Literature circles are new to me. I created this VoiceThread to share what I have so far and to see if my classmates have any suggestions. Please be warned that I couldn't figure out how to go back and edit my voice. I even forgot to say my name! I know how my students feel when they record their voices. I deleted and rerecorded many times, but I decided I would probably never be happy with it. VoiceThread is a pretty neat site. My school tech specialist is working on unblocking for me so we can use it at school. After playing around with some family photos, I tried to make this one for class. I'd love to see what our students could create!
So be warned, this isn't perfect and I repeated myself....could not figure out how to edit the recording. Maybe I'll YouTube it! I will spend more time on the VoiceThread site and use it in my classroom.
Shelley
https://voicethread.com/share/2673937/
Shelley,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your Voice Thread. As a sixth grade team, we began literature circles this year. We used many similar documents as you displayed in your Voice Thread. The process we used was that we used a Power Point to introduce all the books to the students and gave them time in the library to peruse them. They chose their top 3 book choices and were placed into small groups with their peers. Each student in the group had a particular job that meeting day and completed a task from the chapter or chapters they were reading. Discussion leader (came up with discussion questions from the chapter); Story Mapper (completed portions of a story map of your choice); Dictionary Diva or Word Wizard (found new words and looked them up in the dictionary). Those are a few of the available jobs.
I think that you could use a voice thread to introduce the books and a little about each book to your students. You could provide a picture of the cover, and then give a brief description using other illustrations (or even illustrations students make) to present what they will be reading. This may grab their attention and get them excited about reading! Great job!
-Jenn Schreiner
Jenn,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reply. I really enjoyed your VoiceThread! You sounded so relaxed and the photos were great. Maybe I should have my students create a VoiceThread that would highlight the novel they read and what they learned from it, or maybe they could make one that explained literature circles. My mind has been racing with all the things we could do with VoiceThread.
I have a question about your circles. Do you take your students to the library and give them free choice? My library is rather small and I don't think we have enough copies of the same book. It has taken me two years to gather three books on the Holocaust so that the students could have a choice. Love you ideas!
Shelley
I was curious also, do you have a list of books that students can choose from. I think it is a good idea that they read from different genres also, not just fantasy, or history, or fiction, but that they get a good balance. I teach math but loved to read when I was in middle school and high school. I thnk math is fascinating but literature is such a great way to use your mind to imagine what is going on. Do you think some day all classrooms will have kindles??
ReplyDeleteThank you
Scott
Scott,
ReplyDeleteI have 3 novels they can choose from. I did a little beg, borrowing, and stealing to get them. Ok, not stealing, but I did beg and borrow. This year I was able to buy enough books (paperbacks) so each student could take the book with them because usually I only have a class set. I am encouraging the kids to read from a list of eight genre' with a goal of 40 books but I may have set the goal a little too high. Math has never been for me, so I'm glad someone likes it! I absolutely love teaching reading and trying to get my young students to understand the deeper meaning in the text. They probably think I'm crazy, but I think when we, as teachers are passionate, they get excited too. Kindles? I don't know. I bet it won't be long until our textbooks are gone. My county had planned to only buy the next geography text online but I think they decided we had too many problems with computer access or band width. I think they are ordering books! Once all the kids have a laptop, all bets are off!
Thanks for posting!
Shelley