Literature Circles

My literature circle activity was implemented with the help of Mrs. Jennifer Cox at Station Camp Elementary School. I was able to work with a group of four first grade students, two boys and two girls. The students home languages included Cambodian, Korean, Spanish and Chinese. All of the students were in the beginning fluency stage with solid Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills, but varied in their literacy levels. We began with a read aloud of Mia Coulton's Spy Danny. I was not familiar with the series before, but I truly enjoyed reading the selection with these students.

What are your overall impressions of implementation?

Initially I was very intimidated to work with this age group. I felt that their literacy levels would prevent me from creating meaningful activities in which they could interact with the text and develop critical thinking and literacy skills. However, I quickly discovered that I was wrong. We were able to work of prediction and inference skills and the students did very well when asking questions of the text. They were excited about the topic and participated enthusiastically overall.

How did students react to the literature?

The students really loved the story's main character, Danny, and so they seemed excited to see him in the role of a spy. They especially enjoyed the realia involved in exploring the spy theme. The mystery and suspense of the story helped to keep their attention.

How did students react to discussing the selected texts?

The students seemed to enjoy discussing the text in the whole group setting a little more than when working in pairs as "checker" and "highlighter." When I modeled the questions students responded quickly, but when I asked students to ask questions of their partner and then "highlight" their responses with a transparent/colored ruler they needed a bit of encouragement. I find this to be the case with almost all age groups. Students are much more comfortable in a passive rather than an active learning role. I was glad that they were stretching during the activity because, by the end, they became more comfortable asking their own questions of the text.

How appropriate is the Literature Circle Technique for second language learners?

I think the literature circle technique is a fantastic idea for differentiation in the diverse English language learning classroom, especially for older learners. I think that it was a bit more difficult to implement with the group I worked with given their ages and literacy levels, but it was still effective. I could definitely see it implemented even more effectively with more literate students in a setting where the teacher and students had more time to work together.

What changes would you make if you were to repeat this?

I think I would arrange to have more time to follow up with the students and extend the theme with other literature selections for students to choose. I would have liked to have more time to conference individually with each student and better assess their individual language learning needs.

Suggestions for other ESL professionals:
-Choose an initial selection that elicits the interest of the students you are working with.
-Spend time modeling the types of questions you want your students to ask of the text.
-Allot enough time to speak with each individual student to assess their comprehension of the text and assist them in formulating responses in their response journals.
-Have fun!