Wrapping up literature circles...

Welcome back! During the week of 2/23-2/27, students finished reading the novel they had selected with their literature circle and had their last two discussion days to discuss the final chapters. The schedule for the week mirrored that of the week before vacation. On Monday and Wednesday, students prepared for group discussions by reading assigned chapters, completing discussion preparation sheets, or writing director questions. Tuesday and Thursday were discussion days.

As a teacher, the discussion days were fun. I saw students peel back layers of the text and debate the issues that arose in the novel they read. I saw students emerge as leaders of their groups by spurring discussion if it was fizzling or involving students who may have been quiet in the discussion. I saw students who are ordinarily quiet in whole-class discussions share their thoughts about the novel with their group, and I saw students succeed and struggle when working together as a group. If nothing else, this literature circle unit gave students the opportunity to practice their skills of working together as a team to complete a task, and I think that's an important skill for every student.

Returned Assignments

No graded assignments were returned this week.