What is a reading circle?

A reading circle is a classroom instructional strategy that groups small,

heterogeneous groups of students together and connects all aspects of
literacy (Anderson & Corbett, 2008). Following the reading of one or more chapters
in a book (or other reading materials), students gather in a circle to collaboratively
discuss and critique what they have read (IRDP, n.d.).

Due to the fact that students at various reading levels and with various interests can
be grouped together for this activity, reading circles can be especially useful
in inclusive classrooms. Reading circles are often referred to as: literature circles,
literature response groups, literature study circles, literacy circles, peer-led
literature groups, and book clubs (Anderson & Corbett, 2008).

Reading circles can be used to reinforce listening, speaking, reading, and writing
skills in a supportive and collaborative setting (Anderson & Corbett). They
encourage students to deepen their understanding of a chosen text, as students are
encouraged to discuss plots, specific language used, and personal experiences, and
their relation to the text (Cumming-Potwin, 2007).

Reading circles become a more valuable learning experience for students when they
are fully student led as it empowers students in their learning and provides them
with some autonomy in the classroom, and this type of learning opportunity allows
students to feel empowered and supported by their peers, particularly when
they are assigned a specific role to play (which are outlined below) in the reading
circle (Burns, 1998).
Why are reading circles an effective strategy for students
with LDs?
Reading circles can be used in a variety of settings, from elementary to secondary
classrooms, from general to special education classrooms, and with any and all
students. According to Anderson & Corbett, research has also demonstrated that
this strategy can be effective for students with learning disabilities (LDs), as well as
for students with general challenges with reading achievement (p. 25).

Reading circles are an effective strategy to use not only with students with reading
disabilities, but also with any student with reading difficulties. Grouping students
together heterogeneously allows students with difficulties to learn from their
peers; not only from the ideas that are shared, but also from the literacy
strategies that these students use through all of their stages of learning. This
strategy also helps struggling students to see themselves as autonomous readers
and to develop more positive feelings about their abilities (Hbert, 2009).

As many who teach students who struggle with reading are aware, reading aloud is
something that is extremely difficult for students with reading disabilities or
difficulties and can cause some students to become anxious. By using the reading
circle strategy, educators give students the opportunity to access texts in any
format required to read the selected material before discussions about the text
begin. This means that a student can use text-to-speech software to access the text
and can then participate verbally during the reading circle itself (Anderson &
Corbett, 26).

How do I implement reading circles in my classroom?

There are many different ideas as to how reading circles can be implemented in the
classroom, but here is one specific method presented by Anderson & Corbett, as well
as some tips for how to ensure their efficacy:

Step 1: Author & Book Selection

Give students a choice of books and/or authors to select from. Giving
students this choice will allow them to choose a literary work that speaks to
their interests and will engage students from the beginning of the activity.
 It may be helpful to have students choose from a series of books all by the
same author, or for more senior students, give them more selection.

Providing students with background information about the books and

authors is something that can help them to make their choice.

Particularly with larger classes, students may be required to choose their top
three books, in order to ensure that there are approximately equal
numbers of students in each group. Teachers can then assign students to
groups as fairly as possible.

Click here for a downloadable ballot that can be used for students to rank their book
choices.

Step 2: Reading Circle Role Selection & Modeling

There are an astounding number of roles which can be implemented in reading

circles, but four specific roles have been identified as essential:

Connector connects the reading material to everyday experiences

Questioner analyzes the text through questioning
Literary Luminary highlights particularly important parts of the text
Illustrator responds graphically to the text

The above are simply those recommended in the literature as essential, but
educators can use this as a guide and can add, remove, or divide roles according to
their classroom needs.

Other optional roles include:

 Summarizer recaps the key points, main highlights, and general idea of the
text
Travel Tracer tracks where the action takes place in the text and describes
each setting in detail
Word Wizard identifies and defines words with special meaning in the text
Researcher finds background information on a topic related to the text

Educators will need to model each role as students may be unfamiliar with their
tasks. Particularly for students with LDs, explicit instruction may be essential.

Click here for descriptions of a number of roles that can be assigned to students in
reading circles.

Step 3: Assigning & Supporting Reading

Decide on a suitable amount of reading to assign to students, and whether or
not time will be given in class to complete the reading.

