Literature Circles Across Student Groups, Contexts, and Texts:

Lessons Learned and Ideas to Explore

Linda Pacifici, Beth Frye, Michael Hale,

Pamela Schram, Tracy Smith, & Woody Trathen

This problem court, composed of four descriptive case studies and a concluding section on the themes across all cases, considers deeper pedagogical issues of purpose and lessons learned by using literature circles with different student groups in different contexts. The narrative case reflections examine the following question: What can be learned when a literacy discussion/instructional strategy, literature circles, is designed and applied to different age-group configurations, different contexts, and text types?

Taking advantage of the non-linear capabilities of electronic text, we have provided you with the following organizational matrix. Readers are invited to navigate this set of articles according to their interests and needs. Just click on the title of the paper you would like to read. To return to the matrix, click on the “Return to Matrix” icon at the beginning of each article. [Return to Matrix]

Table I

Problems Court Organizational Matrix

Introduction, Theoretical Perspective and Overview
Author(s)	Title
Frye & Trathen	Guided Reading with 4^th and 5^th Grade Students Using Instructional Literature Circles
Pacifici	Learning Through Literature Circles: Engagement and Student Voice Across Two Undergraduate Student Populations
Schram	Literature Circles in an Undergraduate Course: Instructor and Students’ Perceptions About Learning
Smith	Literature Circles in a Graduate Course: Providing a Context of Meaningful Connections for Adult Learners
Hale	Themes Across Cases: Literature Circles in a Variety of Contexts