Teaching and Learning

Literature Circles

A small group of Year 4 students participated in their very first Literature Circle this week. As a group, we read the picture story book Cicada by Shaun Tan and the rich discussion that followed demonstrated the effectiveness of applying reading comprehension strategies in this way. 

A literature circle is like an adult book club, but with greater structure, expectation and rigor. The aim is to encourage thoughtful, deep discussion about texts, and a love of reading in young people. In a ‘Lit Circle’, students practice and develop the skills and strategies used by good readers while reading student selected texts.

In a typical Lit Circle, students are allocated a role that is explicitly taught and demonstrated by the teacher before the students begin to work independently. These roles include:

• Discussion Director
• Super Summariser
• Artful Artist
• Passage Picker
• Word Wizard
• Connector

Prompt cards, anchor charts or bookmarks (like those in the accompanying photos) are given to students to help them remember these roles. Our Year 4 student group thoroughly enjoyed this learning experience and went away feeling stimulated and excited by the prospect of engaging in another Lit Circle next week.