Literacy Circles on the Web

Talking about the literacy circles today really opened my eyes to the opportunities we have available while creating lessons. I thought the discussion today really followed the collaborative learning model as it was suggested that the 'higher' reading groups serve as peer mentors in helping other students get used to literacy circles. While student teaching, my CT had 5 reading groups in her 3rd grade room. The class for the most part were all either at or above where they were supposed to be. While I was teaching, my CT decided to take the top group who were gifted and talented, and did this exact activity with them. She introduced and got them started into doing the circles. By the end of two weeks they were very comfortable with it and couldn't wait to get started with the other students in the class.

Incorporating technology into the lesson would be another great way for students to get feedback and hear opinions/ideas from students in other classes and possibly other states and countries. Having this online also promotes their writing skills and would require them to organize their thoughts both orally (while speaking with others in the class face to face), and in writing as they write back and forth to the others in their online literacy group. I think that there are many benefits to having online lit circles but also don't want to lose that face to face interaction. Today it was suggested that there could be different 'centers' during the literacy group time. I thought this was an awesome idea since it would allow the students to engage in different ways of interacting about their book both within their own classroom and with others. Overall, this is definitely an idea I want to incorporate when I begin teaching!