Literature Circles 1

Literature Circles: The impact that they have upon Comprehension in intermediate level classrooms.

Author: Maren Aldrich

Literature Circles 2

Literature Circles 3

Abstract

This study was focused on literature circles and the impact that they have over a student’s at the fourth and fifth grade level within a suburban school district. The focal students were six fourth grade students and five fifth grade students, three of which had

Individualized Education Programs. Teachers, students, and parents were interviewed and observed in their learning for the time of literature circles for half of the school year in order to see progress or digression in their reading comprehension. In the observations of the students in their literature circles it was abundantly clear that they were becoming more engaged in the conversations and . It would be more telling to observe a third grade classroom to see their interactions because they are a part of the intermediate level.

Literature Circles 4

Table of Contents

Introduction……………………………………………………………..pg. 5

Theoretical Framework…………………………………………………pg. 5-6

Review of Literature……………………………………………………pg. 6-10

Methods…………………………………………………………………pg. 10-16

Findings…………………………………………………………………pg. 16-20

Implications……………………………………………………………..pg. 20-21

Conclusion/Limitations…………………………………………………pg. 21-22

Appendices………………………………………………………………pg. 23-25

References……………………………………………………………….pg. 26

Literature Circles 5

The focus of this research paper is to determine whether or not literature circles can be used as the basis for improving a student’s reading comprehension. There are many components that are addressed to reach the answer to this question. The sociocultural theory is the foundation to a lot of research and theorists have been able to find that literature circles are an essential asset to learning. The simple question of what literature circles are, which leads to the engagement of readers, and ultimately their reading comprehension will lead to the findings of this study. The participants in this study along with the background of the school are included to give some information as to what students were learning and where. Limitations and implications are made available to see what other avenues are available to the students as well as to the teacher.

The information that is provided will show that literature circles are an important aspect of a child’s learning. Reading comprehension is a major factor is some students’ learning and with the use of literature circles in the classroom, students’ will be able to improve upon this aspect of their learning. You will also find that along with ELA, literature circles seemed to help improve upon the attitudes towards other content area subjects. The main intended goal, however, was to prove if literature circles were a positive tool for learning to promote success within reading comprehension.

Theoretical Framework

Literature circles are consistent with the sociocultural and the New Studies. The

New Literacy Studies demonstrates that literacy is not only cognitive but also communicative within small groups. (Larson & Marsh, 2005). The sociocultural theory is mainly based upon the idea of community and how to get children involved in the world around them. Children are Literature Circles 6 living in a society that is constantly changing and they need to know how to adapt and change with the world around them. (Larson & Marsh 2005) According to sociocultural theory, children are constantly interacting with the people around them, and this is an important part of literacy.

It is essential for children to learn new things and they need to learn them from an abundance of resources. One way is that children need to learn from real-life situations that are happening around them. This is the basis of the sociocultural theory, in that children are learning from their everyday interactions, including their peers within their own classroom. (Larson & Marsh, 2005)

Literature circles are related to this theory in this particular way because students are interacting and gaining new insight from their peers. When students choose their own books, it shows a common interest among students. This common interest builds toward a community, which is the basis of the sociocultural community. Larson and Marsh define this theory as, “theory that presents a culturally focused analysis of participation in everyday life, in both formal and informal settings.” (Larson & Marsh, 2005)

Review of Literature

Literature circles can be defined in several ways, but all researchers agree that student choice is a primary factor as well as the need for a teacher to facilitate the development of a successful group. Research indicates that literature circles are used inside of the classroom within small groups that are based upon a student’s interest of literature. (Greef, 2002) Greef also addresses the issue of using literature circles within the home by taking strategies learned within the school setting. Casey (2008) uses the term literature circles interchangeably with that of book clubs and states that these terms can be used to mean the same thing. She also uses research from Daniels (2002) that states that student selection of the texts that they read are Literature Circles 7

“among the key pieces.” Also, Casey (2008) enforces the teacher’s role as a facilitator within the book clubs by providing the students with the tools that they need for a successful group.

