The second site I viewed was titled, Virtual Circles: Using Technology to Enhance Literature Circles and Socratic Seminars
I found this site pretty interesting because, as a reading teacher, I have used lit. circles in the past and have developed some specialized thematic approaches to spice it up a bit and allow students more diversity. It was interesting to walk through the process with this teacher.
His approach was quite simple. Instead of face to face conversation students had daily reading requirements and responded to the reading on a class blog. Students "met" in groups of 4-5 and worked on a class project together. The usual prompts were suggested: thoughts, feelings, questions, predictions, inferences, visualizations, connections, and so on.
Students had very specific expecatations spelled out for them and procedures were specific including requirements for on-line protocols such as use of first name only and no inappropriate commentary.
A preseminar survey was also requested on-line to measure changes in attitude toward sharing in a literature circle.
Students enjoyed it. It seemed easy. The teacher saw interest and growth in reading skills. It was worth the time (students could write responses in class or from home). Since the reesponses the teacher was getting in traditional lit circle groups was flat and uninspired this seemed like a good idea to try. And since responses improved and students were more interested in ideas shared then it seemed a firm success.
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3 comments:
Gail - very interesting post! So interesting, in fact, that I looked up the article myself (I will have to show you all how to make links within your blogs!) to read it.
This is the first integration of blogging and literature circles that I have heard of. I think that the creation of some sort of site where students could post reading responses from school or home and be able to read their peers comments could be quite valuable.
Darrrllllliiiinnkkkk Gail; A theme threaded throughout these artilcel, and stated at the end of you response is the way students are motivated. The way students seem to want to elaborate and provide additional information/details in their writing is facinating. Is it possible our lack of interest and skills could hold back our students? Is it true that we are "cutting edge" teachers because of our exposure to technology? Hmmmmmm?
Paula is a sissy
Hi, Gail,
I would love to look this work on literature circles and blogging. Certainly the novelty would be great - then maybe you could go between one and the other.
I'm really interested because I would like to work toward more of a reading workshop approach, so this could be really useful. This fits well with what the article we were reading for this week talked about.
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