Monday, October 27, 2014

Literature Circle Video Reflections

This Literature circle video effectively lays out the method in which literature circles should function and gives great examples of student discussion.

1. Read 

Students independently read their group book.

2. Question & Note Take

Students can take note of specific quotes that back up their ideas and think of questions they want to ask or have their peers think about. This can even include making a chart. During this time, I think the main focus is for students to independently reflect.

3. Discuss

I think this is kind of the meat of the literature circle activity. Students are divided into groups to discuss what they have read. This video showed some great examples of what students should be discussing during this time.

  • Critiquing of the author
  • Character discusion
  • Character to self comparison
  • Using quotes to back up their argument
  • Asking questions and asking for more detail after they answer a question.
  • Critiquent a charter
  • Relating to the character
  • Making predictions

4. Reflect & Response

During this time the students write in their notebooks about what they discussed

5. Profess

I thought this part of the literature circle was great. The kids in this particular video stood on the table and would: summarize, say what they realized, question, or even talk about their favorite part. I think this activity is great because it gives each student the opportunity to freely say what they think. I thought it was really creative of the teacher to have them stand on the table. It acts as an stage, making their words have relevance and giving them the attention of the entire class.'

This video was clearly scripted, but ti was a cute production of how literature circles work in this classroom.
In these literature circles everyone has a specific role
Connector
-Makes 3 connection (self, world, another book and explains why)
Illustrator
-Draws a picture that is important to the story
Questioner
-Offers 2 questions an their answers
-Makes a prediction
Word Wizard
-Shares important terms in the text.

I feel theses role have their benefits and downfalls. I like that each student has a purpose and they are forced to practice different skills as the roles with off. However, I don't like that it kind of hinders discussion. Someone would have better questions to ask or more relevant connections, but thats not their job. Also, I feel that word wizard and illustrator don't have much importance. Not all kids like drawing and I think the group should take note of and discuss the words any of the group don't know since they are all at different reading levels.





Like the previous video, this one also  the same roles. I definitely preferred this over the scripted previous one. My issue with these roles is that discussion should be as natural as possible. However, the discussion does go well in this video. I love that the students continuously back up what they are saying with evidence from the text.
If I were to do this in my own classroom I would not divide up roles. I would ask students to think of at least one question, make one prediction, and take notes of words they don't know. I do like how when someone asks a question about the story or a word they ask their peers what they think. This is great opportunity to reflect on the the text and use their deductive skills.

2 comments:

  1. Your blog is literally so nicely set up! I absolutely love it! I love how you post the videos along with the videos too it makes it look so neat. Great Job

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