The aim is to encourage thoughtful discussion and a love of reading in young people. Everyone is getting along wonderfully, the discussion is moving at a good pace, and the level of sharing is deeper than youd expected. A literature circle is equivalent for young people of an adult book club, but with greater structure. Designed to respond quickly, discussion groups address hot topics. Usually the best discussion questions come from your own thoughts, feelings.
Make copies of the literature circle role sheets discussion director, vocabulary. Sometimes students assign each other roles in groups based on gender socialization, relying on communication styles with which they are most comfortable in social settings. Then, explain the topic thats up for discussion and ask an. A book discussion group is a forum where readers can come together and talk about books and the reading experience. Smokey has been struck by the range of the book club boom that his book helped initiate. Shop online for our annual print editions, which include book overviews, suggested discussion topics and discussion questions for all our annual books. Identify and discuss negative group roles and behaviors. National reading group month salutes reading groups.
Get together a core group it is much easier to start a book club with two or three people who already have some connection. The book club jobs will be collected, along with this sheet, after the final book club meeting. Literature circles differ from other small group instructional approaches like guided. A place where all goodreads members can work together to improve the goodreads book catalog. After this initial practice discussion, groups may have ideas for new roles. There are adult groups, studentled groups, motherdaughter groups, fatherson groups, and parentchild groups, to name just a few. Groups can come back together to share the different approaches tried in the small groups.
Please contact individual locations for more details. Book discussion groups at your neighborhood library the. Were a nationwide nonprofit organisation with a 46year track record. Students choose or are assigned given roles or jobs such as passage picker, discussion director. Just as leaders have been long studied as a part of group communication research, so too have group member roles. Inappropriate behavior andor language will not be tolerated. First, the discussion director is responsible for guiding the literature circle. Assigning a role for each student in a group is a useful classroom management tip, which increases the effectiveness of group work. Training students for literature circles scholastic. Rules to make your book club run smoothly thoughtco. Literature circles are not to be confused with book discussion clubs, currently popular in some circles. Introducing literature circle roles to students facing history.
Identify and discuss maintenance group roles and behaviors. It is your responsibility to keep the discussion flowing smoothly and to make sure that everyone gets a chance to participate. In this lesson, students form cooperative groups and read a short text. Assign each group a specific role and distribute a description of that role. The book includes endofchapter discussion questions for you to consider, which are great tools for guiding discussion among group leaders, should you meet with a small group of leaders around a table at a restaurant or a coffee table in a living. Benefits of using literature discussion groups in teacher. The following is a list of roles which give a thinking task to each group member. Then, just as everyone is quieting down for a time of reflection and prayer, it happens. Choose roles that will help students overcome communication difficulties to get the project done and done well. To show everyone what a meaningful discussion looks like, place a group of four or five students on center stage in front of the room. Next, establish some ground rules, like treating everyone with respect, no interrupting, and being succinct. Nonlibrarians are welcome to join the group as well, to comment or. Students choose or are assigned given roles or jobs such as passage picker, discussion director, word wizard, character sketcher, connector. Setting group ground rules should be a group exercise.
Voice and choice in book clubs and reading groups and teaching the best practice way. Assume participants all have the same expectations when the group first convenes. Usually the best discussion questions come from your own thoughts. Ya buddy readers corner, nancy gideon by moonlight, challenge corner, a million more pages, and. This chapter will begin to answer those questions, because leadership and group member roles influence the performance of small groups. Organize with favorites and folders, choose to follow along via email, and quickly find unread posts. Interpreting nonfiction text students are divided into groups of a certain size for example, five members. Literature circle role sheet ipad literature circles. A site dedicated to book lovers providing a forum to discover and share commentary about the books and authors they enjoy. Usually roles are responsibilities on top of the project itself. Whether you consider yourself a leader or not, all members of a group can perform leadership functions, and being familiar with. Ask around the office, playgroups, your church, or civic organizations. After the group reads the book, each student will complete hisher role sheet and.
