EDN340 Blog 5 Post-

EDN 340 Blog Post 5—Crystal Amethyst Martinez

Part A: Comparing and Contrasting Literature Circles and Guided Reading.

       Literature circles, sometimes called book clubs, are small groups of students (4 to 6 students) reading the same book. They meet to discuss their thoughts and feelings about what they have read. In a literature circle, students are not assigned specific roles in the group, are not grouped per reading level, and the process does not involve guided group reading. When using a literature circle, it is important students choose the book, and that teacher has a few copies of the same book. Students must have time for independent reading, and time to prepare for their group meetings perhaps with sticky notes or graphic organizers. One of the most important reasons teachers use literature circles is to keep students engaged, interested, and enjoying reading.

      When using guided reading, students get increasingly challenging books over time. They are grouped and re-grouped based on frequent observations and assessments by teacher. The main purpose of guided reading is to help children learn to read for meaning. Guided reading is of course, guided by the teacher. The teacher’s role is to show students how reading works (modeling), help them make meanings of what they read, help them use evidence from text to support their answers in discussions and writings, and lead students into their reflections about their own understanding of the reading. Each lesson lasts about 20-35 minutes long, and each group should have no more than 6 students. The lesson is divided into 3 subsections; before reading, during reading, and after reading.

       My partnership teacher does not teach reading, she specializes in the math and science block, so I have to use video examples.

Guided Reading-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdTlEU0vvzY

In this video, one in a series called “guided reading by the month”, the recording is of the “before reading” sub section of guided reading, In this video, the teacher discusses vocabulary from the book to make sure the students know those words before they come upon them reading. She also leads students to making predictions. Predictions and vocabulary are elements of “before reading” that all teachers should start their guiding reading groups with. During reading, the students take turns, reading 3 pages each. As the first little girl is reading, teacher appears to possibly be taking an assessment, perhaps a running record of this student’s reading progress.

Literature Circle--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlJJhP3frUQ

  I really enjoyed watching this video of elementary students discussing their opinions and ideas they came up with on their own. Sorry it is a bit lengthy, but it was a good video I found. It shows different groups of students discussing different books. In the first conversation clip, children are discussing how this 14 year old character has all these survival skills, than reason that he has all these skills because it is set in the past, a time when expectations for young people were different, and young teenagers took on adult work and roles. I also enjoyed watching a student discuss his views of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, and relating those issues to the novel he was reading. In all the groups, children could express their own ideas, listen to their peer’s ideas, sometimes build off their peers thinking, or dispute it with their own evidence. It is great to see children participating on this level, and this video really demonstrates the benefits of literature circles.

Part B: Teaching with Chapter Books

            I would use “Pictures of Hollis Woods in a whole class novel study. Some chapters I would read to the class, some chapters let the students take turns reading a page aloud (those that volunteer to read), and some chapters assign for reading at home. (No more than 1 chapter a time at home). I would also assign students to a small literary circle group. After every 4 chapters, they would have literary circle meetings in their small groups. With every chapter, we would have a short class discussion, to make sure everyone has understood what we just read. I would probably have a few worksheet assignments (like with short answer questions to be answered with evidence from text, and filling out an ongoing vocabulary chart throughout book. At the end of book, I would have them create a book report or write a long answer response (then students would have different questions), perhaps using a technology presentation model, or poster board presentation.

         There are so many elements in this novel for potential discussion topics. Foreshadowing is used extensively throughout the novel, much more than in most books. I would discuss what foreshadowing is, and have students look for examples of it in the particular chapter we are discussing. Also, there is a lot to say about this writer’s style, of going back and forth to past and present, there are so many “flashback” scenes. Each “picture of..” is a description of some flash back from Hollis’s life, and worth it’s own discussion. There are many prediction scenarios possible with this book, just to show a couple of examples; even though there are many more throughout whole book

1.    After reading chapter 8, where do you think Hollis is planning to take Josie, why?

2.    After reading chapter 6, what has Hollis realized about Josie? How does she react/feel about this realization?

       In this novel, there are many characters with very different roles and personas, some of the characters one won’t understand their relation to Hollis Woods until it gets closer to end. Character charts or organizers would be a good way to help students keep track of the different characters and their various roles.

            As I said before, I think the best way to present this book would be using a variety of literary approaches. This book could possibly be presented as read aloud, especially since I find it kind of a hard book for elementary students. . Listening to an adult read aloud can be very beneficial for students to understand the meaning, allowing them to focus on what is happening in the story, instead of struggling to read it. I think because this book is a bit complicated for elementary students, and it would be easy to read without understanding what they just read, read aloud would be beneficial.

The whole-class novel study approach may be used because there are many discussion points, foreshadowing, and literary elements, after each chapter they could have a short “class discussion”, to make sure everyone is on the same level and comprehending the book. In a whole-class novel study, although students would do some independent reading, the teacher would be leading the readings and guiding them to specific questions.

 If a teacher decided to use a literature circle approach, there are so many topics and subtopics a group of students could discuss about this book. This would give them opportunity to explain their own feelings/opinions of the book, and hear peer’s ideas as well. With the other 2 other approaches discussed, if either are the sole approaches being used, there would not be enough time for each class member to give a detailed opinion of their views so far. Guided reading could work very well with this book, but teacher cannot guide same group day after day. With guided reading, teacher elicits prior knowledge and vocabulary, sometimes new words before reading with students. Guided reading may include modeling correct reading. Most importantly though, it assures children can read for meaning, which is critical with this book. The meaning can easily pass right by you, especially if you don’t pay attention.