Reflective Fieldnote Blog Entry # 5- Literature Circles

What are your overall impressions of implementation?

Overall, I was very satisfied with the literature circles. I found that the students also seemed to enjoy the discussion.

How did the students react to the literature?

The story that we read as a group was The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf. We discussed vocabulary words prior to reading the story. The students also completed the chart of prior reading questions, during reading questions, and after reading questions. I think that this chart set a purpose for reading because the students wanted to seek answers to their questions. My students also asked multiple questions during the story which showed me that they were totally engrossed in the literature.

How did the students react to discussing the selected texts?

I gave prediction questions for my students to answer before reading selected parts of the text. Although the students' predictions, were not always correct, I still appreciated their efforts into answering my questions. I found that my students already had some prior knowledge to bull fights, which made it easier for discussing the story. All students asked good questions and tried to find a way to answer them.

How appropriate is the Literature Circle Technique for second language learners?

I believe the literature circle technique is very appropriate for ESL students. This method keeps students engaged in the story and is more hands-on as apposed to just reading a story and answering questions on a worksheet. It also helps ESL students learn new vocabulary words, and it gives the English language learner the opportunity to discover what words they do not know on their own.

What changes would you make if you were to repeat this?

Although I was proud of my students for asking so many questions and recording them during the story, it greatly hindered me from finishing the story in a timely manner. The students wanted to stop every few pages to write a question down, and it made us behind on time. If I were to repeat this literature circle, I would allow each student to contribute 1-2 questions, so time would not be such an issue.

I also let the students make the choice of writing their "during reading" questions down on sticky notes or on the chart. The students chose the sticky notes. Next time, I will have the students write their questions down on the chart because I found they would waste the notes.

What suggestions do you have for the other ESL professionals considering implementing literature circles?

I pull out only 1-2 students at a time. Only two students participated in this activity as opposed to the suggested 4. Although, I would consider the literature circle session successful, it would be more meaningful with more students in order to enhance and enrich discussion.

My original plan was for the students to write on sticky notes words they did not understand. This would work well if the students could have their own copy of the book. However, I had to read the story to them, so I did not find this method very beneficial. I would suggest to teachers that if they could obtain the appropriate amount of copies of the book so each child could have a copy, then sticky notes would be a great tool for students to record unfamiliar words. But, I would not suggest this method if the teacher had to read the only copy aloud.