Introduction
As a student, I always dreaded the day that teachers would hand us a novel, tell us to read it and answer the questions given to the class. I would often ask myself, “Why do I have to read this book?” I would wonder how the teacher chose a book that I had zero interest in and found extremely boring. Why didn’t he or she ask what we wanted to read or were interested in? If I read the book, it would usually be just enough to find the answers to the questions to complete my homework and not because I enjoyed it.
Years later as an adult, I am often found wandering around a bookstore and I love to read. I could spend hours walking through the aisles, reading the backs of books to pick the perfect one, or discussing books I have read with friends and family. I often wonder how this huge change occurred in my life. I think a lot of it has to do with choice. No one is looking over my shoulder forcing me to read the book and counting the number of pages I have read. There is no one demanding that I write paragraphs of answers to meaningless questions that I have no personal connection to. Without these stresses I am free to read about topics that interest me. I have found people in my life that also enjoy reading and often find myself engaged in meaningful conversations about the book and its connections to our lives. Why wasn’t it like this when I was a student?
I hope that by implementing literature circles in my classroom I can offer my students more choice in selecting a book and provide them with an opportunity to discuss the book in a meaningful way. I want my students to feel connected to the book they are reading. I don’t want them to be able to simply recite facts from it but I want them to be able to think critically about the events in the book. I hope that they challenge each other and make comparisons to other books they have read in addition to their own lives. I want my students to enjoy reading at a young age and not wait until they are adults to discover the power and magic of books. I hope that literature circles will be the medium to make this happen.
Literature circles are something I have always read or heard teachers talk about, but I have never personally experimented with. I have chosen to research the question “How do literature circles influence the enjoyment, engagement, and achievement of young readers?” in the hopes of providing my students with a positive reading environment. I want to allow them to work with a variety of students, read many different types of books, give them proper time to discuss the book, and create a project to demonstrate their understanding. I want to listen to the students’ voices during their group discussions and through personal reflections and surveys to see if their views on reading change. Hopefully, my findings will allow me to encourage other teachers to implement this strategy in their classroom so students are not like I was and can begin to enjoy reading while they are young.
Years later as an adult, I am often found wandering around a bookstore and I love to read. I could spend hours walking through the aisles, reading the backs of books to pick the perfect one, or discussing books I have read with friends and family. I often wonder how this huge change occurred in my life. I think a lot of it has to do with choice. No one is looking over my shoulder forcing me to read the book and counting the number of pages I have read. There is no one demanding that I write paragraphs of answers to meaningless questions that I have no personal connection to. Without these stresses I am free to read about topics that interest me. I have found people in my life that also enjoy reading and often find myself engaged in meaningful conversations about the book and its connections to our lives. Why wasn’t it like this when I was a student?
I hope that by implementing literature circles in my classroom I can offer my students more choice in selecting a book and provide them with an opportunity to discuss the book in a meaningful way. I want my students to feel connected to the book they are reading. I don’t want them to be able to simply recite facts from it but I want them to be able to think critically about the events in the book. I hope that they challenge each other and make comparisons to other books they have read in addition to their own lives. I want my students to enjoy reading at a young age and not wait until they are adults to discover the power and magic of books. I hope that literature circles will be the medium to make this happen.
Literature circles are something I have always read or heard teachers talk about, but I have never personally experimented with. I have chosen to research the question “How do literature circles influence the enjoyment, engagement, and achievement of young readers?” in the hopes of providing my students with a positive reading environment. I want to allow them to work with a variety of students, read many different types of books, give them proper time to discuss the book, and create a project to demonstrate their understanding. I want to listen to the students’ voices during their group discussions and through personal reflections and surveys to see if their views on reading change. Hopefully, my findings will allow me to encourage other teachers to implement this strategy in their classroom so students are not like I was and can begin to enjoy reading while they are young.
Setting
I implemented literature circles at The Language Academy in my third grade classroom. The Language Academy is a language immersion magnet school within the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). SDUSD is the second largest district in California serving over 132,000 students. Since the founding of the district in 1854 it has grown to include 118 elementary schools, 24 middle schools, 29 high schools, 35 charter schools, and 15 atypical or alternative schools. Within these schools lies a diverse student population made up of more than 15 ethnic groups and over 60 languages and dialects. (Data source: http://sandi.net/sandi/site/default.asp)
The Language Academy is a magnet school that offers its students the unique opportunity to become bi-literate in either French and English or Spanish and English. Our mission at The Language Academy is: “In order to thrive in a global society, Language Academy students will become bi-literate and bicultural through the implementation of a California standards-based, multi-cultural curriculum. Progress towards this goal will be monitored via on-going assessments, which shows evidence of critical thinking in two languages. The school community will provide appropriate and early interventions for students not yet meeting proficiency.” The Language Academy is a year-round, K-8 school with an emphasis on second language acquisition and culture. All students are expected to achieve California state standards in all subject areas, while being taught in two languages.
The French program is a one-way immersion model. All students who enter the program must be fluent English speakers. In grades K-2, students are taught all subjects in French. Starting in third grade formal English instruction is introduced and is taught 40% of the day. When a student enters middle school (grades 6-8), Humanities and French Literacy are taught in French and they receive other subjects in English in order to better prepare them for the transition to high school.