Ensure that all students are able to access their texts in a manner that suits
their learning needs, whether it is using a hard copy of a book, using a screen
reader, or listening to the audiobook (whether this is created by the teacher
themselves or is commercially available).

Step 4: Taking the Learning Further

At this point, educators need to decide how they will encourage students to take
their learning further. In this particular article, the authors recommend using role
sheets and role expansion activities to assign specific tasks to students.

Below are some examples of how this may occur for each role:

Connector for a scene that demonstrates how the protagonist has to show
bravery to overcome their fears, the Connector could be asked to lead a
discussion on how students in the group have had to be brave in a specific
situation
Questioner may be asked to question a specific practice outlined in the
book, for example freedom of the press. The questioner could then lead a
discussion within the group about what might happen in Canada if freedom of
the press was not permitted.
Literary Luminary during a reading of Shakespeares Hamlet (Act I, Scene
III), Polonius says to his son Laertes This above all: to thine own self be true.
Have the literary luminary highlight this as an important quote in the play
and ask the student to lead a discussion where all students reflect on this
statement and its importance.
Illustrator after reading a specific passage to the group, the illustrator
displays a visual image they have created which reflects what is read. They
should then explain to the group why they chose to make certain inclusions
and omissions and open the illustration up for group discussion

Educators can then have students extend these activities to include personal
reflections which can be evaluated, or they can summarize their thoughts in
reading journals.

Step 5: Assessment
Educators can incorporate various types of assessment into reading circles, such as:

Examples of assessment for learning:

provide students with descriptive feedback to their extension activities; this

also offers educators the opportunity to give informal feedback on anything
that was overheard during the reading circle discussions
as educators circulate through the classroom during reading circle
discussions, ask open-ended questions to encourage students to express
their thoughts and ideas
give groups and individuals specific informal feedback based on the
conversations you hear in the reading circles
Examples of assessment as learning:

encourage students to self-assess by providing them with rubrics to assess

their learning or their peers in the reading circles

Examples of assessment of learning:

following the completion of specific sections of the book, give students the
opportunity to demonstrate their learning, either independently or as a
group
give students choice in how they will demonstrate their learning by
providing them with a list of acceptable assessment activities (p. 26-27)

Click here for a sample rubric to assess literature circle roles from TVOntario and
the Ontario Ministry of Education.

General tips:
Allow students choice wherever and whenever appropriate
Ensure that a student acts as a group facilitator, and not the teacher
Encourage students with LDs to try different roles as they become more
comfortable with the activity, starting with those roles which allow them
to focus on their skills as learners first
Teach specific literacy strategies explicitly where appropriate
Next Steps
This activity offers educators many opportunities for variations and to adapt the
strategy to suit their own needs. For example, educators who enjoy
using technology in their classrooms can allow students to use apps to complete
their specific tasks in the reading circles. Educators could also use this strategy
online in a protected forum, so long as they are careful to ensure that students are
responding to each other and not only to any comments left by the teacher
themselves (Cumming-Potvin, p. 489).

For students with difficulties in social situations (including students with LDs),
educators can incorporate specific social skill instruction into their application
of reading circles (Anderson & Corbett, 26). For example, with younger students,
they may model how to effectively take turns and ensure that everyone in the circle
is given the opportunity to speak in turn.

Reading circles are a fun way to involve all of the students in your classroom. As
the facilitator of the reading circles, be creative and open to hearing students ideas,
watch them become more confident and witness a more supportive classroom
environment emerge!

Related Resources on the LD@school Website

Click here to access the article Direct Instruction of Reading for Elementary-aged
Students.

Click here to access the article Self-Assessment.

Click here to access the article Improving Reading Fluency: Which Interventions are
Most Effective?.

Additional Resources
Laura Candlers website has created a number of free printable and downloadable
resources that can be used with the reading circle strategy.

Click here to access resources including question cards, before and after evaluation
forms, and much more!
Click here for information and ideas about how to use reading circles with primary
students.

Click here for a users guide from eworkshop.on.ca which outlines how to
implement the strategy in the classroom.

Click here for a literature circles webcast from the Ontario Ministry of Education.

References
Anderson, P. & Corbett, L. (2008). Literature Circles for Students with Learning
Disabilities. Intervention in School and Clinic, 44(1), 25-33.

Burns, B. (1998). Changing the Classroom Climate with Literature Circles. Journal of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 42, 124-129.

