Younger children, teenagers, and adults all have different sleep and learning cycles; a teenager may
prefer literature discussions at 4 PM and math at 11 PM.
Before launching this assignment schoolwide, Downtown used weekly meeting time for professional development around vocabulary and Bloom's Taxonomy (so all teachers would be
taking literature discussions to high levels), introduced the essay rubric, and repeatedly anchored essays together so there was a common understanding of what the scores mean.
In addition, in every module I asked that participants engage in literature circles (Daniels, 2001), a method of small
group literature discussion.
To help with that process, I've written a free 22 - page booklet, An Author's Guide to Book Clubs, that contains hundreds of questions an author, book club leader, or teacher can use to
spur literature discussion.
Opening «community share» is a teacher - led, whole - group activity introducing students to elements
of literature discussion, and previewing specific skills, strategies, and knowledge that will be useful as students read, write, and talk about their book club's book.
«You start with high teacher support in shared reading and interactive read - aloud, and gradually release the control over to the students through guided reading and independent reading, while book clubs and
literature discussion are woven throughout.
Instruction methods include «greeting games,» morning circles and
literature discussions.