Literary Circles and Student Identities



Part 1:

Our group decided that for the first literature circle meeting that we would all contribute to each of the roles. The initial idea was that we would go through each type contributor and see what sort of ideas would come to mind how each of us might approach them differently. What I noticed happening was that, as we got into the groove of the discussion, moving on to each new role triggered an avalanche of new ideas. Part of this was that all of us are deeply invested in literature and experienced in this sort of discussion, but another part was how each “role” acted as a sort of guided question that really focused the direction of our inquiry. I think that in a secondary education setting, this format could be very useful for that reason: it creates a blue print for discussion, but one that is not overly restrictive in where the conversation goes after the initial focus.

During our conversation, the roles seemed to flow into each other quite well. As an example, one person taking on the luminary role brought up a passage that mentioned Madame Butterfly, which I hadn’t really taken notice of in my own reading. However, building off the conversation we had, I discussed how I thought it was really interesting that the characters were romanticizing such a classic example of imperialistic, orientalist literature as an ideal for them aspire to. I was able to make this connection due to having read the referenced text, however it is something that high school students might not notice. With the roles of the connector and investigator pushing students to look for that sort of connection, however, students might do some outside research and find all sorts of similar intertextual conversations. I definitely think this is something that students will get more out of the more they do it, and I wonder if it isn’t better to stick to certain roles, or prepare a couple roles, rather than changing for every meeting.

The literature circles really seems to dovetail nicely with the perspective taken in Teaching Literature to Adolescents, which talks at length about fostering critical skills in students like the ability to construct social worlds, make connections, and infer symbolic meanings. At first I was hesitant about the role of the illustrator. After re-reading the section on inference, I realized that it could be a very powerful tool for crystalizing underlying themes in a deeply personal manner for the students. I had never really considered attempting to paraphrase without words, but I am now deeply curious about the idea.



Part 2:

“How will I get my students to do _______.”

“What will my students like?”

“How am I going to engage with my students?”

These are the questions I keep running through my head as I do these reads, and I have noticed one thing that I am now starting to question: my students. What gets bundled up into this term? Finders (1999) problematizes the notion of any sort of monolithic construction of adolescence, pointing out that the very idea is very much a socially constructed one. It is a term that obscures an ocean of difference between individuals for the ease of cataloguing and sorting students. I feel like I am doing much the same with “my students.” Even trying to fit them into groupings with positive associations such as “readers” seems like it could easily fall prey to the same faults as adolescence. What does it mean to be a reader? Will it be the same for everyone? Is there a finished state of being a reader that definitively sorts the doers from the do-nots? Categorization seems to be the rule of the day, and I don’t know that I am wholly comfortable with that idea.

I am drawn to the line, “Think of your class period as a story, one in which the narrative elements should come together to complete a tale” (Beach, et al. 2016) It seems like this could easily extend to thinking of the students as elements of a narrative, constantly in conversation with each other, their teacher, and the texts they read, workings towards weaving together their own novel story. This sort of classification really excites me. As a metaphor, it maintains the importance and individuality of each part, while still allowing for a framed perspective that provides an understanding of the whole.

It would be easy to conclude then that the role of the teacher is that of the author — wrangling together the disparate threads of plot, character, and setting to create something illustrative and meaningful. I don’t believe that is the case, though I would be lying if I said I have never had a teacher that behaved as such, or never been front of a class with that view myself. The teacher may provide the outline for the story, but it is the students themselves who should author the final product. Smith and Wilhelm (2006) build on this with the idea of inquiry units, where the role of the teacher is to foster an investment between the students and their education rather than simply covering content. Having control over the direction of their learning is an important component to creating independent learners, and it seems like that is much harder to accomplish of students are devoting a large chunk of their time trying to determine the sacred “correct answer” that will unlock a passing grade.

Part 3:

For my resource, I am going to slightly tongue-in-cheek link to the Potter Games (http://thepottergames.com). I am considering either using the website, or creating a similar activity for part of our intercession on fan fiction. I always enjoyed the choose-your-own-adventure style books as a child, and I think the genre really ties into a lot of the notions I discussed above, such as students' authorship of their own learning process. 

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