WEBVTT

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[Music] Welcome to Literature Circles

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in Second Grade.

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My name is Trish Weaver.

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I teach second grade

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at Stevenson Elementary School

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in Bloomington, Illinois.

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Let's Talk About Text Day is usually

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on a Friday, and this is a time

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when the students get together

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in their small groups and usually

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about five or six students together.

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Now today, I had literature circles

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as one workstation, question card stems

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as another, and then we had story

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sequence cards that they worked with.

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The story that we were reading was

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called "Big Bushy Mustache,"

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and it was a story that was

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in our reading series,

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and I chose that particularly today

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because it did pose a problem

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for the kids that I felt

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like they could relate to.

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This boy had been given a part in a play

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at school and his disguise

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or costume was using this mustache.

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The teacher told them

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to leave their costumes at the school

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and instead he decides to wear his home

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because he was so excited.

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And of course on the way home he loses

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his mustache.

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For the literature circles section,

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they had previously filled

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out a job sheet,

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and their jobs would be

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circle supervisor.

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It's important, I found, to have someone

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that knows how to keep the group going.

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And in doing that,

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I have talked previously

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with the circle supervisor, a student,

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and I gave he or she the tips on what

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to say to get everyone to stay on task.

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And of course in the beginning,

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when we first started this,

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that was a difficult task

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because they all did want to speak

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out at one time,

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so I have tweaked it a little bit.

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I have actually gotten microphones

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that are not real,

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but they look like a microphone.

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So it's the circle supervisor's job

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to hand off the microphone to one

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of the students

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that actually puts his finger up

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and that's the indication

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to the circle supervisor that they would

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like to speak.

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There are several different types

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of jobs that students can have during a

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literature circle.

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We are in our beginning stages

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and so I have used some jobs

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that are a little bit

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on lower-level type, questioning types

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of activities, and I am looking

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for the evaluative type strategy today

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to see what their feelings were

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about the story.

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I have chosen jobs that try to show me

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that they were being able

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to understand the story

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and give me their feelings about it.

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One of those types

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of jobs was called I Want to Share,

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and for that one,

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they would draw a picture of something

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that they wanted to share,

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and then there was a space

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that they could write about that

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and why they thought

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that that was something

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that was important to them.

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Another type of job was Book Review,

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where they could simply circle whether

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they liked or did not

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like this book or story.

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But then they also had to write

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down why they did not like that story

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or why they did like it.

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And again, they are encouraged

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to go back in the story,

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find the information,

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look at the pictures, and use that type

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of information and tell us why.

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I was really more

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like a facilitator today.

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I got around to all the groups

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and I would sit in, first of all,

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and just listen to see what was going on

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and observe if they were being able

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to work cooperatively together.

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And then I would ask them a question

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or a follow-up question

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with where they were.

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And so I went back

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and forth several times

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to all the groups as they were

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in their discussions.

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They were working independently,

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but it's because we have modeled it

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and practiced it before.

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In our guided reading group we would

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talk about the different jobs

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and practice it a little bit there.

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I also told them I can't be everywhere

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at one time.

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So when they have a problem,

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until I get back to their group,

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they need to talk about the problem

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and again still use positive language,

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but talk about it before I get back

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there and talk about what can be done.

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So in second grade,

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that's a very grownup idea,

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but they were getting better at it,

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because when we have had circles before,

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it did start out that there were

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disagreements and some students didn't

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get along and that all did happen.

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As I have told them,

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that it's okay to disagree with someone,

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but there are ways to do that.

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I have a small acrylic stand at each

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of the group centers

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and actually it says ways to agree

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and disagree, and we have practiced

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that in our guided reading groups.

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And today it was much better,

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and I find each time

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that it does get better.

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So I feel like talking

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about the text helps them become more

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positive in how they look at reading,

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because we have reluctant readers

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and we also have students

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that just don't like to speak

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up very much.

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So I find that it's kind of twofold

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in that way that it helps them to learn

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to speak and think

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about what they are needing to get

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across to other students and also

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to learn to listen,

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so that if they don't understand

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something, they can learn from others

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in their group.

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[Music] To learn more

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about literature circles,

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please explore the additional resources

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on the Doing What Works website.