Harvey Daniels is seen to be the “inventor” of the literature circles because he has an abundant amount of research that is based upon this activity. He discusses the importance of the

“roles” and how they are used within the literature circles. Once the students’ start to use the literature circles, it is important for them to use the roles that are given to them to help with the organization. After a period of time in using them, the students will be able to interact and use the literature circles to their benefit and they will be more independent. The main influence that

Daniels has is that he is able to fully explain what literature circles are and how they are used within the classroom to promote reading comprehension Literature circles are becoming more and more present inside the classrooms as a way of instilling the strategies of but in such a way that students can interact on their own. Literature circles can even be compared to book clubs in the way that students are choosing their own books and materializing their own questions that will lead conversations. Harvey Daniels states, “the consistent outcome is that kids are falling in love with books they have chosen.” (Daniels 2006)

Implementing Literature Circles

Implementing literature circles is a process that needs to be carried out over a period of time in order to ensure the success of the groups, which includes teacher models and maps of how literature circles will be ran. In contrast to guided reading groups, literature circles are a way for children to share their thoughts and ideas about texts that are of interest to them.

According to research conducted by Lloyd (2004), implementing literature circles are a way to engage students in reading as well as gain independence for their own reading. She argues that Literature Circles 8 in using round-robin reading, students do not gain the understanding of engaged conversation and in using small groups, students are more able to participate in conversation. She also found that in letting students choose their own reading material, they became more engaged in their reading and were more apt to comprehend the text. Lloyd’s (2004) research showed that using interesting questions the students formulated, in turn, made the students anticipation grow. The research by Berne and Clark (2008) indicated that by having the teacher model their own literature circle prior to student literature circles, would be a benefit to implementation. Lloyd

(2004), Berne and Clark (2008) both show that using a chart to map out student literature circles is a good structure to use throughout the meeting times.

Engaging Readers

Another study that was conducted has shown that in allowing students to engage in literature circles on the very first day, students are becoming engaged in the learning process.

Lloyd (2004) engages students in the learning process on the first day of literature circles whereas Berne and Clark (2008) implement teacher roles for the first two days and then include students. Berne and Clark address the topic of teacher given prompts that are provided to the students. Both researchers monitor one literature circle at a time, as this leads to only one literature group working at a given time. Lloyd (2004), however, focuses on the idea that students should lead their own conversations because they will engage more in the meaning behind the text. Her approach to literature circles is that there are many groups that are working at one time, while there is teacher rotation around the room to take notes. In using a simple checklist or chart, the teachers are quickly and efficiently able to take notes of their observations. Literature Circles 9

The importance of questions and how they are used within the literature circles are addressed in

Lloyd (2004) as well as Berne and Clark (2008).

Benefits of Literature Circles

The benefits of literature circles range from a number of different ideas but the main focus of literature circles is reading comprehension. (Berne and Clark 2008) Along with reading comprehension, Greef (2002) literature circles can also bring students together and this shows how they are able to work in a community. Berne and Clark (2008) have conducted research that shows the reading comprehension strategies that students gain from one another while participating in literature circles. Berne and Clark (2008) also mention the increasing range of text difficulty that will be accomplished by using literature circles within the classroom. Lloyd

(2004), however, believes that to solely focus literature circles on reading comprehension is not the most effective way. Other strategies are important to use while in literature circles because there are more aspects of literacy that can be addressed. She does agree with Berne and Clark

(2008) that reading comprehension is important to focus on, so comprehension will be used to guide the literature circles.

The linking of one strategy to the next is another goal that Lloyd (2004) discusses and also states, “a singular focus introduced each strategy, I was careful to return and link new strategies to old ones.” (pg. 124) Other students are able to use the strategies within their own reading and then this allows a time to engage in a meaningful conversation about the text.

Daniels (2006) uses a different approach to literature circles and why they are beneficial, using four words: engagement, choice, responsibility, and research. He discusses these four aspects in detail and states that students will want to join literature groups because there are fewer children. Literature Circles 10

In regards to simplicity, children are going to want to join a group that is more student- centered and not facilitated by a teacher. Teachers do, however, have some input, as to a selection of books that students should read, but this is where choice is beneficial because students will have chosen their own books. Daniels (2006) research demonstrates that once students are given the task of being their own facilitator, they are more likely to take on more responsibility.

Methods

Interviews

Teachers, enrichment specialist, and a special education teacher were informally observed throughout this study. Each teacher gave their answers to specific questions about the school, students, individual settings, curriculum, and instruction (Appendix A). For the most part, I wrote down simple notes that I would be able to transcribe after our meetings. These interviews were informal so I did not use a tape recording device .

When beginning this study, I had parent permission forms that were signed so that I was able to work with students for the study. After receiving these permission forms, I then informally interviewed a select few of parents to receive their input about their child’s reading habits within the home. As a part of my selection process, I simply chose from a variety of backgrounds of the students in order to get results that would be based within a dynamic cluster.