Cummin-Potwin, W. (2007). Scaffolding, Multiliteracies, and Reading

Circles. Canadian Journal of Education, 30(2), 483-507.

Hbert, H. (2009). Cercles littraires et journal de lecture comme lments

dintervention en didactique de la littrature : tude de cas dun lve de 8e anne en
difficult. Revue du Nouvel-Ontario, 34, 83-117.

Institut de recherch et de documentation pdagogique (IRDP). (n.d.). Apprentissage

de la lecture : pour un apprentissage de la lecture tout au long de la scolarit. Repr
https://www.irdp.ch/data/secure/1677/document/expo_lecture_web1.pdf
Reading Circles Get Students to Do the
Reading
In my course, the required reading is intensive and extensive. Students must read
multiple texts that range across disciplines, genres, history, and culture. The goal of this
interdisciplinary course is improvement of critical reading, writing, and thinking skills.
My students, like many others, live complicated lives. Add to that the fact that many are
not particularly good readers or people who like to read, and the result is students
arriving in class not having done the reading. When that happens, the teacher becomes
the best student in the room. She talks about the text while students dutifully listenor
appear to listen.
The findings from the reading compliance research have remained consistent over the
years. Hobson reports (in IDEA Paper No. 40, published by Kansas State University)
that on any given day and for any given assignment, 20 to 30 percent of the students
have done the reading. He writes, Faculty face the stark and depressing challenge of
facilitating learning when over 70% of the students will not have read the assigned
readings. When students dont do the reading, they hear about the text, but they do not
actually experience it or do anything that develops their reading skills.
Given these realities, I decided to revisit Literature Circles, first introduced in the mid-
1990s by Harvey Daniels for grades 3 through 8 in Chicago and described as small, peer-
led discussion groups whose members have chosen to read the same text. Basic
educators have found them enormously successful. I wondered whether they might
work in my undergraduate course. Since not all the reading in my course is literature, I
decided to call them Reading Circles.
I told my students that the success of their Reading Circle depended on two things:
everyone coming prepared by having read the assignment and everyone participating. In
my humanities course, the four texts are traditionally chosen by the teacher, but
wanting to be student-centered, I decided to let the students choose two of the texts.
Annotated bibliographies were distributed early to help students make informed
choices. I formed the groups based on their choice of text. In some cases, two groups
needed to be formed, as I limited group size to six, given the roles I wanted students to
fill in the groups:

Discussion director, whose job was to keep the group on task, help the group
understand the reading, ask good detail questions as well as general questions,
listen intently to the group members and respond to ideas, and make sure
everyone participates.
Summarizer, who presents a brief, concise summary of the days reading,
places everything in chronological order, and is able to answer any clarifying
questions.
 Illustrator, who uses details from the text to help group members better
understand the reading and selects significant elements that make connections to
course themes.
Literary luminary, who selects quotes that are especially significant,
descriptive, or controversial; makes an interesting or engaging plan to have group
look at particular passages; and is able to explain the significance of passages.
Connector, who makes strong detailed connections cross-textually, historically,
and culturally to the notion of what it means to be human and engages other
group members in making similar connections.
Questioner, who uses a mixture of various levels of questions to engage group
members and engages the group with critical thinking of the issues and course
themes.
I gave students the rubric I used when evaluating how well they filled their roles. When I
joined a Reading Circle I did so as an observer and guide, not as a teacher or participant.
Each circle made a 20-minute presentation of one significant aspect of their text in any
way they chose. There have been dialogues, interviews, plays, speeches, and debates.
The structure of the activity can be adapted to fit a variety of reading assignments.
After a semester of using this technique, overwhelmingly my students reported that the
activity greatly impacted their learning. On average, with four sections students self-
reported their reading compliance rate to be 38 percent in an ESL section and 55
percent in my three other sections. After the activity, students reported a rise to 66
percent in compliance in the ESL section and 85 percent on average in the other
sections.
Reading Circles empower students by letting them choose what they read. The assigned
roles give them a purpose to read. They gain self-confidence as they learn to be
responsible for their learning. Their reading skills develop. They have experience
presenting their ideas. And they discover the joy of working with others to understand
textual material. For me, observing the students at work in these groups was immensely
satisfying. My students were in class having done the reading.
Jane Gee teaches at Temple University, College of Liberal Arts.