During the 2001-2002 school year my oldest son was in Senior Kindergarten. His classroom teacher was involved in "Action Research". As a parent, I didn't know exactly what this meant but felt it was safe to assume that this teacher was energetic enough to want to improve her teaching practice so that she could give her students the best possible start. Her monthly calendars informed me of their meetings; her research as well as updated me on what was happening in the classroom. Even without her newsletters, I could see what was happening in the classroom because I could see the changes that were occurring in my son. He was developing a love for reading. I felt that he was in some way "better off" because of this initiative called "Action Research".

At the beginning of the 2002-2003 school year, I was approached by Teacher Consultant, Christine Stewart. She wanted to know if I was interested in being part of an action research project. As I reflected on this concept, several thoughts came to mind. First of all, I was starting my fourth year in grade 5 and I felt relatively comfortable in my career placement. I had been teaching long enough to recognize that there were areas in my program that could use some enhancing. Secondly, I thought about my son's teacher and "project" had effected his life in a very positive way. I wanted to have that kind of an impact on my students as well. Lastly, I began to realize that this was an excellent opportunity for additional professional growth which was an area I had addressed in my annual learning plan. Needless to say, I said, "Yes".

Now what?

In October I committed myself to participating in an action research project but what now? What exactly did this mean for me and my students? Getting started was definitely the hardest part. I decided early on that I was interested in improving my language program. I wanted to try something new but I didn't know what. I had heard of "Literature Circles" but I really did not know anything about them. Hence I began to formulate my research question:

What are Literature Circles and How Could they be Implemented into my Grade 5 Language Program?

Step 1 -- What Exactly Are Literature Circles?

I began reading some professional books in order to learn exactly what "literature circles" were.

My reading revolved around 4 main texts:

a) Moving Forward with Literature Circles by Jeni Pollack Day, Dixie Lee Speigel, Janet McLellan, and Valerie B. Brown.

b) Guiding Readers and Writers by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell.

c) Retelling, Relating, Reflecting - Beyond the 3 R's by Susan Schwartz and Maxine Bone.

d) Literature Circles - The Way to Go and How to Get There by Teacher Created Materials Inc.

e) Literature Circles - Voice and Choice in the Student-Centered Classroom by Harvey Daniels.

I discovered, through my reading, that literature circles can mean a variety of different things but generally the concept maintained the discussing of any literary text within a small group of students. Every author seemed to have their own opinion of what was key in the making of a literature circle. However, I found that I preferred the way Harvey Daniels outlined it in his text, Literature Circles - Voice and Choice in the Student-Centered Classroom. According to him, "...authentic and mature literature circles will manifest most or all of these key features:

1. Students choose their own reading materials.
2. Small temporary groups are formed, based on book choice.
3. Different groups read different books.
4. Groups meet on a regular, predictable schedule to discuss their reading.
5. Kids use written or drawn notes to guide both their reading and discussion.
6. Discussion topics come from the students.
7. Group meetings aim to be open, natural conversations about books, so personal connections, digressions, and open-ended questions are welcome.
8. In newly forming groups, students play a rotation assortment of task roles.
9. The teacher serves as a facilitator, not a group member or instructor.
10. Evaluation is by teacher observation and student self-evaluation.
11. A spirit of playfulness and fun pervades the room.
12. When books are finished, readers share with their classmates, and then new groups form around new reading choices." (pg. 18)

Now that I felt I had a general understanding of what literature circles were, I needed to examine how this concept would evolve in my classroom. I say 'evolve' because based on the key features listed above, I knew where I wanted to be at the end of the process but I knew it wasn't something I could just 'do' with my students without first going through my own type of literary process.

Step 2 -- What Am I Currently Doing?

For me, I typically link my science or social studies units with my language program. In November, I usually do the grade 5 social studies strand: Aspects of the Canadian Government. As a class we read the novel, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. This year, as in past years, the novel was read via a combination of teacher read aloud, student independent reading or students paired oral reading. As always, there were comprehension questions that followed every chapter to ensure understanding. A novel "test" is given at the end of the book. Call this phase 1 of my literacy evolution.

Pros:

• As a teacher, I feel very confident, based on evaluating the comprehension questions and the final test that the students understand the book.
• Since I read parts of the novel orally, there is great opportunity for discussion and clarification.
• Students also get the opportunity to read with a partner as well as independently.

