Literature Circles

In literature circles, small groups of students gather together to discuss a piece of literature in depth. The discussion is guided by students' response to what they have read. You may hear talk about events and characters in the book, the author's craft, or personal experiences related to the story. Literature circles provide a way for students to engage in critical thinking and reflection as they read, discuss, and respond to books. Collaboration is at the heart of this approach. Students reshape and add onto their understanding as they construct meaning with other readers. Finally, literature circles guide students to deeper understanding of what they read through structured discussion and extended written and artistic response.Perhaps the easiest way to understand what literature circles are is to examine what they are not.

Literature Circles are . . .	Literature Circles are not . . .
Reader response centered	Teacher and text centered
Part of a balanced literacy program	The entire reading curriculum
Groups formed by book choice	Teacher-assigned groups formed solely by ability
Structured for student independence, responsibility, and ownership	Unstructured, uncontrolled "talk time" without accountability
Guided primarily by student insights and questions	Guided primarily by teacher- or curriculum-based questions
Intended as a context in which toapplyreading and writing skills	Intended as a place to do skills work
Flexible and fluid; never look the same twice	Tied to a prescriptive "recipe"

From Getting Started with Literature Circles 

by Katherine L. Schlick Noe & Nancy J. Johnson 

Here are some resources for running Literature Circles:

Literature Circles Resource Page

Literature Circles in High School (video)

Literature Circle Role Sheets

Literature Circles in the Middle and High School Classroom Facilitator’s Guide

Literature Circles Assignment, Book List, Roles, and Assessments for a Grade 12 ELA Class