Literacy Circles Reflection Paper

Literacy circles were an idea I had never heard of before this class. I knew that there were book clubs or book discussions but I had never seen this used in a classroom before. Now I love the idea. There are so many good things that this kind of project brings out for students. One great thing about the literacy circles are that everyone has a role and is actively engaged. With only four or five students every student will have to talk at least once especially to share with the group what they found in the book that pertained for their job that week. Some roles involve research, which is a PASS standard that can be easily checked off for this lesson. Daniels from “What’s the Next Big Thing with Literacy Circles?” states that if the groups are …show more content…
It is in our DNA to talk. Kids expecially need time to talk and get their discussions out. This is a perfect way to get the talking out in a productive way. Students learn how to take turns and how to listen critically to the person talking through communication that this project breeds. In “Second Language and literacy teachers considering literature circles: A Play” one student by the name of Laurie tells the audience reading that “Hearing other voices and approaches to reading also strikes me as a real benefit of the lit circles. I have a friend who thinks about books in a way that is completely foreign to me” (MacGillivray 3). This is a great tool for students to learn in upper elementary school. Not everyone’s take away meaning or ideas in the book will be similar but that’s okay. This might be a strange idea for some students. They are use to everyone’s answer being uniformed and similar but you can explain that when reading everyone might imagine the scene a little differently and that is normal. As the teacher you would need to make sure that you went over the discussion manners before or students will talk over