|Below is the first chapter of Harvey Daniels's brand-new
Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading
Groups (Stenhouse, 2002). You may read the rest of the book for
free, on-line. Just click here to see a chapter by chapter menu.
CHAPTER ONE: Welcome to Literature Circles Back in 1993, when I
joined with twenty great teachers to write a book about
literature circles, we didnt quite know what we were getting
into. We were a loose confederation of colleagues working from
Kindergarten through college, in city and suburban schools
around Chicago. What brought us together was our excitement
about the student book clubs meeting in our classrooms, which we
called "literature circles." Using a variety of different
structures and procedures that matched our grade levels, wed
been dazzled by what the kids could do when given choices, time,
responsibility, a little guidance and a workable structure. Our
students were reading lots of good books, thinking deeply about
them, writing notes and journal en