I think that literature circles and digital book clubs would be a great addition to adolescent lit classes. I think that, in general, they spark a great amount of discussion and adolescents can be assigned books that really generate discussion. I think that doing it digitally would be a great way for students to use technology where they would have ample time to formulate their thoughts and rather than be "on the spot" in front of their peers, they are able to truly say what they are thinking/feeling while most likely having less fear of feeling "dumb" in front of others. I also think that assigning designated roles among group members for lit circles requires critical thinking for students. For example, in order to be the discussion leader, one must really think of key questions to ask the group that will get people thinking and stimulate discussion. Other roles might include someone who has to tie aspects of the book to a historical event, a piece of music or art, etc. Each of the roles within a lit circle are different and require different types of thinking, which is also great to fulfill different types of learning styles.
I am excited to try digital literature circles in this class. A cool thin about it from the teaching perspective is that I get to record everyone's discussion and go back and review it. A teacher in the regular face to face classroom can not listen in on every group's discussion at the same time.
I think that literature circles and digital book clubs would be a great addition to adolescent lit classes. I think that, in general, they spark a great amount of discussion and adolescents can be assigned books that really generate discussion. I think that doing it digitally would be a great way for students to use technology where they would have ample time to formulate their thoughts and rather than be "on the spot" in front of their peers, they are able to truly say what they are thinking/feeling while most likely having less fear of feeling "dumb" in front of others. I also think that assigning designated roles among group members for lit circles requires critical thinking for students. For example, in order to be the discussion leader, one must really think of key questions to ask the group that will get people thinking and stimulate discussion. Other roles might include someone who has to tie aspects of the book to a historical event, a piece of music or art, etc. Each of the roles within a lit circle are different and require different types of thinking, which is also great to fulfill different types of learning styles.
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteI am excited to try digital literature circles in this class. A cool thin about it from the teaching perspective is that I get to record everyone's discussion and go back and review it. A teacher in the regular face to face classroom can not listen in on every group's discussion at the same time.