds in turn • general conversation can follow • teacher meets with each group •  other students are reading

29. Experienced: • groups meet simultaneously •  teacher moves from group to group •  begins with student observations or questions about their reading •  groups can all be talking about an assigned critical focus

30. Response Journals • Novice: • double-entry journals •  written in class, together •  10 minute write •  develop criteria for powerful responses

31. Response Journals • Experienced: • personal response •  written as individually appropriate, independently •  establish criteria for powerful responses

32. Double-entry Journal What Happened My Thinking Event 1 Event 2 * See Terror in the Harbour in Resource Package

33. Quote My Thinking 1. 2. * See The Giver in Resource Package

34. Dialogue Journal • students reading the same book, in about the same place • students write to each other • the next day students exchange books and respond to each other • * See Cleopatra VII in Resource Package

35. Integrated Response -students write in response to what they are reading, including both text references and personal connections * See Power of Family in Resource Package

36. Comprehension Strategies • Novice: • every two weeks, as a class • specific comprehension focus chosen based on student need and curriculum

37. Comprehension Strategies • Experienced: • every two weeks •  students can choose their comprehension strategy to demonstrate the specific curriculum outcome

38. Comprehension Strategies can include: Containers for Characters

39. Comprehension Strategies can include: • Setting • Venn Diagram • Venn Diagram with 2 books • Character Tree • Hot Seat • *See Resource Package for Examples

40. Finale/Culminating Activities Novice/Experienced: Write to the teacher, a letter of advice, about teaching Lit. Circles * See Resource Package for Samples

41. Finale/Culminating Activities • may vote on best reads, books to exclude, have a book club party • consider the question, ‘What have these books taught you about life and living?’ (Drew Davies) • ideogram on the theme