I love the mix of whole class novels, lit circles, and independent reading. Some kids and parents are scared at the beginning of the year when I tell them the students will always be reading 2 books simultaneously -- independent and whole class or lit circle. But they all do it fine with some fine-tuning -- they are willing to read whole class becuase they get input on the lit circle choices and selections and they get to choose thier independent book with my approval -- it gives them a full scope of lit -- then I do short story and nonfiction units too
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello, I have used Literature for several years now and I love what it does to my students. It transforms them. At the start, I teach Literature Cirlces using stories in their Literature Anthology text. Then we take on a whole class novel. As a former sixth grade teacher I used Hatchet and Holes as novels for the whole class with great success. Then I brought in groups sets of novels for them to self select, allowing groups to come to me with a book they would like to read. There are 6 jobs and you can name them anyway you want. The job discriptions I use are: Sum-upper, Word Wizard, Pictioner, Passage Master, Connector and Discussion Director. I divide the novels into 6 sections, the smae number as members in a group. Every member will have one of the jobs. I keep a log of their assignments and give each group a symbol of the book. For example , for the novel Holes, I give each group a spotted lizard as their '' talking stick." When they present their jobs on Fridays, only those holding the symbol are allowed to speak. To keep everyone accountable for the reading, I ask them to summarize the week's reading. This year, as a middle school teacher, I can use this stragegy for my honors classes and my goal is to give my basic to below basic classes a chance to use this as well. There are a lot of books out there on Literature Circles. I took some from each as well as ideas from the methods classes my student teachers take. Hope you do it. You will like what it does for your classroom as you wwalk around and listen to groups talk about books. Mrs. Mac ---- "Watson wrote: > Hello, > > I am working with a group of middle school language arts and reading > teachers. Several of them are really interested in moving toward the use > of Literature Circles and Reading Workshop, but several of them are > adamant that they want to keep using whole class novels. It will take a > while for them to develop trust in me and see me as credible, so as we > develop that relationship, I'd like to help them use whole class novels > in the best and most developmentally appropriate ways. > > Can anyone suggest sources that address the effective and appropriate > use of the whole class novel? Do you have specific suggestions that I > could share with them? I have not personally used whole class novels in > many, many years, but I know good teachers who do. I need to start where > these teachers are, then gradually encourage more small group and > independent reading. Advice? > > Thanks in advance, > Pat Watson > > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Debbie Parker [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org.
