Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles [Paperback]

Harvey "Smokey" Daniels (Author), Nancy Steineke (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0325007020 | ISBN-13: 978-0325007021 | Publication Date: July 14, 2004

Harvey Daniels' Literature Circles introduced tens of thousands of teachers to the power of student-led book discussions. Nancy Steineke's Reading and Writing Together showed how a teacher can nurture friendship and collaboration among young readers. Now, Daniels and Steineke team up to focus on one crucial element of the Literature Circle model; the short, teacher-directed lessons that begin, guide and follow-up every successful book club meeting.

Mini-lessons are the secret to book clubs that click. Each of these forty-five short, focused, and practical lessons includes Nancy and Harvey's actual classroom language and is formatted to help busy teachers with point-by-point answers to the questions they most frequently ask.

How can I:

• steer my students toward deeper comprehension?
• get kids interested in each others' ideas?
• make sure kids choose just-right books?
• help students schedule their reading and meeting time?
• deal with kids who don't do the reading?
• get kids to pay more attention to literary style and structure?
• help special education and ELL students to participate actively in book clubs?
• get kids to expand their repertoire of reading strategies?
• make sure groups are on-task when I'm not looking over their shoulder?
• introduce writing tools (including role sheets) that support student discussion?.
• help shy or dominating members get the right amount of "airtime?"
• give grades for book clubs without ruining the fun?
• use scientific research to justify the classroom time I spend on literature circles?

Each mini-lesson spells out everything from the time and materials needed to word-by-word instructions for students. The authors even warn "what could go wrong," helping teachers to avoid predictable management problems. With abundant student examples, reproducible forms, photographs of kids in action, and recommended reading lists, Mini-lessons for Literature Circles helps you deepen student book discussions, create lifelong readers, and build a respectful classroom community.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Harvey Daniels has been a city and suburban classroom teacher and a college professor, and now works as a national consultant and author on literacy education. In language arts, Smokey is known for his pioneering work on student book clubs, as recounted in Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups, and Minilessons for Literature Circles. Smokey has recently coauthored three bestselling books on content-area literacy: Comprehension & Collaboration; Subjects Matter: Every Teacher's Guide to Content-Area Reading, and Content-Area Writing: Every Teacher's Guide. He is also coauthor of the new Best Practice, Fourth Edition, and editor of Comprehension Going Forward. Smokey works with elementary and secondary teachers throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, offering demonstration lessons, workshops, and consulting, with a special focus on creating, sustaining, and renewing student-centered inquiries and discussions of all kinds. Smokey shows colleagues how to simultaneously build students' reading strategies, balance their reading diets, and strengthen the social skills they need to become genuine lifelong readers.

As an English teacher at Victor J. Andrew High School in Tinley Park, Illinois, Nancy Steineke has witnessed firsthand the potential of collaborative, performance-based learning in extending and refining student knowledge. In addition to informing Assessment Alive! this experience has likewise influenced her other Heinemann books Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles with Harvey "Smokey" Daniels (2004), Content Area Writing: Every Teacher's Guide with Harvey "Smokey" Daniels and Steve Zemelman (2007), and Reading and Writing Together: Collaborative Literacy In Action (2002). A 25-year veteran of the teaching profession, Nancy Steineke has taught 9-12 English at Victor J. Andrew High School in Tinley Park, Illinois, since 1984. During the summer, she works with Dr. Harvey Daniels at the Walloon Institute, offering seminars for teachers, administrators, parent leaders, and their families.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Heinemann (July 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0325007020
• ISBN-13: 978-0325007021
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Harvey "Smokey" Daniels has been a city and suburban public school teacher, a university professor, a classroom consultant, and writer and editor. He is the author of 13 books on literacy, language, and school change, most of which are available on Amazon. Among his best known titles are Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups, Subjects Matter: Every Teacher's Guide to Content-Area Reading, and Content Area Writing. His latest book is Conversation and Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action, with Stephanie Harvey.

After living and working in Chicago for many years, Smokey and his wife Elaine, also a teacher educator, recently moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he is on the faculty of the University of New Mexico and regularly teaches students at Salazar School. Last year, Smokey spoke and consulted in 19 states and Canada, helping teachers and kids to think more deeply about the subject matter of the curriculum -- and to pursue the burning questions they have as curious human beings.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you teach English, you need this book, October 15, 2004

By 

Christian Miller (Branford, CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles (Paperback)

As a high school English teacher, one of my biggest challenges is the constant prodding of my students to take an active role in their reading. I've worked with a Literature Circle approach for several years, experimenting with different techniques, tweaking my daily lessons, and adding new strategies as I come across them. Now, with this book, Daniels and Steineke have blown me away. They have filled the book with dozens of practical ideas, from mini-lessons on short readings to using book choice in class. Even if you don't use a full Literature Circle approach, their research-based instructional strategies about harvesting techniques, discussion boosters, and even assessment ideas have re-energized my teaching approach. This is a practical, intelligent book that I see becoming a staple in my professional library. As they detail different strategies and their mini-lessons build on important reading strategies, a central thread is evident: a focus on student reflection of the reading-discussion process. I'm hooked. I recommend it to anyone who teaches English or anyone looking for ways to spice up the simple act of reading an article and talking about it in class. Buy the book. Give it to a fellow teacher. Buy another copy. It is worth it.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful, March 10, 2006

By 

DSB - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles (Paperback)

I have been using the activities in this book with my "sheltered" reading classes (includes second language learners and a few special ed. students) with great results. The other reading teachers in the department use that computer based program where kids read and test, read and test, etc. Considering that my students are in grades 9-10-11, it made no sense to continue that approach. It has been used on them since second grade with little improvement in their reading...probably because the computer based program is the best way to make kids hate reading! Since my two reading classes are very small, we only have one reading circle, but the techniques have been very effective. The students are always eager to start a new class novel, and with the use of the activities, I have seen a big improvement in their critical thinking skills during reading. Before, the students would say, "OK, I read it Miss, but I don't get it." I haven't heard that complaint since I started using the activities in this book. I plan on using some of the activities with my English classes also.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This has worked with my 5th graders!, October 18, 2005

By 

ReaderMomTeacher (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles (Paperback)

I have used several of the mini-lessons from this book to successfully start literature circles with my 5th graders this year. I am amazed at how quickly they have picked up the skills, and at how invested they are in the discussions. I thought they wouldn't fully be running their own discussions until Thanksgiving, but they were doing it successully by the end of September thanks to the very practical, short, to the point lessons in this book. What a wonderful resource. While my students are considered "gifted", I think that the lessons in this book would work with any 5th grade or older class.