Chase J. Young STUDENT FACILITATION AND PREDICTORS OF ENGAGEMENT IN PEER-LED LITERATURE CIRCLE DISCUSSIONS

WHAT DO TEACHER WANT TO KNOW ABOUT LITERATURE CIRCLES We want to know that Literature Circles are authentic, high-level, and effective. VIDEO – Reading Circles VIDEO VIDEO - Example Literature Circles in 3 rd Grade VIDEO Discuss: If your literature circles are working, then rejoice!

WHAT DO TEACHER WANT TO KNOW ABOUT LITERATURE CIRCLES? We want to know that LCs are authentic. Free flowing discussions Choice Text Topic VIDEO - Fourth Grade Literature Circles VIDEO Discuss: texts and topics

WHAT DO TEACHER WANT TO KNOW ABOUT LITERATURE CIRCLES? We want to know that students are thinking on high levels. Assessing Discourse High-level Talk (Rubric) Comprehension (Response) VIDEO - Snyderites Practice Literature Circles (Reflect) VIDEO Facilitation A long interesting journey…

THEORETICAL CONSIDERATION Scaffolding Not adding support, but carefully removing support to foster independence Students in LCs should be closer to independence

METHODOLOGY Tharp and Gallimore (1988) deemed insufficient and felt forced on the data Modeling – What is it in the context of peer-led LCs? Contingency Managing – Should students be responsible for this? Feedback – Does all feedback facilitate discussion? Questioning – Do all questions instigate deeper level discussions? Cognitive Structuring – Should this definition include how the brain changes? Instructing – Is this the job of the students?

METHODOLOGY Li et al. (2007) deemed insufficient and felt forced Planning and Organizing – Should this be done by the teacher prior to LCs? Topic Control – How do students control the topic? Acknowledgement – Is mere acknowledgement beneficial in LCs? Argument Development – Development assumes a thread of discourse rather than an utterance Turn Management – Does this inhibit free-flowing discussions?

THARP AND GALLIMORE Modeling – Eliminated Contingency Managing – Eliminated Feedback – Included only if elaborative Questioning – Included in Exploratory Talk if high-level Cognitive Structuring – Eliminated Instructing – Eliminated LI ET AL. (2007) Planning and Organizing – Eliminated Topic Control – Renamed Topic Management if facilitative (exploratory talk or confessional) Acknowledgement – Eliminated Argument Development – Eliminated Turn Management – Eliminated FLOW OF CODING FACILITATIVE FUNCTIONS

Deemed Facilitative Exploratory Talk (CC) Elaborative Feedback (CC) Topic Management (CC) Confessionals (Open) Accountability (Open) Non-Facilitative Feedback Unrelated FLOW OF CODING FACILITATIVE FUNCTIONS

QUALITATIVE RESULTS The researcher observed students facilitating discussions in five ways: Exploratory Talk Asking questions that are open ended that expect high-level responses and statements that allow for debate Elaborative Feedback Agreeing or disagreeing and providing reasoning or text evidence Topic Management Introducing important topics and big ideas as well as changing topic through facilitation Confessionals Admitting when meaning breaks down and asking for help from group members Accountability Making sure all group members participate and back up their contributions and questions with text-evidence

WHAT DO TEACHER WANT TO KNOW ABOUT LITERATURE CIRCLES? We want to know that LCs are effective. Text Selection (3 rd Grade Regression –Reading Ability) Group Size Post Hoc Regression (4 th Grade – Groups of 3 -66%) Personality (TIPI) Regression 3 rd Grade (Extroversion and Lack of Contentiousness) Regression 4 th Grade (Emotional Stability) Reading ability wanes

WHAT DO TEACHER WANT TO KNOW ABOUT LITERATURE CIRCLES? How do we implement literature circles? Prepare: Quality literature, small groups, and intentional placement of personalities Teach: High-level discussion techniques and facilitative functions

PROMOTING HIGH-LEVEL DISCUSSION Input Name, Recall, Restate, Reread, Locate, Describe, State, Inform, Define, Identify, List Process Compare, Contrast, Classify, Distinguish, Explain (Why), Infer, Sequence, Analyze, Synthesize, Make Analogies, Reason Output Evaluate, Generalize, Imagine, Judge, Predict, Speculate, If/Then, Apply a Principle, Hypothesize, Forecast, Idealize

PROMOTING HIGH-LEVEL DISCUSSION I wonder, I realized, I can connect with, This is giving me the idea that, I think, I disagree with...because…, I wish, I hope, I know, I predict, I think the main idea is, I think the main idea of the chapter is, There is one thing I do not like, and it is, The author should have, I think ____ is like ____ because, This connects with, (Name) helped me understand, I partly agree with, At first I thought...now I think...because…, I agree with (Name) because…, My favorite part was…because, I don’t know why, I liked…because…, I think the author’s purpose is, I was surprised, I was confused, I used context clues, I do not get…, What if…, Why…, How do you know?, What do you mean?, Can you repeat that?, How did…?, Do you think…? Teach facilitation.

FURTHER RESEARCH Teaching Facilitative Functions to improve student discourse Facilitative Function Order of Importance Benefits of LCs on higher and lower readers Personality’s impact on LC discussions Personality’s impact on LC discussions across grade levels Group size and quality of LC discussions Measuring comprehension on the go