Week #5

"Literature circles provide an ideal vehicle for helping students learn to respect and appreciate the varied contributions of everyone in the class. To me, literature circles are also the best setting for exploring literature and for building social/community skills such as discussion, cooperation, delegation of responsibility, and respecting the ideas of others."

I really enjoyed this quote and thought it summed up literature circles just perfectly. The impact these literature circles can have are so great for both the students and the teacher. It helps build a great community in the classroom. Students seem to get more involved and engaged in the lessons when they are given responsibilities. Literature circles are flexible and can be altered to fit the needs of students of all different types.


"Literature circles really set the pace for what's to come. It gives the students a solid foundation for their future work with literature, and it gives me more than ample information about where my students are with regard to reading and analyzing literature, participating in discussions, and taking on leadership within groups. I continue to use this insight into their starting points to make instructional decisions as the year progresses and as we participate in more literature circles."

This quote matters to me because it shows the meaning behind literature circles, and the important differences they can make in literature and on students. I love how confident this teacher is in literature circles, which I think will make the biggest difference on the impact they will make and their effectiveness.