Literature Circle

Students are given a choice of 5 books, and they must rate the books in descending order for the one they'd be most interested in reading, to the one they are least interested in reading. I then assign the kids their group based on other students that picked the same book as their #1.

For 6 weeks, students read the book, and once a week, they meet to discuss the book. Students pick what to have read for each meeting, and they also are responsible for assigning each kid a role (discussion director, passage master, etc.) for each discussion. Each child comes to the meeting prepared with their role completed and they have student-driven conversations about the book, wherein they dive deeply in to plot and character development, predict what may happen, talk about what they agreed and disagreed with for specific characters, and whatever else the discussion naturally leads to.

At the conclusion of the 6 weeks, the groups all have 4 jobs to do and they must figure out amongst each other who will tackle what. They have to make a mock facebook page (on a poster) for a character from their book, and pretend that their book has been made in to a movie wherein they have to 1. create the movie poster with a slogan and actors and actresses that will play the parts, 2. create a soundtrack of songs that relate to key events, themes, or moods of the book, and 3. create a video trailer for the movie.

I have seen students that do no particularly enjoy reading really get in to the books they've chosen. In fact, many students go on to read sequels or other pieces of reading from the same author. However, the library only has a certain number of the books I want the kids to have access to (Gateway Reader award books that are geared towards teens), and it is more and more difficult to get ahold of books that kids enjoy.