I have been a opportunity to fill for a Teacher Librarian for the next few weeks. One initative that their school has been doing with a very small group of selected students in Years' 8 and 10 is to engage in a fortnightly literature circle.
I met two groups this week and was encouraged by their participation. The Year 10 group focused this week on the concept of the literature circle, its conventions and the roles that each member will have as they commence reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I am looking forward to what they have to say in less than two weeks time. I will be reading alongside them as well which is my main reading challenge for the next fortnight.
The Year 8 group were one session ahead and for a first session, did well. Generally they were fufilling their roles well. There are areas to work on, but this will be developed over time. They definately had read the part of the book that they were required to read. Even though I have not read the book, I was listening and was interested in the discussion and was able to even pose questions to the group, because I was keen to engage with them and find out more about the book.
Literature Circles have a core benefit in encouraging critical thinking about a text that a person has read and scaffolds guide discussion, which should eventually become free flowing. The requirement to think critically also fuels their comprehension skills as the reader/s have to explore their text in greater detail.
