I enjoyed the literature circles again this week. To elaborate on what I said last week about seeing how literature circles can be beneficial to students, I think having students act in the different roles each week will allow them to constantly see the book in a different way. So for a personal example, I was the setting and summary specialist last week. I had to identify all the characters as they were introduced and interpret their role in the story. Then I had to create a timeline from the information given and record how long the expedition was and where they landed throughout. This made the fictional story more real to me. This week I was the discussion director. The other members of my group went before me, so we had mostly discussed the week’s reading already. I was nice to wrap up by asking questions that we hadn’t thought about and interpreting our reading. Literature circle discussion really gives the story more depth and value when students are able to reflect and even add new perspective to the mix.
During our continued work with primary sources this week, I was pleasantly surprised to get to work with the authentic materials from the envelopes! Like I have mentioned before, my family is big into history and collecting artifacts. I have grown up around my grandfather’s collection of civil war memorabilia (guns, bullets, confederate soldier belt buckles, etc) and I have visitied countless forts and historical sites around the country. My point is, the fact that we used real pictures and authentic papers really was meaningful to me. There is a whole new level of interest when students are able to see and handle materials or even go to a museum and experience history first-hand.