Some of these questions ranged from asking if their child reads at home to if they willingly read or if they are prompted by the parent (Appendix B). For the most part, interviews were conducted over the telephone because a one on one interview was not conducive for most Literature Circles 11 parents. While on the phone, I was able to write down quick notes of what was discussed and then I wrote down any of the information that might have been left out.

Observations.

The one fourth and fifth grade classrooms were observed two times a week for the one to one and a half hour block schedules. While in the fourth grade classroom, I chose one literature circle group that was in the study to carefully observe during their time meeting together. I chose this group because there were a variety of learning styles that would provide me with different results that would give me a lot of information. Some of the readers were at a lower level and others were on the high end of the reading spectrum. While in the fifth grade classroom, I chose one child that was participating in the study to observe closely during the block of time. When I observed the enrichment specialist once a week for thirty minutes, I chose one student that was included in this study to observe carefully and I chose this particular student because they were below reading level and I wanted to observe how this time would be beneficial to them and how literature circles helped or altered their learning.

While in each classroom or setting, I carefully monitored and observed the student or students without interfering with their learning. I was able to take notes of the interactions that they were having along with their learning styles and conversations with others. I also watched for the type of books the students were choosing and the questions that they were inquiring about. I chose a location within the classroom that would not be intrusive to their learning styles and I would quietly take notes on the interactions that occurred. I did not actively participate unless asked by a student or the teacher. Observation notes were continually checked by the classroom teacher as well as by my graduate peers. Literature Circles 12

Setting

School. Meadowbriar Elementary School was constructed and built in 1965 in the midsized school district of a suburban town. The housing developments that surround the school include homes, apartments, townhouse, and public/low income housing. Meadowbriar enrolls approximately 391 students for the 2008-2009 school year in kindergarten through grade five.

Twenty percent of the children are classified as economically disadvantaged and receive reduced or free lunches. Meadowbriar also offers breakfast services along with their daily lunch menu.

Twelve percent of the student population receive special education services or are classified as limited English proficient. Twenty-nine percent of students are classified as the minority, including African-American, Asian or Pacific Islander, and Multi-Racial. The other seventy-one percent are classified as Caucasian students.

Contrary to the other schools within this district, Meadowbriar saw a dramatic change within the demographics of the school’s enrollment of minority and low-income families.

Meadowbriar’s test scores have always been well above average and for the 2008-2009 school year, it will be very telling to see how demographics played a role in test scores. This particular school has been commended for teacher performance as well as student performance on state tests and has never been under scrutiny for improving school programs. However, the school does have an enrichment specialist along with four full time reading specialists, and three reading teacher assistants. The enrichment specialist along with the reading specialists is designed mainly as a pullout method of teaching. During this time, students are learning and using new strategies that will help them in becoming better readers. As a result of the school district, Meadowbriar was forced to cut the program that was in place for Literature Circles 13 kindergarten and first grade students. This was unfortunate for the school because there was about 40 percent of students that qualified for this program.

Along with these programs, there were also professional developments that were made readily available to the teachers. One of these workshops was designed around a downfall that students had on the 2007-2008 New York State ELA test. Poetry was posing a problem for many of the students on this ELA standardized test, so Meadowbriar designed a professional development for teachers to attend that would enhance their understanding of poetry and how to use it within the classroom. Meadowbriar also has a monthly school bulletin that is sent home with the students to review with their parents and there are teacher designed websites and plenty of support from the school district.

Classrooms. The observations conducted took place in a fourth, fifth and enrichment specialist’s classrooms. The fourth and fifth grade teachers had their own classrooms to conduct the literature circles and the enrichment specialist had her office to conduct her literature circles.

Inside the fourth grade classroom, there was plenty of space for the students to work and the literature circle groups were conducted around the room. The fifth grade classroom conducted their literature circle as a whole group because a number of the students received their services at the designated time. The special education teacher pushed into the classroom at this time to conduct the literature circles while the classroom teacher provided support. As for the enrichment specialist, she conducted her literature circles using a pull-out method, in which she took small groups of above level readers to her own office space. All of these classroom settings provided the students with the ability to work in a conducive environment. The only downside would be in the fourth grade classroom where the students placed themselves around the room. Literature Circles 14

It was sometimes difficult to remain on task when there were distractions such as other students and noise volume.