Cons:

• I find marking the comprehension questions for the seventeen chapters the book contains to be somewhat tiring.
• Through groans and moans, I get a sense that the students are bored.
• I know for a fact that some students aren't reading the book but by the time I have the data, (comprehension questions answered incorrectly) to prove that, we have moved to another chapter and they never seem to get all of the reading finished.
• Discussion are short, teacher directed and the same few students are participating.

For a work sample, see Appendix 1.

Step 3 -- Let's Try Something New!

By January, we were ready to start a new class novel and I entered phase 2 of my literacy evolution. Once again, I was linking my social studies strand with my novel study so we began reading, The Egypt Game by Zilpha Snyder as we were studying Ancient Egypt as one of the Early Civilizations. I found myself testing a model I located in the book, Guiding Readers and Writers Grades 3 - 6 by Irene Fountas and Gay Pinell. On page 272 of the text, it describes a model in which, "...entire class listens or reads the same text ... students respond ... form groups of four, five or six students which meet ... teacher has the role of rotating observer.

Having read the novel, The Egypt Game in the past, I know from experience it is a long book consisting of twenty three chapters. There had to be a better way to assess comprehension. What I decided to do was to break the novel up into six chunks. On day one, the students read the first chunk either silently or with a partner. On the following day, as a whole group and using a teacher directed lesson, we discussed the material read focussing on "retelling" what happened. "Retelling" meant 'tell about ... use your own words to explain what happened.' Students were given the task of writing a one page "retelling" journal entry. Students were then assigned to read the second chunk and they responded by writing a second "retelling" journal entry. We began the third day with the students, sharing in small groups, their retelling entry from the previous day and thus group discussion, based on the novel, began to emerge. This pattern of reading, doing a journal entry and sharing either as a whole group or in small groups continued for the duration of the novel. There were only two other teacher directed lessons; namely, "relating" and "reflecting". Many students found focussing on characters and events in the book in relation to themselves a challenging task. Students seemed to find the "reflecting" aspect of the journal entry which included 'asking questions ... sharing ideas and insights' easier than the "relating" aspect which involved 'making connections ... telling personal stories'.

In order to make it clear to students what I wanted when I referred to the 3 R's - Retell, Relate, and Reflect, I gave the students an excellent reference which was taken from the black line masters section of the text Retelling, Relating, Reflecting Beyond the 3 R's by Susan Schwartz and Maxine Bone. A blank "Retell, Relate and Reflect" circle can make a great addition to a final assessment component.

For work samples of the retell, relate and reflect journal entries, see Appendices 2, 3, 4. I incorporate aspects of the Grand Erie District School Board's Literacy Profile as I worked though the process of first modelling, then sharing, guiding and eventually achieving independence in this area of focus. In terms of evaluation, I found myself assessing six journal entries and a final unit test. This was plenty of data to demonstrate understanding.

Pros:

• It's easier to mark six journal entries per student versus comprehension questions for twenty three chapters.
• Overall, the students enjoyed discussing the book. One who had not finished his reading when it was due said he "felt weird not being able to contribute to the group." He also complained that it was "confusing" hearing others talk about the book when he hadn't read that part yet. This motivated him to keep up with his reading because he wanted to be involved.

Cons:

• I created the discussion groups because I wanted to be sure that students were actually working on task. I was afraid if the students determined the groups, there would be too much socializing. In hind sight, I was wrong. One girl said "There are things that I don't understand about the book but I am too embarrassed to ask the group because I don't want them to think I'm dumb". She felt that had she been in a group with other friends, she would have been more comfortable discussing the text. Therefore, discussions were short (approximately 5-7 minutes).
• Although journal entries are better than answering comprehension questions, they too get boring after awhile. Instead of the journals getting better, I felt they got worse because overall, the students lost interest in the task.
• In an effort to make the reading chunks fit into the 3 R framework I wanted to use, I made the reading chunks too big and some of the weaker readers felt overwhelmed.

Step 4 - It's Time to Introduce "Roles"

When I had initially read about literature circles, the professional reading texts referred to each member of the group having a role or job to fulfill within the group. It was my goal to introduce this aspect during phase 3 of my literary evolution. To assist me with this task, I consulted with one of the literacy teachers in our board, Janet Trull, who agreed to come into my classroom to introduce this new concept. For this portion of my language program, I was making a connection with my science unit; Weather. Hence, when Ms. Trull came into the classroom in early March, she began by reading a storybook with a weather theme. She proceeded to introduce the students to the six jobs that she had created; namely, sketcher, wordsmith, dramatiser, reteller, connector, and questioner. Each student had a chance to try out each job in relation to the story she had read. This activity required an eighty minute block of time.

