Lesson Plan: Literature Discussion Groups Rich Thompson's lesson
plan is also available as a PDF file. See Materials Needed,
below, for links to student activity sheets related to the
lesson. Teacher: Rich Thompson, Canyon Elementary School, Hungry
Horse, Montana Grade Level: Fourth Topic: Because of Winn-Dixie
by Small-group discussions, where students choose their texts
from several possibilities, form a core component of Rich
Thompson's envisionment-building classroom. In addition, during
regular read-alouds, Mr. Thompson chooses high-interest
literature that may be beyond the independent reading level of
many of his students. He uses these literature experiences to
frame discussion and sharing activities that help students
expand their repertoire of textual responses. Student Response
Logs and the formulation of what Mr. Thompson calls Critical
Reader Thoughts, expand the range of possibilities students have
available for individual response. One-on-one reading
conferences allow Mr. Thompson to check indi