Literature Circle Discussions

I LOVE literature circles! I love to hear the discussions, and I love to hear my students get excited about literature.  I wanted my literature circles to have more rich discussion and to be more structured so that they were on task  and getting things done (every teachers dream...).  I created role cards and discussion guides to make sure that all students were engaged during literature circles.  I also made self-assessments and peer assessments to hold them accountable.  My classroom during literature discussion has truly transformed!

You can find this literature circle packet HERE!

-h

Discussion Cube

With Common Core at a forefront in education today and also just an emphasis on higher-level discussion in the classroom, it is important to create an environment where students can learn to back-up and support their thinking.  We do a lot of discussing in my class, but I have been trying to work with my students on keeping the conversation going and having meaningful discussion.  We do sentence starters, and sometimes I even record my kids discussing and let them watch it to focus on what they need to improve on.  A new technique that I have started is this discussion cube.  When the conversation wanes or gets stuck, they just roll the cube and continue with the discussion.  This has helped to show my students how to carry on a discussion, and it has also encouraged some really deep conversations.

This resource is provided HERE!

-h

New Items

It has been FOREVER since one of us has posted, but we have been busy little bees teaching teaching teaching! I just wanted to share a couple things that have been going on in my classroom recently.  We are an IB school, so I am always trying to find ways in the classroom to discuss the IB learner profile or promote IB attitudes.  These are basically just good characteristics that we encourage our students to encompass.  I created these fun IB interactive cards for each of my table groups.  After we do an activity or lesson, I have the students pull out the envelope with the cards with it and cooperatively choose an IB attribute of the learner profile that they had to use.  They have to be able to back up their answer because each group chooses one representative to stand and deliver their card.  Then we have a short classroom discussion on their characteristics that they had to demonstrate in order to be a communicator, thinker, risk-taker, etc.  Below is a picture of what some of the cards look like.

These cards with the instructions are located HERE!

Even if you do not work at an IB school, it would be fun to put character words on these cards or words that you want to promote in your classroom.