Typically, I like to do one class novel study per term. I knew I would be doing my third novel study in May so I decided to try out the "job" idea using short stories, similar to the process modelled by Ms. Trull. I used a variety of short weather stories from the Collections Series: Weather, Wings and Kite Strings. I chose six stories. Students worked in small groups of either five or six. Each day, they read one story and them completed one of their job tasks. The following day, they would share in their group the job task they had completed and a literacy discussion would develop. Then they would read a new story and complete a new job task. Hence, the pattern would continue until they had experience with each of the various roles or jobs.

I found phase 3 the most difficult to evaluate from a teacher's perspective because there was no end of unit test since we had used only short stories. What I did evaluate were the tasks completed by the individual doing a specific job or role. Therefore, I marked six responses. For work samples, see Appendixes 5, 6, 7.

Pros:

• The "jobs" were so open-ended that students had the opportunity to develop level 4 responses because there wasn't a right or wrong answer.
• Jobs didn't require an extended amount of time, unlike writing lengthy journal entries.
• I was able to connect my science theme with my language program.
• One student commented that, "I like being able to work at my own pace." Another said he "had a better understanding of the story because I can talk to others about it". A third students called the activity "fun".

Cons:

• The stories I used were short and thus there really wasn't much substance with which to base a lengthy or detailed discussion (approximately 7-12 minutes).
• I wanted the groups to do more as groups and I didn't feel that this aspect was being developed.
• It was hard to mark the dramatiser role because I had to physically visit each of the six groups to see that person present in that role.

Step 5 - Pulling It All Together

It was May when I entered the fourth and final phase of my literacy evolution. I referred back to the "key features" developed by Harvey Daniels as previously mentioned. I decided to link my science unit on the Human Body to my last novel study. Fortunately, I was able to make the connection of themes of growing and changing to this unit. I used the following novels; Skinnybones by Barbra Park, One to Grow On by Jean Little, From Anna by Jean Little, Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary, Konrad by Christine Nostlinger, Half Magic by N. M. Bodecker and Chocolate Fever by Robert Smith.

I began by doing a "book talk" about each of the different novels. Students examined the books and then wrote down three books that they would be interested in doing. I looked at the lists and tried to accommodate their first or second novel choice. This allowed the students to choose their own reading materials. The process of choice empowered the students and gave them the sense of ownership, but it also allowed me to separate students who I believed work better when separated. Small temporary groups were formed and since there were seven different novels, different groups read different books. The first day that we began the process for the final unit, the students took their books and based on the time frame they were given by me, they determined their own four "reading chunks" so that the novel would be completed on time. Generally speaking, we did literature circles very three days to allow time for the required reading to be completed. Students met on a regular, predictable schedule to discuss their reading. When students were preparing or sharing their novel some used notes but that was a personal choice. Discussion topics came from the students and the meetings were open, and natural conversations about the books emerged. Similar to the roles they did when doing the weather stories, I developed four task roles to be completed on a rotating basis: a story cube, a "retell, relate, reflect" circle; a discussion web; and a prediction paragraph and sketch.

Outline of the Role "Tasks":

Retell, Relate, Reflect Circle

This concept was originally created by Susan Schwartz and Maxine Bone and is published in their book, Retelling, Relating, and Reflecting - Beyond the 3 R's. Students were given a 'completed' circle to use as a model which assisted them in completing their blank 'Retell, Relate, Reflect' circle. Based on what was read that day, they had to tell what happened using their own words (retell), make a connection to what was going on in the book to something in their own lives (relate) and think about a specific aspect of the story that made them wonder (reflect).

Discussion Web

This meant the students got to play "teacher". They came up with a question that they felt could be debated in their literature group. They presented their idea or question to the group. There was a group discussion and the students came up with varying opinions on the subject - pros or cons, yes or no, depending on the question. The pretend "teacher" recorded the different ideas. Based on the information they gathered from the group, the pretend teacher developed a conclusion (answered the initial question) and stated the reasons as to why they made the conclusion they did. As indicated by the text, I was able to copy the discussion web format found on page 164 in Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3 - 8 by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen. Next time, I would show students this particular format, but I would encourage them to create their own discussion web so that it can be more personalized to the literature text being studied.

Prediction Paragraph and Sketch

Students were required to draw what they think would happen next, write a paragraph about their ideas. One disadvantage is that the last person to complete this task would have actually finished reading the book before they completed the assignment. To solve this problem, the students just wrote and drew about what they thought would happen next if the book were to continue.

