Reading+Circles

Please do a search for "Reading Circles" and "Reading Circles ESL." You'll find ideas for a novel way to handle the next in-class reader.

The topic has been discussed recently on a list I subscribe to, and I'm pasting in the best post below. Feel free to add roles (illustrator, for example) and to have each group make its final presentation in PowerPoint.

<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; font: medium arial,sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; webkitborderhorizontalspacing: 0px; webkitborderverticalspacing: 0px; webkittextdecorationsineffect: none; webkittextsizeadjust: auto; webkittextstrokewidth: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">No matter how many books or circles you have, you can assign roles. Students have to be taught the roles and prepare them prior to discussion days. Borrowing from K-6 and tweaking some of my own, I use these roles: Group Facilitator, Summarizer, Culture Guide, Literary Luminary, and VocabBuilder. That means I have no more than 5 people in a group, and I frequently choose between Culture Guide and VocabBuilder depending on which lends itself better to the novel.

The faciliator comes up with 5 discussion questions. (You have to teach what a discussion question is!) He or she leads the group, keeps things rolling and makes sure everyone stays involved.

Summarizer- A bang-bang-bang summary of the section everyone read with comments on the significance of events.

Culture guide- With a novel that lends itself, the student is responsible for pointing out cultural elements that appear in the novel.

Literary Luminary- Perhaps the toughest role, this person chooses a few lines or brief passages that he/she wants to draw attention to, for whatever reason, reads them aloud, and comments on them. Perhaps they are particularly beautiful, memorable, foreshadowing, descriptive, etc.

The VocabBuilder prepares a page of X number of useful vocabulary words that may be new or used only passively by the students. (Instructor decides how to set this up.)

With all of these roles, you need to be very specific as to their responsibilities and model exactly what you want. In addition, I give each group a question that asks them to relate what they read to their own experiences, or a general discussion question that I want to make sure they bring up in case the facilitator doesn't. Students should understand that the roles are just to help them discuss, to prompt discussion. They should be encouraged to go wherever the discussion leads them and not feel like it is a strict turn-taking activity.

Sorry for the length of this! [Who needs an apology?] <span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #000000; font: medium arial,sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; webkitborderhorizontalspacing: 0px; webkitborderverticalspacing: 0px; webkittextdecorationsineffect: none; webkittextsizeadjust: auto; webkittextstrokewidth: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">

Maria Spelleri State College of Florida USA