Participants

Teachers. During the school year, I worked closely with two classroom teachers, enrichment specialist, and a special education teacher. In the fourth grade classroom and in the enrichment room, the teacher was the only instruction that was being implemented. In the fifth grade class, the special education teacher was co-teaching with the classroom teacher. There was an aide that was in both classrooms for about a half hour.

Deidre Youngman has been a teacher for twelve years and has remained at the fourth grade level for all twelve years. Her degree is for early childhood through grade 5 and she has obtained a Master’s degree in Special education. It was very informative to observe Youngman within her classroom because she has been teaching at this level for her entire career. There was a lot of details that she was able to provide that I do not feel I would gain from a first or second year teacher. She also provided a lot of resources that she has been using that was able to make her somewhat of a master in using literature circles.

Sarah Diamond has been teaching for twenty years and ten of those years was spent at

Meadowbriar in which she taught fourth, first, and now at the fifth grade level. She has been a teacher leader for all of the grade levels that she has taught and she is even on the intermediate literacy team. She graduated with a degree in general education grades 1-5 and she obtained her

Master’s in literacy. This was her first year of incorporating literature circles within her classroom, as well as, the special education teacher that pushed in during this time. This was a learning process that was able to develop over the period of time that was spent within the classroom. Literature Circles 15

Julie Edwards has been the special education teacher at Meadowbriar for the past five years and before that, she was a special education teacher within another school district. She provides services to students who have Individualized Education Program or IEP. Edwards’ services are mainly inside the classrooms, however, at times she pulls students out to work one on one with them. She has had many experiences with literature circles and was working with the fifth grade teachers in helping to expand this program.

Susan Leonard has been an enrichment specialist for the past seven years and has taught within the district for twenty-one years. Her main focus is to carry out the goals of the teachers that use differentiated instruction. Susan is there to support all grade level teachers with helping students with the information that they need to know at the end of each lesson or unit. By providing enrichment opportunities to the students, they will be engaging in their own learning by making choices that are of interest to them.

Students. During my first week of visiting the classrooms, I was able to identify one group of students in each of the classrooms and one student in the enrichment room that I was observing.

Within those two groups, which consisted of five students in each, there were three males and two females in one and four males and one female in the other. The student that was observed in the enrichment room was a female student. All of the students were at different reading levels as well as having different learning styles.

Once I was focused on these students, I was able to talk with their parents and ask them certain questions about their child’s reading habits at home. Some parents came in for conferences during the time that I was in the classroom so I was able to talk to them and ask for their permission at that point in time. Five out of the eleven of these students did not attend preschool of any kind and two of the students used English as a Second . Three of the Literature Circles 16 students had an IEP, which provided them with certain services inside as well as outside of the classroom.

Findings

What are Literature Circles?

This type of literary stance is one that is introduced by the teacher with a tool called role sheets.

In using these role sheets, the students are able to play different parts in order to increase their learning of the text that they have selected. There are four to five students within one literature circle and everyone in that group has a role to play. One student will play the connecter, connecting the text to other parts of their own experiences or anything that will link something to the book. Another could be the visualizer, who would visualize the text and what may be happening next within the text. Inferencing is another role that can be played and the summarizer that would summarize the entire text so that it is clear to all students what the book was about. These role sheets can be used in the beginning but it is important that students do not become attached to them. This will help them to gain more of an understanding outside of the roles. Teachers will then allow the students to work on their own within their groups by having the students select the texts that they wish to work with. Students generate their own questions about the piece of literature that they have selected and they also create their own tools for learning by finding what parts of the book they feel are most important. During their time at literature circles the students are to set in place their own plan of how the time will be spent and they are also responsible for creating rules and keeping records of what they have accomplished. The students also are to create their own assessments as a key component of their learning.

In my observations and understandings, I learned a lot about what literature circles are and how they work within the classroom. Each teacher has a different way of using this literacy tool, but in the end it all comes back to “children are allowed to be their own teachers during literature circles and make up their own lesson plans.” (Youngman 2009) This really gave me a Literature Circles 17 perspective on what literature circles really are and what they are able to do for children’s learning.

Engaging Readers.