Story Cube

On the cube net provided, students had to make illustrations about the conflict, the characters, the setting and a significant symbol in the novel. They were able to choose two other areas they wanted to emphasis on the remaining sides of the cube. They discussed in their literature circle why they drew the things they did.

As I visited each group and evaluated what was occurring, my role was that of a facilitator. Not only did I use teacher observation as part of my evaluation, but the students also completed self evaluation reflections after each group gathering. In my opinion there was a spirit of playfulness and fun in the room. Often it got very loud as the discussion led to reflection and students were able to relate personal experiences to their classmates. Lastly, Harvey Daniels discusses the need for readers to share with their classmates. This was accomplished by each literature circle group completing their own cumulative activity. The list of activities can by found in Literature Circles - the Way to Go and How to Get There by Teacher Created Materials, Inc. Some example activities are that some groups did dramas while others made advertisement posters, collages, or new book covers. Students were also given the option to develop their own group cumulative activity. Hence, I felt I had met the twelve key features set out by Harvey Daniels in his book, Literature Circles - Voice and Choice in the Student-Centered Classroom, which is what I had hoped to accomplish.

In terms of evaluation, If felt that phase 4 was the most well rounded. I marked each of the four tasks completed by the students. I had a teacher observation check list which I created and was completed when visiting the groups. I also assessed the self evaluations completed by the students. The format used by the students was taken from the resource, Guiding Readers and Writers by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. I also assessed the cumulative group activity. Finally, there was a unit test. As you can well imagine, I was not creating seven different novel study tests. Therefore, I made one generic test which assessed key skills rather than specific novel content. A rubric was used to provide each student with an evaluation.

Pros:

• Since the students choose the books themselves, they were more likely to actually read it.
• Because a schedule had been made the first day, even if someone was away, they knew what they needed to complete and for what date.
• Generally, the groups initiated independent reading or oral group reading themselves. Most groups did a combination of the two styles.
• I sat in on two literature circles in an eighty minute period which was a reasonable form of evaluation.
• The groups really liked doing the cumulative activity.
• Discussion groups were lengthening (approximately 12-15 minutes).
• I felt that I had provided a variety of different activities to be graded and thus had ample evaluation opportunities.

Cons:

• Like all phases before, some students just were not prepared for the activity.
• I found the self evaluation after each literature circle gathering a waste of paper. Perhaps doing one every other time would encourage the students to be more reflective.
• If one group was having difficulty understanding the story, I wasn't always able to determine this unless I was a part of their discussion group that day. The students themselves thought that they "got it" but really they didn't.

Step 6 -- Overall Thoughts

As I put my thoughts to paper, I find myself reflecting on my initial question, "What are Literature Circles and How Could they be Implemented into my Grade 5 Language Program?" It's June and I feel that my literary evolution has been complete. I have an understanding of the form that literature circles can take and I have, in my opinion, successfully implemented them into my Grade 5 language program. I am convinced that literature circles can take many different forms and all can be implemented to one degree or another based on the individual needs of a classroom. As I reflect on the past year, I realize with certainty that I would not have been able to implement "phase 4" in November when I initially began my study. I needed to work thought the different stages in the literary process as did the students in my room. It wasn't until May that we, as a class, were able to pull all of the things that we had learned together in order to make the literature circles the way turned out to be. I am quite sure that given another year, I would want my class to go through the same phases that this year's group did . Of course, I would make changes and improvements but I believe the concepts and the development of the process was where the true learning took place. For example, I think I might look at reorganizing the order in which I do the science and social studies units because that has a direct impact on the literature texts I use in my classroom at that particular time. I need to investigate the possibility of doing another "short" novel and perhaps using it to introduce the "jobs" rather than the short stories. I think I would still use the short stories I did but perhaps in a different way.

One day in early May, I had the opportunity to chat with one of my former grade 5 students who is currently in grade 8. I was telling her about my action research study and how we were working in literature circles as well as the tasks we were doing with them. She shared with me what literature circles in a grade 8 classroom were looking like. When I asked her if she felt as if she understood the reading material better because her teacher was using literature circles, she simply said, "You get a different perspective." Thanks Jennifer. I think you articulated what I was struggling to comprehend. Literature circles offer an inclusive opportunity to discuss literature, giving each individual student a voice and teaching the value of listening to the voices of others. Students gain "a different perspective" about literature, classmates and life in a respectful venue.

Appendix 1: comprehension test

Appendices 2,3,4: Retell, relate, reflect

Appendices 5,6,7: Responses