This is my first time posting, so hopefully I'm doing it correctly. I've done Lit Circles twice this year. Though I don't know everything going on in their discussions, they have gone much better this time. I don't assign roles, but have kept control of when they meet and what their responses are about. All of my groups meet on the same day. I have them summarize what they've read and then discuss their responses. Once they are done meeting they have a rubric they fill out for how their group did on their discussion, then they fill out how they did as an individual. The last few times I've meet with each group to discuss their meeting and what grade they think they deserve for their discussion. They are getting pretty good on knowing if they are focused for their discussions. I need to do some mini-lessons on how to respond to each other. Most of the responses I've asked them to do have been open enough they fit all the books. For one they had two write two thick questions about their book, then after sharing their questions and discussing the answers with their group, they chose a question (there's or someone else's) and wrote a paragraph answer. The next time they had to make a connection to the book and share it with their group. The last couple of times they met I've been able to sit back and observe the groups (5 or 6 in each class). I would then wander close to groups that might be a little off task and listen in to what they were discussing. I've jotted down notes on what I see to discuss with each group. Cindy 6th Grade Reading
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