Literature Circles

Part I 

My first Literature Circle experience was a positive one. Having been a long time since I participated in a group with such regimented roles, it at first felt a bit confining. I do remember being given "roles" in group projects as young as middle school, and it was helpful then in giving each group member a specific job, and in ensuring that everybody participated in the collaboration - so that no one person was left carrying the weight of the project. Thinking now, it also keeps discussion student-centered, not teacher-centered, which is important in establishing independent learners. Returning to this experience as an adult was a bit challenging in that I was tempted to get stuck in the "roles" rather than allow the conversation to flow organically, letting people chime in and out, which has its value, too. I have a tendency to want to control situations such as this. I also get frustrated when one person clearly dominates the conversation, and without a mediator, this can continue unchecked. Changing or allowing for flexibility of roles can be important. For kids, though, I can see how giving them conversation frameworks would help rid them of nervousness or feelings of inadequacy, and provide them with ways to access a text that are more or less simple and accessible by all. Natural leaders would step up within the group to help the discussion flow, and hopefully, each child would have a chance to speak (or show) something that mattered to them. In terms of modeling, I think a simple demonstration of what each role might look like would suffice. Perhaps students should be given roles early on in the course of reading a particular book, or keep with similar roles throughout the course - that way they know what will be expected of them. The older the kids are, or the more practiced, the more flexibility could be allowed. 

Part II

The reason why I teach literature now and why I want to spend my life doing it is because literature is a connection to the life and the world - access to places far away and deeper inside oneself. 
I remember reading Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli in seventh grade and feeling like for the first time I was living beyond myself, seeing a reflection of and thus living more fully into the girl I wanted to be. A dreamer. Stargirl lived in the desert, and I still remember picturing myself with her sunflowers on her porch, in her braids, entering into her classroom with the kind of confidence she had. I even remember the music I listened to (Avril Lavigne) while I read that book. Young people (all people) search for ways to feel identification/reflection of themselves or their hopes in others, to experience things deeply, and to connect to something outside of, something more than one's self. Reading the lives of others, deeply, is a way to enter in to life.Through each other, we establish ourselves. There is this myth of individuality which I think literature dispels. A Western African novel I read this summer called The Belly of the Atlantic reads, "The world is there to be grasped, but it embraces no one and doesn't let itself be embraced. When it's no longer in relation to others, freedom means nothing more than emptiness." Diome later refers to her grandmother, who saved her, saying "there are no old people, only venerable beacons." That is how literature can act, I believe, as a beacon that lights our way in a dark and isolating world. 

Resource:

Afro-Futurism is a major topic of our developing Intercession project. I am completely inspired by the movement and its meanings and implications in and for society. Listen to the podcast that inspired us here. 

New and old words, rearranged on pages reveal to us who we are and could be. All full of stories ourselves.

Kids need us, and safe, kind ways into the world, and into themselves. They crave new ideas, and someone to guide them into them, asking the questions they need to hear. Someone to help them learn to ask questions themselves. 

This is the inquiry stance we as teachers need to be in, and as always, students should be given open-ended, choice-full ways to respond.