Reading Groups Across the Curriculum
by Brianne McGee
Many of us in the education field have been told that our students are learning how to read during the first few years of elementary school, but once they enter third grade, our students begin reading to learn. This statement has never quite made sense to me. The texts our students are required to read tend to become more rigorous as they progress through their education. Our students are asked to comprehend information that at times can be quite dense. How can we expect them to be successful if we stop teaching our students how to read in third grade?
Experts in the education field have found that grouping students purposefully through literature circles and reciprocal teaching can be powerful strategies in any content-area classroom. Through the use of these kinds of groups, our students are able to actively discuss the texts they are expected to read.
Literature circles are small, peer-led discussion groups that are organized based on text selection (Daniels, 2001). The teacher typically provides the students will three to four different texts that all revolve around the same topic. The students then have the opportunity to choose which text interests them the most. Once the texts have been selected, the students work as a group to determine the reading schedule which must be approved by the teacher. The students are also in charge of assigning discussion roles. These roles are an invaluable aspect of literature circles because they allow the students to take responsibility of their own learning, but they also allow the students to utilize a wide-variety of comprehension strategies (Helgeson, 2017).
This image describes a few of the roles that are typically used in literature circles; however, the roles can always be adjusted to best meet the needs of your students, including any text, not just literature. Another way to refer to this strategy, especially when it's not just using literature, is reciprocal teaching. Roles for going deeper through reciprocal teaching are below. For more ideas, check out the resources here from Reading Rockets.
If you are teaching in a content class that is not literature-based, we recommend offering your students different types of texts that all revolve around the same academic concept. Below we have provided a few examples of how different types of texts can be used to help your student understand a specific academic concept.
Imagine your students are about to learn about the Civil Rights Movement. One group can read an autobiography on Rosa Parks. Another group can read a newspaper article that discusses the bus boycott. A third group can read a poem that discusses how African Americans were treated during this time period. Each one of these texts will allow your students to gain an understanding of the Civil Rights Movement.
Imagine your students are beginning to discuss Newton’s laws of physics. One group can read an article from a science magazine about the three laws of physics. Another group can read a biography about Isaac Newton that explains how he discovered the laws of physics. The third group can read a newspaper articles about the three laws of physics. You can help the students understand their articles by reading the textbook during whole group.
Educators can incorporate literature circles into the curriculum. It does not matter what academic content you teach, because your students will benefit from actively discussing the material with their peers (Van Der Veen, De Mey, Van Kruistum, and Van Oers, 2015)
One of the main questions on educators’ minds whenever someone suggests incorporating reading groups into classrooms is how do they help those students who are struggling academically and/or learning English as a second language. You may find it helpful to provide these students with a role sheet that clearly lays out what information they need to share with their group members during the discussion. These students may also benefit from sentence stems. One of the main goals of these kinds of reading group strategies is to get students actively discussing the content. It is completely okay if your struggling students and/or your English Language Learners need sentence stems to help them during the group discussions. We want them to feel confident throughout the group discussion. Lastly, these students may benefit from explicit modeling. Show your students what a productive literature circle looks like and sounds like. You can do this by watching example videos or having a few students assist you while you model an academic conversation. These three simple strategies (role sheets, sentence stems, and explicit modeling) will allow each student in your class be successful.
We wish you luck as you embark on implementing literature circles or reciprocal teaching in your classroom!
Citations
Daniels (2001)
Helgeson (2017)
Van Der Veen, De Mey, Van Kruistum, and Van Oers (2015)
To Further Your Learning
Edutopia: Literacy Practices We Should Abandon
Reading Rockets: Reciprocal Teaching
Edutopia: The Nuts and Bolts of Setting up Literature Circles