LITERATURE CIRCLES IN MIDDLE SCHOOL:
One Teacher’s Journey
Bonnie Campbell Hill
Katherine L. Schlick Noe
Janine A. King
Open the pages of this new
guide and put yourself into a terrific literature circles environment —
one where the focus is specifically on your middle school learners!
Whether you’re a classroom teacher, curriculum coordinator, language
arts coordinator, or administrator, you’ll find enough ready-to-use
help and realistic strategies to get you started, help you implement,
and even improve upon existing literature circles in your classroom.
- See exactly what literature circles are.
- See why they are useful — and how you should make the best use of them.
- Learn from real life examples how literature circles can fit into your language arts instruction.
- Help students develop their options for choosing what to read.
- Put to use great strategies for accurately grading student work and participation.
- Get organized! See just how to get started and take it from there.
- Learn to choose quality literature selections to use with students.
- Discover ways to meet the needs of less proficient readers.
- See how to keep up with what’s new in books for middle school readers.
- Find out how you can initiate quality literature discussions.
- Deal effectively with student response — using such strategies
as journaling, open response, and focus lessons, and then extending
student response through the arts and additional projects.
- Extend your own knowledge and resources with thorough lists
of professional references and recommended adult and children’s book
selections.
CD-ROM included!
Included
is a CD-ROM with a database containing over 800 young adult book
titles. Add your comments to existing entries or add your own titles!
©2003 Paperbound 136pp est. with CD-ROM ISBN: 1-929024-50-9
Table of Contents
Introduction / The Structure of This Book
- Literature Circles in My Middle School Classroom
Why Literature Circles?
What Are Literature Circles?
How Can Literature Circles Meet the Needs of Middle School Students?
What Is the Role of Literature Circles in My Middle School Language Arts Program?
The Grading Challenge
Successful Literature Circles in Middle School
- Organizing Literature Circles
Getting Started
Determining a Yearly Plan for Literature Circles
- Choosing Books
Keeping Up With New Books
Obtaining Multiple Copies
Selecting Different Books for Different Grades
Meeting the Needs of Less Proficient Readers
My Secret Weapon: The Read Aloud
- Supporting Quality Discussions
Benefits of Discussion
Providing Guidance for Discussions
Beyond Role Sheets
Preparing for a Discussion
Developing Discussions Over Time
Debriefing: The Key to Successful Discussions
Focus Lessons for Discussions
Teacher Evaluation
Student Self-Evaluation
My Own Goal for Discussions
- Supporting Quality Written Response
Purpose of a Written Response
Different Ways to use Writing
Developing a Written Response Over Time
Writing Response Journals Today
Focus Lessons for a Written Response
Responding to and Evaluating Student Writing
Student Self-Evaluation
My Own Goals for Written Response
- Extending Response Through the Arts
What Are Extension Projects?
Purpose of Extension Projects
Sample Extension Projects
Teaching the Process
Exploring Literary Elements Through Projects
Setting a Timeline for Extension Projects
Focus Lessons for Extension Projects
Evaluating Extension Projects
Conclusion
Appendix A: State Standards and Literature Circles
Appendix B: Additional Literature Circle Books
References
Professional Books
Young Adult Books