Group roles are more dynamic than leadership roles in. Reading groups are proving that good books bring people together. Select a number of questions, write each on an index card, and pass them out. Each student is assigned a specific role and responsibility to carry out during the smallgroup discussion. It is divided by genres, and includes folders for writing resources, book websites, videostrailers, and blogs. Overgeneralize behavior or have stereotypical expectations of participants tokenism. The socialemotional leader is the person who is concerned with maintaining and balancing the social and emotional needs of the group members and tends to play many, if not all, of the roles in this category. These groups can be organized in a variety of ways.
If you get to pick the book, here are some recommendations for engaging books that are likely to promote discussion. It is a good idea to plan on finishing the book a little earlier than you might otherwise so that you have time to think about it and prepare before your book club meets. This page provides general information about book groups, including with one book programs, some resources for guiding book groups, references for specific types of book groups, and an anonymously contributed guide to establishing and running. Studying these negative roles can help us analyze group interactions and potentially better understand why. Your job is to develop a list of questions that your group might want to discuss about this part of the book. Quick start guide book discussion groups libguides at. Smokey has authored or coauthored thirteen books on language, literacy, and education. Groups receive enough copies of their selected title to allow everyone in the group to read the same book at the same time. Most leaders dont even know the game they are in simon sinek at live2lead 2016 duration. A literature circle is a small group instructional approach to support the development of comprehension, independence and. Small groups simultaneously enact the discussionconflict in a roleplay. Join one of our lively book discussion groups and share your love of reading with others. During the first few weeks of class, the instructor gave brief book talks describing 1015 picture books and students selected four picture books to discuss in two literature groups sessions.
Stay in the loop with reading group choices, get notified about the release of our print editions, and receive handy materials from our publishing partners. This is a separate assignment from your book club journal response. The intent of literature circles is to allow students to practice and develop the skills and strategies of good readers dalie, 2001. Assigning roles to students is one way to encourage positive interdependence, interaction, and group processing, which are among the five key elements of working in groups. Choose one question at a time and toss it out to the group.
Often youll at least recruit some help in completing the rest of the steps. This reading could be a novel chapter or another fairly short selection that will allow. It fosters their growth and promotes the love of literature. Whether they rotate the roles daily or weekly, each person knowing their role, and the expectation for this role facilitator, scribe, reporter, etc is a helpful handle for them to stay engaged. Functional roles of group members north central college. Purpose encourage active participation by all group members. Room by emma donoghue book club discussion questions.
Content includes books from bestselling, midlist and debut authors. These flexible groups gather together to discuss the issues and provide members with the alwaysimportant informal networks for exchanging ideas and problemsolving. To conduct a group discussion, start by having everyone introduce themselves. Opinion seeker asks for clarification of opinions made by other members of the group and asks how people in the group feel.
The perfect book club is made up of three key things. This group is dedicated to connecting readers with goodreads authors. She also wanted to expose students to several literature group practices, such a students assuming literature discussion roles. Heres a look at some intellectual discussion groups near london. Use certain conventions or language that will exclude certain groups from understanding the context of the discussion, or make them feel uncomfortable. We read and discuss fiction, nonfiction, short stories, and poetry and host live chats and interviews with leading authors.
Each member or a team of 2 or 3 takes a card and answers the question. Have students summarzie a book discussion in their journals bi. Groups work together best when group members experiment with a variety of roles in groups, even those with which they dont have as much experience. Book discussion groups book discussions kristin guay facilitates the atheneums monthly book discussions, which feature popular and award winning books across a broad spectrum of genres.
Invite them to discuss a story or several chapters in a book. Its an opportunity for reading groups to reflect on their accomplishments and plan for the future the perfect time to join or start a group. Sometimes you might find enough people to start a book club right away. Students are given roles or jobs to complete for each group meeting.
Book discussion groups where several students read the same texta novel, story, poem, or content pieceselected by teacher or student choice, and take active roles in the discussion by preparing to lead specific sections of it. The national public issue forum is a comprehensive process for a community to overcome polarization and to. Introduce literature circles by explaining they are groups of people reading the same book and meeting. It is up to you to be sure the group focuses on what worked well, and brainstorms effective strategies to overcome. Google groups allows you to create and participate in online forums and emailbased groups with a rich experience for community conversations. I encourage you to download a free electronic copy of 3 roles for guiding groups at. Book groups are hosted at libraries throughout the city and facilitated by new york public library staff.