Literature Circles

I will flat out admit that I got annoyed today. I was initially annoyed by a tutor who kept me on the phone forever. Then, my students had a really hard time working together. We were doing literature circles. For those of you who don't know, literature circles are when the students read a passage and get an opportunity to share their thoughts based on their "job." There are jobs like "Scene Setter, Passage Master and Have-In-Common Connector. The first few times were great! The kids really seemed to get into their role. I toyed with the idea of stopping the groups, but the kids seemed to want the experience of trying each job. Anyway, today's literature circles had so much arguing and talking over each other. I stopped the groups and asked them to answer two questions on a sheet of lined paper: what is the problem in your group today? how do you suggest you fix the problem? I shared with them that a "boring" teacher would just have them take tests on the book. Here are some of the responses:

"In my group, people are talking over one another. People are also rudely arguing about something that isn't really relevant."

"Michael blames everything on me because he hates me."

"The problem in my literature circle is under the category of disrespect. There is a lot of side commentary and everyone is yelling."

"There are people in my group who aren't doing their homework and getting a way with it! It really annoys me. I think we should switch groups or get rid of the annoying people."

"Really, I just need to start doing my work..."

"I don't think fixing these problems will be easy. Most of the people that you put in temporary trouble bounce back to being bad. Maybe book tests are the way to go!"

They are so honest. They'll get another chance. I know they can do it because they have done it. There was something in the air today.