Framework of Literature Discussion Groups
Component 4: Group Discussion
The teacher periodically convenes the class for a group discussion of the book. These conversa- tions can occur after the students have completed the text or several times during the reading, depending on the length and complexity of the text. The students have ready their response logs and books flagged with sticky notes for sharing particular sections. In this setting, the students are apprentices; the teacher’s role is to mentor them to conduct good literature discussions on their own; the needs of
the group should regulate the degree of support the teacher gives. Early on, when students are just starting to learn how to engage in literature discussions, the teacher provides a high to moderate degree of support, using language designed to help students find constructive strategies for comprehending the message. The teacher should be sensitive to how the children are responding to one another and prompt them to build discourse chains within the group, by asking, for instance, “Can someone tell us more about that? Does anyone disagree with what Josh said? Can anyone think of another solu- tion?” The teacher monitors the students’
comprehension and redirects the dialogue if the talk becomes off-task. The goal is to support the text discussion by scaffolding and offering assis- tance as needed—while promoting independent thinking within the group. Table 7.1 presents examples of language prompts to help students attain greater independence. The ultimate goal is that children will develop analytical and reflec- tive strategies for comprehending at deeper levels. Students can also learn to assess their own performance in literature discussion groups.
(Section IV of the Appendix contains a form for assessing literature discussion groups.)
The teacher’s role should quickly move to that of participant-observer, sitting on the outside of the group as the students assume more respon- sibility for regulating the discussion. When this occurs, the students become both participants and spectators in the literature discussions. On a scale of help, the teacher’s scaffolding is low (see Chapter 3).
To illustrate how literature discussions might sound at this level, here is a transcript of third graders talking about The Story of Ruby Bridges.
Carla begins the discussion by asking, “Who would like to share your thinking about the Ruby Bridges book?” Marcus speaks up: “I love this book because I owe her a lot. She demonstrated bravery—she went to school when white people Figure 7.1 Three examples of reading response log
entries for The Story of Ruby Bridges.
Creating Literature Discussion Groups
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Supporting Text Talk by Scaffolding and Offering Assistance(Slightly adapted from Pearson and Duke 2002)
Repeats and adds to previous contribution Invites others to contribute
Confirms response without agreeing or disagreeing Making a comment about the course of the conversation Confirming or disconfirming an opinion or thinking Building on someone else’s thinking
Supporting one’s own or another’s thinking; examples can be inside or outside the text
Confused or needs additional information for someone else’s thinking or about this part
Questioning text information, their own thinking, or someone else’s thinking about something
Can someone say that in a different way?
Do you want to invite anyone else to add to what you said?
Do you all get what ——— is trying to say here?
I think we have lost track of the question we were trying to answer. Can anyone help us here?
Does everyone agree with ———? Does anyone want to disagree, or does anyone see it another way?
Does anyone want to say something more about that? Can anyone think of another solution or another reason?
Can anyone else give an example of ——— from the text? Has anything like this ever happened to you or someone you know?
Does anyone want to raise any questions about ———’s thinking here? Did anyone find anything confusing in this part of the text?
Does anyone have a question for the group?
Restating Inviting Acknowledging Focusing/refocusing Agreeing/disagreeing Elaborating
Providing evidence
Requesting clarification Posing questions for the group
assistance in achieving the goal
Making connections
Making predictions
Recalling Inferring Visualizing
Goal: Participants to share and/or question their comprehending processes before, during, and after reading
Teacher scaffolds: prompting and offering assistance with getting the participants to share their thinking and learn from each other
Connecting text to a personal experience, to other texts, to the world, to the writer, or to other parts of the text
Using background knowledge and text information to predict what the reader thinks is coming next or how the problem might be solved
Paraphrasing or summarizing the text
Using prior knowledge with new information gained from text in an effort to construct meaning
Using the author’s language to create mind pictures—to feel, see, touch, taste, and/or hear
Did anyone make a connection to this part of the text?
Does this text/part remind any of you of another text we’ve read? Would anyone like to discuss:
• The theme of the text?
• What the text was mostly about?
• What the author was trying to teach us?
Would anyone like to share their prediction or what they think might happen next? Would anyone like to predict how the problem might be solved? Why did the author put that part in the text?
Who would like to tell the group what the text was about?
So, you think ——— because . . .
Would anyone like to share how the author created mind pictures here?
threatened her with her life and she didn’t let that stop her—she got an education anyway.”
Marcus’s comment becomes the initiating event for building a chain of reasoning among the group.
Taylor:I agree with you, Marcus. I think she opened the door for black kids to go to school with white kids so they could get a better education.
Teal: Yeah, the white kids went to the best schools.
David:Why do you think that, Teal?
Teal:Well, on the page where they are in court (waits for everyone to find page), the author says, “The black children were not able to receive the same education as the white chil- dren. It wasn’t fair. And it was against the nation’s law.”
Alexius:But Ruby kept going and that changed our schools. I love her for that.
Matthew:I was wondering why the whites were so mean and did not want her to go to their school.
Taylor:Well, I think it was because they thought they were better.
David:Yeah, back a long time ago during the slave days they thought they were better.
That is why they made them work for them and treated them so mean.
Teal: But Ruby made it through those hard times because she prayed for the people who were being mean. Remember on the page where Mrs. Henry asked Ruby what she was saying to the people (waits for everyone to locate that page) and Ruby said, “I wasn’t talking, I was praying for them.”
David:I am like Ruby in ways because I pray for people when they are mean to me, too.
Alexius:I think the author’s message in this book is (checking log) it doesn’t matter if you are black or white, you should treat others the way you want to be treated.
Carla:I wonder if we need to look beyond these events and think more about how Ruby demonstrated love and forgiveness even when she was mistreated.
Taylor:I think that is how Ruby Bridges wants us to look at it. She is still living. I would love to talk to her and see if she is still helping people today.
Two students, David and Matthew, contribute questions that bring the conversation to a new level. Throughout the discussion, the students provide evidence to support their thinking, and they use their response log as a resource. Carla’s role is minimal; she is a partici- pant-observer here, primarily observing, but available to redirect the discussion if needed.
Near the end of the discussion, Carla asks the students to think about the character of Ruby Bridges—specifically, how her actions exemplify love and forgiveness. The closing comment shows Taylor’s understanding of Ruby’s desire to help other people. Carla was delighted to note that the students used many of the same prompts that their teacher had used in earlier discussion groups. This suggests that the students have learned appropriate language for literature discussions from previous conversations and are now utilizing these prompts to help one another construct meaning. Figure 7.2 shows a similar discussion group of third graders.