Engaging students to want to read can be a very difficult task, especially when children believe that they are not proficient readers. In some of my early observations and interview questions, I was able to uncover that students really are interested in reading; however, it sometimes needs to be on their own terms. When interviewing one parent, I had come to learn that their child loved to read mystery books at home and that they were always reading during their free time. On the other hand, this same student would never show any interest in reading during school and this was because the book that they were reading at the time was a historical text. Once the student was able to choose a book for literature circles, I saw a tremendous difference in the response that was given. Time after time we see students who become uninterested in school and they then turn to other things to occupy the time that should be spent focusing on schoolwork.

When I first interviewed the selected students, many of them stated that the books that they read for social studies and during guided reading are not very interesting. This question led to a conversation about a current book that they were reading and when I probed further, I came to realize that they did not even know simple details about the book. This showed me a lot about the level of interest that they had towards the material that they were supposed to be engaged in.

I could also look at it from a different standpoint and say that the teacher was not putting forth the effort that is needed to engage the students in reading. Too many times, we look at the students and why they are misbehaving in the classroom and too many times we blame them for Literature Circles 18 their actions. The truth is, sometimes, we should look at the fact that they are simply bored in school and have no other way of showing this then to act out.

In final, informal interviews with the students, I asked them how literature circles affected their level of interest in reading. The answers that I received varied based upon each student and the level of interest that they had before I even conducted this study. Some students were already interested in reading and literature circles just gave them a different type of learning. The other students showed a lot of emotion towards literature circles and their grades proved that they were really enjoying this form of reading and learning. I even noticed that the grades and effort in the other content areas was improving, which I did not think that I would see. When I asked one of the students why this was, they responded with “I don’t know, I usually get really bored because math is after reading, but after literature circles, I’m ready to learn more.” This was a huge indicator for me because I was able to see that when students are engaged, it will provide only a positive outcome for the other areas of school.

Overall, the students really enjoyed using the literature circles as a follow-up to guided reading lessons. I found that other content areas were improving as well because the students were not bored with their reading. I thought about it as a ripple effect and once they were interested in one area, then they could use those skills to help them engage in another content area. Grades were starting to improve in their reading and and the students were showing a lot of enthusiasm towards reading.

Reading Comprehension.

Along with engaging the students in their reading, Literature Circles showed to be a good tool to use in order to improve reading comprehension. Engagement and comprehension go hand in hand because once a child is interested in reading; they are able to comprehend what Literature Circles 19 they are reading. Connections can be made to the text and students are able to use those skills to understand and interpret the texts that they interacting with.

I found that as the time went on and as the students became more comfortable with the literature circles that they were beginning to understand a lot more of what they were reading. In the initial stages of my study, I found that students were scoring poorly on their assessments and towards the end; students were able to retell and recall a lot of important details. During interviews, I was able to see that the students were really excited about what they were learning.

One student, in particular, who was not even able to tell me the main idea of a story before the study; was able to tell me numerous important facts about the book he was reading during his literature circle. Another positive goal that I did not set was the students were really being able to interact with one another. I saw a lot of instructional conversations instead of students becoming off task with the topic at hand. I was genuinely able to observe and discuss with students of both classes, as well as, the enrichment room to see what they were learning and how this new tool was able to help them understand and comprehend the texts.

One particular assignment was a real key indicator for me as to how much the students were really learning. As a part of an assessment for the literature circle groups, the students were asked to complete a worksheet along with a book report type essay of the book that they had just finished. They were allowed to complete this assignment within the literature groups as long as everyone was an active participant. This was the part that really worried me because I know how easy it is to pass off an assignment to the other classmates in your group. I was completely shocked when I actually saw each of the students participating within the group and adding their own little piece to the puzzle. Some students were linking back to the text and thinking about Literature Circles 20 other pieces that were important that some did not think about. This was the real indicator that the literature circles were becoming a real part of working on their comprehension.

This was the main goal that I was trying to reach within my research and I was really impressed with the way that students improved upon their reading comprehension. I could see that they were becoming better readers not only within the literature circles, but within other content areas as well. That was one thing that I did not expect because my main focus was on the ELA and literature circles. Overall, I feel that the students were finally able to choose books of their liking and in turn they were only improving on their success as students. It seemed like a positive outcome for all parties that were involved.

Implications

This study gives a fairly good picture of literature circles and the reading comprehension of students at the intermediate levels. The research and data documents that students are more engaged in their reading when they are able to choose books of interest instead of being forced into a reading that has no meaning to them. The literature circles give the students a choice and this is an essential piece of their learning. I believe that if teachers implement literature circles into their classrooms, they will see a tremendous difference in not only their reading comprehension but also within their attitudes towards school. Students will continually become engaged in the reading, their peers, and within other aspects of school. When students are able to participate in literature circles, they are going to retain a lot more information and apply these skills towards other areas of their learning.

