Literature Circle Guidelines
Artifact Description
As an artifact to represent Standard 5, I have chosen the expectations of literature circle I held with a small group of fourth graders. The document lays out the expectations that I had of the students while we were in session together.
AnalysisThese guidelines provided structure to my literature circle sessions with the small group and helped established a positive learning environment. Included were behavioral expectations, as well as discussion expectations. These guidelines aided in making the best use of our time together by getting started quickly and remaining focused.
The second part of the guidelines addressed the way in which we were to speak to one another. I included these sentence starters to lead students in respectful discussions surrounding the text and the work each student presented daily. By introducing these guidelines at the start of our literature circle, a positive learning environment became the expectation and the result. The students were reciprocally respectful and enthusiastically participated in session. |
SynthesisDue to the constraints of time for this field experience, I was the one who created the guidelines. In my own classroom I would have the students come up with guidelines as a whole group or small group. This way, the values that they hold would be incorporated and they would be more likely to abide by them.
Theoretically, having students create the guidelines which they desire to obey would lend itself to more successful student-led literature circles and require less teacher involvement. Many students are less inhibited with their peers and will discuss the text in greater depth with one another when properly scaffolded to do so. |