Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles

This book teaches the importance of instilling the skills of a life-long reader in our
students. Some of the key elements of this book include teaching students how to read with
intention, ask questions that provoke thought and enable discussions, and stay accountable within
their classroom communities. These factors contribute to students as writers because reading,
community, and classroom experiences all become artifacts in writing. The main topics I’ve
found to be most helpful are:

Discussion Skills
Good Question Characteristics
• Make you think - not easily answered
• Have more than one possible answer
• Lead to different opinions/viewpoints
• Lead to interpretation of characters’ actions
• Lead to predictions
• Invoke emotion
• Support imagination
• Bring up controversial ideas
Bad Question Characteristics
• Can be easily answered
• Ask for one specific detail
• No controversy
• Only one opinion possible
• Doesn’t help understand the book better
• Makes it hard for follow-up questions
• Don’t invoke problem solving or imagination

Assessments and Accountability

Post-Discussion Journaling - Highlighting one topic in the discussion that sparked interest and/or
a prolonged discussion.
• Paying attention to the ideas of others
• Working to remember discussion topics
• Recalling your own contributions help to improve for future discussions
• Allows for insight into young readers’ reactions to various texts
Goal Setting for Group Improvement - Jotting down both successes and areas that need
improvement to create an improvement goal plan for future discussions.
• List successes (ex. Everyone came prepared.)
• List improvement goals (ex. Remember to give everyone enough time to think before
starting.)
• Create a goal plan for future discussions (ex. Assign someone to manage discussion
timing.)