ABSTRACT
Even though the classroom activity called as iterature circles is a new iteration of some ancient structures and ideas, the name is relatively new. Today most American elementary schools have made a daily commitment to independent reading, whether they call it reading workshop, sustained silent reading, or drop everything and read. Collaborative learning draws heavily on a well-developed field of study called group dynamics, which remains largely unknown to schoolteachers. One of the most inspiring stories in American education is that of Louise Rosenblatt, who had a great idea in 1938 and stuck with it. Rosenblatt, of course, is the developer of the “reader response” school of literary criticism. It was her fundamental insight in Literature as Exploration that a text is just ink on a page until a reader comes along and gives it life. As a classroom structure, literature circles can welcome, build on, and gradually broaden students’ responses to what they read.
