ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on three teachers including Marianne Flanagan, Theresa Kubasak, and Nancy Steineke, who have three quite different versions of book clubs circles happening in their rooms. It explores the feel and flavor of what literature circles can be like, for both kids and teachers. Among the roles Marianne’s kids are using today are questioner, literary luminary, connector, illustrator, and vocabulary enricher. Built into the center of Theresas elegant curriculum are literature circles, kid-led book clubs that meet all year long. It seemed that for third graders with limited or no experience with literature circles, summarizing was the core skill we needed to teach. Nancy is cuing a warm-up activity that she always has students do in their literature circle groups before starting the book-talk. As a graduate of many cooperative learning training sessions, Nancy deeply believes that an initial warm-up activity is important to good book club discussions.
