Loving Literature

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Loving Literature

  • May 24, 2023
  • Posted by: Caitlin McCallum
  • Category: Wow Story
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Wow Wednesdays - Stories from the Classroom

A goal I set for myself was to move away from teacher-led discussions where students wait for my questions after the book was read. These discussions almost always resulted in conversations that did not go deep enough. But first, students had to learn how to talk about books in a format that differed from what they were used to, such as raising their hands to speak. Literature discussions depend on students’ willingness to talk about the connections that matter in their lives and so it was important to set up a classroom where students felt safe to do so. 

Rough Start — Our first literature circle was not a discussion. It was a disaster. The students read a short personal narrative that I thought kids would enjoy and easily make connections to. The students struggled to get started. They made comments about the story but did not link or make connections to each other’s comments or life experiences. This was the baseline that I started from as I continued to increase our conversation about books. This took a lot of teacher modeling and practice over many months. 

Making Progress — In late September we began our first reading of Thirst by Varsha Bajaj. Students gave lots of information about the “global critical water shortage” theme. Many connections and important ideas were discussed in our circle. As they took turns sharing, I was amazed that the students were using the skills in their conversation that I have been modeling for them. It was awesome to sit back and listen to my students discuss the first seven chapters of the book and hit those important concepts that were presented by the author.  It was truly the beginning of a student-led literature circle.

~written by Louisa Ross, LSEM Teacher at Trinity Lutheran School in Clinton Twp, MI