Literature Circles

These past few weeks I have had the privilege of being the discussion leader in a literature circle in a second grade classroom. We read the book Horrible Harry Cracks the Code and the students loved it. They found the story to be funny, intriguing, and relatable. The first two times we had a literature circle meeting, the students had a hard time understanding how they were to behave in the group. Most of the talking I did was trying to get the group back on track, which was not easy. This week, I had to film myself for a class, so i gave a quick talk to the students before I began the tape saying it was very important to stay on track and talk only about the book. I was amazed at what I saw when we began discussing the book. These second grade students were asking why and how questions to further their understanding of the plot. They were going back into the text to find the answers to their own questions as well as helping out their friends who had questions as well. I saw students who usually only goof off during this time digging for information in the book as to why a specific character was acting they way they were. This experience renewed my hope for literature circles. I know that it is a popular teaching strategy, but I had to experience it first hand in order to believe that it was something beneficial to the classroom.