The Language Academy is a magnet school that offers its students the unique opportunity to become bi-literate in either French and English or Spanish and English. Our mission at The Language Academy is: “In order to thrive in a global society, Language Academy students will become bi-literate and bicultural through the implementation of a California standards-based, multi-cultural curriculum. Progress towards this goal will be monitored via on-going assessments, which shows evidence of critical thinking in two languages. The school community will provide appropriate and early interventions for students not yet meeting proficiency.” The Language Academy is a year-round, K-8 school with an emphasis on second language acquisition and culture. All students are expected to achieve California state standards in all subject areas, while being taught in two languages.
The French program is a one-way immersion model. All students who enter the program must be fluent English speakers. In grades K-2, students are taught all subjects in French. Starting in third grade formal English instruction is introduced and is taught 40% of the day. When a student enters middle school (grades 6-8), Humanities and French Literacy are taught in French and they receive other subjects in English in order to better prepare them for the transition to high school.
In contrast, the Spanish program is a dual immersion model. Each classroom is made up of 50% fluent English speakers and 50% fluent Spanish speakers. In kindergarten, students receive 90% of their instruction in Spanish and 10% in English. English is gradually increased each year until it reaches 50% Spanish and 50% English in the fourth grade. The Spanish middle school program is very similar to the French program. The students receive 4 hours of History instruction in Spanish a week as well as 4 hours of Spanish Literacy a week.
Students are enrolled at The Language Academy according to the high school cluster that the student resides in. The Language Academy accepts: Cluster 1: 23% = Clairemont, Henry, La Jolla, Point Loma, Scripps Ranch, University City. Cluster 2: 32% = Kearny, Madison, Mira Mesa, Mission Bay, Morse, Serra. Cluster 3: 45% = Crawford, Lincoln, Hoover, San Diego. The school uses this cluster system in order to ensure a diverse student body. A language assessment is administered to all students entering the program. A student must be fluent in English in order to enter the French program and fluent in either English or Spanish to enter the Spanish program. In order to enter either program beyond first grade the student must demonstrate literacy levels in both languages comparable to the immersion students in that grade level.
Because of the unique nature of our program, the question of how students perform on state tests is always asked. For the 2008-2009 school year, 58.5% of all our students scored at proficient or advanced levels in English Language Arts and 54.8% scored at proficient or advanced levels in Math on the California Standards Test, which is administered in grade 2-8. These percentages are slightly above the district average of 54.8% for English Language Arts and 52.8% for Math. The Language Academy has made gains in English Language Arts in all grade levels. An implementation of additional small group instruction is believed to have caused this increase. As a school in general, The Language Academy has made less gains in Math. We are hoping to be able to put more resources into this area. (Date source: http://old.sandi.net:80/languageacademy/)
Classroom Setting
Literature circles were conducted in my third grade English/French classroom. I taught two groups of 22 students each English, Social Studies, and French Literacy. My team teacher taught Science and Math in French along with French Literacy. Although all my students were fluent English speakers this was their first formal introduction to English in school. There were 44 students between the two classes and all students worked in literature circles. Only 27 of these students chose to formally participate in this study.
Our students were a very diverse group. We had a total of 19 boys and 25 girls in the two groups. There were 15 students that tested into the GATE (gifted and talented education) program in second grade. Also, we had one student who was on an IEP (individual education plan) and received special education instruction within the classroom a few times a week. Eight of our students were English language learners whose first language is either Spanish or French. Of our 44 students, 14 of these students received a free or reduced price lunch. This diversity made for a very interesting classroom.
Literature circles were introduced the first week of school. Students read about one novel a month and had weekly discussions based on their reading. These discussions took place each Friday. Students were given daily independent reading time in order to prepare for their meeting. Each child was expected to read, respond to the reading before the meeting, and participate in the group discussion each week. Literature circles were new to most students. The study was conducted to investigate the affects on the students’ achievement, engagement and enjoyment of reading.
Because of the unique nature of our program, the question of how students perform on state tests is always asked. For the 2008-2009 school year, 58.5% of all our students scored at proficient or advanced levels in English Language Arts and 54.8% scored at proficient or advanced levels in Math on the California Standards Test, which is administered in grade 2-8. These percentages are slightly above the district average of 54.8% for English Language Arts and 52.8% for Math. The Language Academy has made gains in English Language Arts in all grade levels. An implementation of additional small group instruction is believed to have caused this increase. As a school in general, The Language Academy has made less gains in Math. We are hoping to be able to put more resources into this area. (Date source: http://old.sandi.net:80/languageacademy/)
Classroom Setting
Literature circles were conducted in my third grade English/French classroom. I taught two groups of 22 students each English, Social Studies, and French Literacy. My team teacher taught Science and Math in French along with French Literacy. Although all my students were fluent English speakers this was their first formal introduction to English in school. There were 44 students between the two classes and all students worked in literature circles. Only 27 of these students chose to formally participate in this study.
Our students were a very diverse group. We had a total of 19 boys and 25 girls in the two groups. There were 15 students that tested into the GATE (gifted and talented education) program in second grade. Also, we had one student who was on an IEP (individual education plan) and received special education instruction within the classroom a few times a week. Eight of our students were English language learners whose first language is either Spanish or French. Of our 44 students, 14 of these students received a free or reduced price lunch. This diversity made for a very interesting classroom.
Literature circles were introduced the first week of school. Students read about one novel a month and had weekly discussions based on their reading. These discussions took place each Friday. Students were given daily independent reading time in order to prepare for their meeting. Each child was expected to read, respond to the reading before the meeting, and participate in the group discussion each week. Literature circles were new to most students. The study was conducted to investigate the affects on the students’ achievement, engagement and enjoyment of reading.
