Student Literature Circle Written Work
I assigned the groups for this project in very intentional ways, basing group composition on personality, ability, and in the case of second period (where there had been some flare-ups of social drama) on gender as well. The hope was to put students in groups where they felt safe yet also a little uncomfortable, with the goal being to push them into discovering new abilities and new social roles. An example would be Derek's group, which consisted of four boys of three different races. All four had been fairly quiet and low-performing in class up to that point, and my hope was that with the right guidance someone would step up as a leader.
Over the course of this unit, the focus students still demonstrated significant flaws during discussion periods; however, they showed overall improvement in the following ways. Jessica and Derek often continued to come to class unprepared, but they stepped into leadership roles once they were there. They each pushed their respective small group discussions forward while also attempting to make up the written work they had not done for homework. Derek even began to participate more in the large group wrap-up discussions. Phillip continued to not read the assigned book, but he did at least make the effort to look up online synopses, which means he was reading more than in the past. Candice was the most alert I have ever seen her, and her group had some of the most interesting ideas of any I sat in on. Harriet ended up with a group that slacked on their individual role responsibilities, but she handled this frustration well, and she started participating more in the whole class wrap-up discussions.
Below are samples of the written work done by each student as part of these literature circle roles. None of the focus students were in groups with one another, so there is some overlapping of roles. The grade for each literature circle consisted of 30 points (10 per chapter) and took two major things into account: 1) the thoughtfulness and completeness of the written work and 2) the quality of the student's engagement in small-group discussion.
Below are samples of the written work done by each student as part of these literature circle roles. None of the focus students were in groups with one another, so there is some overlapping of roles. The grade for each literature circle consisted of 30 points (10 per chapter) and took two major things into account: 1) the thoughtfulness and completeness of the written work and 2) the quality of the student's engagement in small-group discussion.