My own implications of this study are ones that I will be able to take with me and use in my own classroom. I was never a student that was able to read a text and immediately Literature Circles 21 understand what I had just read. I needed to be engaged and reading something that was of interest to me, that is how I learned best. I wish that literature circles were a part of the curriculum so that they are able to help those students who were like me. They are a great tool and should be used to foster the long success that teachers are always trying to give to students.

Conclusion/Limitations

In conclusion, literature circles can be a way of the future. More and more we see them inside our classrooms and being used with our students. Literature circles are a great way to use the skills of guided reading and apply them into working with others. When the students learn from their peers, they are able to obtain more information than just reading a book on their own.

They are able to understand what they are reading at a much higher level and they are also able to interact with the other students around them. Students are improving their reading comprehension scores and are able to provide details that were never there for them prior to using this new system of learning.

The limitations of this study include a range of things such as the fourth and fifth grade classrooms to the needs of each individual student. There were only two intermediate classrooms that were observed and researched at the fourth and fifth grade levels out of the seven total, not including the three third grade classes, therefore the results cannot be generalized.

When teachers were having the consultant teachers and enrichment specialist interrupt instruction, it became more difficult to stay on the same page. Proper planning between all parties was scheduled, but sometimes there were conflicts and everyone was not acting towards the same specific goal. I also did not observe any of the students outside of the school environment. It was helpful to talk to parents about their child’s habits but I was not able to Literature Circles 22 witness these actions first hand. Interacting with the teachers and students within the classroom was the most beneficial to my research. Each child has a different learning style as well, so it was more difficult to generalize each student in having the same attitudes and behaviors towards learning.

Literature Circles 23

Appendix A:

Teacher Interview Questions

1. How long have you been working as an educator? Where?

2. How long have you been working within the district that you are currently employed with now?

3. Do you have any experience with Literature Circles? In what ways?

4. Do you feel that the curriculum is conducive with your instruction within the classroom?

5. What is the environment of your classroom? Classroom management, procedures, etc.

6. What are the attitudes and different learning styles of your students?

7. What are some strengths and weaknesses? Curriculum, individually, collaboratively, etc.

8. Any other information that you would like me to know?

Literature Circles 24

Appendix B:

Parent Interview Questions

1. What are your child’s reading/writing habits at home?

2. Do you read to your child regularly?

3. What are your child’s strengths and weaknesses in school?

4. What is your child’s favorite genre or type of text to read?

5. Does your child read to you or anyone else within your household?

6. Does your child enjoy reading/writing?

7. Any other information that you would like me to know?

Literature Circles 25

Appendix C:

Student Interview Questions

1. Do you like to read/write? At home, in school, for fun?

2. What is your favorite kind of book to read?

3. Do you get to choose your books that you read in school?

4. Do you like to work by yourself or with your classmates?

5. Would you like to have more choice in the activities and books that you read?

6. What is your favorite subject?

7. What is the best part of your day at school?

Literature Circles 26

References

Berne, J. & Clark, K. (2008). Focusing Literature Discussion Groups on Comprehension

Strategies. The Reading Teacher, 74-79.

Casey, H. (2008). Engaging the Disengaged: Using Learning Clubs to Motivate Struggling

Adolescent Readers and Writers. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 284-294.

Daniels, H. (2006). What’s the Next Big Thing with Literature Circles? Voices From the

Middle. 13, 4, 10-15.

Daniels, H. (1994). Literature Circles: voice and choice in the student-centered classroom. New

York: Stenhouse Publishers.

Greef, E (2004). Lighting the Fire: Inspiring Boys to become Readers. International Association

of School Librarianship, 143-160.

Greef, E. (2002). The Power and the Passion: Igniting a Love of Reading through Literature

Circles. International Association of School Librarianship. 311-320.

Lloyd, S.L. (2004). Using comprehension strategies as a springboard for student talk. Journal of

Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 48:2, 114-124.

Neaman, M (2001). Literature Circles cooperative learning for grades 3-8. Englewood, CO:

Teachers Ideas Press.

Wies Long, T, & Gove, M.K (2004). How engagement strategies and literature circles promote

critical response in a fourth-grade, urban classroom. The Reading Teacher, 57, 350.