Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles

I have been using the activities in this book with my "sheltered" reading classes (includes second language learners and a few special ed. students) with great results. The other reading teachers in the department use that computer based program where kids read and test, read and test, etc. Considering that my students are in grades 9-10-11, it made no sense to continue that approach. It has been used on them since second grade with little improvement in their reading...probably because the computer based program is the best way to make kids hate reading! Since my two reading classes are very small, we only have one reading circle, but the techniques have been very effective. The students are always eager to start a new class novel, and with the use of the activities, I have seen a big improvement in their critical thinking skills during reading. Before, the students would say, "OK, I read it Miss, but I don't get it." I haven't heard that complaint since I started using the activities in this book. I plan on using some of the activities with my English classes also.

I have used several of the mini-lessons from this book to successfully start literature circles with my 5th graders this year. I am amazed at how quickly they have picked up the skills, and at how invested they are in the discussions. I thought they wouldn't fully be running their own discussions until Thanksgiving, but they were doing it successully by the end of September thanks to the very practical, short, to the point lessons in this book. What a wonderful resource. While my students are considered "gifted", I think that the lessons in this book would work with any 5th grade or older class.

As a high school English teacher, one of my biggest challenges is the constant prodding of my students to take an active role in their reading. I've worked with a Literature Circle approach for several years, experimenting with different techniques, tweaking my daily lessons, and adding new strategies as I come across them. Now, with this book, Daniels and Steineke have blown me away. They have filled the book with dozens of practical ideas, from mini-lessons on short readings to using book choice in class. Even if you don't use a full Literature Circle approach, their research-based instructional strategies about harvesting techniques, discussion boosters, and even assessment ideas have re-energized my teaching approach. This is a practical, intelligent book that I see becoming a staple in my professional library. As they detail different strategies and their mini-lessons build on important reading strategies, a central thread is evident: a focus on student reflection of the reading-discussion process. I'm hooked. I recommend it to anyone who teaches English or anyone looking for ways to spice up the simple act of reading an article and talking about it in class. Buy the book. Give it to a fellow teacher. Buy another copy. It is worth it.

Getting children to read is quite possibly the most important thing that school can teach. With different children different techniques work. Harvey Daniels book on Literature Circles introduced the concept of small book circles where the young readers form a small group to review a book. For many students it worked better than any previous approach. Now he, along with Nancy Steineke have expanded on this concept with a series of short, focused and practical lessons to help the groups function. The book includes just about every problem that has been experienced in working with book clubs from dealing with kids who don't do the reading to helping the shy student.

How many times have you eavesdropped on your students during their lit circle discussions only to witness a contrived, robotic conversation? If you are looking for ways to enhance your lit circles and whole class book discussion groups in order to develop more authentic conversation, you need this book. This book is one of the most practical and well-organized "teaching" books I have read. Each chapter provides mini-lessons, ideas for teaching everything from building class community, to asking good questions, to examining the author's craft. The lessons are clearly explained and even include a section detailing what can go wrong! How helpful! Since the goal of lit circles is to teach kids how to discuss books like "real readers" do, Daniels and Steineke's book provides ideas to move students from using structured lit circle discussion sheets, to helping them find the method of note taking and response that works for them. The result is high quality discussion and student who really THINK about what they read. Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles is truly refreshing. It helped me show students how to get more out of their lit circle discussions while moving them through a progression of structure to more independent preparation for book discussion. If you are doing lit circles with your classes, you will love this book!