Discussing literature.  PTs can best learn to facilitate discussions of literature through use of writing prompts, questions, group-process strategies, or modeling of responses to foster students talk about literature.  They need to know how to conduct literature discussions by:

-   posing “authentic,” provocative questions that foster expression of diverse perspectives

-   explicitly teaching students discussion skills of turn taking, agreeing and disagreeing, and acknowledging diverse responses. 

-   framing discussion topics in terms of tentative, hypothetical hunches that need further verification.

-    using informal writing techniques to help low-level participants formulate their ideas in writing prior to discussions.

-   enhancing low-level participants’ discussion contributions through working with them individually, using writing activities to prepare them for discussions, or using paired/small-group discussions prior to large group discussions.

-   employing Web-based chat rooms to reduce intimidation of low-level participants due to nonverbal factors operating in classrooms.

    In modeling question-asking, PTs need to know how to employ genuine,  “authentic questions” (Nystrand, 1997)—which have no pre-determined answers or that involve some follow-up to the student’s answer.   Because there is no assumed “correct answer,” they foster teachers and students mutually negotiating meaning for a shared social purpose.  Unfortunately, these genuine questions are rare in class discussion.   In an analysis of 100 middle and high school classes, Nystrand (1999) found that only about 15% of the discussions involved use of “authentic questions.” 

PTs also need to know how to set up and support small-group or book club discussions (Appleman, 2006; Daniels, 2002; Daniels & Steineke, 2004; Marshall, Smith, & Smagorinsky, 1995). And, they need to know how to facilitate online chat discussions in ways that foster expression of alternative perspectives and stances (Black, 2005).

    PTs also need to realize that there are social and communal forces occurring in a book club or literature circle. When people gather in a group to read and write, something happens beyond the simple sharing of words. Personal connections are created between the members of such groups that move beyond acquaintance or collegiality. The sharing of stories, whether others’ or one’s own, creates relationships built on the storied lives we live (see Bruner or Greene or Murdoch or Nussbaum), and those relationships require an imagination and bond stronger than the typical imagination and bond associated with other relationships built through work or friendships.

    PTs should know that book clubs in schools has been met with varying success. In most cases, breakdown stems from the lack of connection between students and the fictional stories they are assigned to read or between group members and the experiential stories they choose to share. Perhaps this failure stems from the fact that the book clubs used in classrooms cannot resemble traditional, communal book clubs (such as in historical women’s book clubs or African American literary societies or even in the Oprah Book Club phenomenon) because the genre of performance has not been adequately defined or ritualized. Perhaps the missing component is the lack of a mechanism of performativity that allows for resistance or social action that historical women’s book clubs or African American literary societies had. If true, this would imply that bringing a ritualized performance into educational book clubs might help solve certain inefficacies created by the adaptation of a social and communal activity into a pedagogical tool. Simply, a teacher candidate probably should not read Daniels, pass out role sheets, and walk away.

    PTs also need to how how to use online chat or blogs, particularly for discussions with other classes or participants on issue-oriented topics.  Teachers note that blogs provide a greater sense of a shared community with people from outside the classroom, providing students with an audience larger than simply the classroom.  Two popular blogs for adolescents function as on-line book clubs for teens are Book Diva and Teenreads.

    To improve in their use of discussion strategies, PTs need to continually reflect on transcripts, narrative recollections, or audio/digital video of discussions to identity instances of effective versus less effective strategies and note changes over time in the amount and quality of student talk.  For example, Peggy Albers has been using Windows Movie Maker as a tool to help students (and teachers) do retrospective analyses on their literature discussions in ELA classes. Such visual retrospection allows both teacher and student to see their participation in literature discussions, make thoughtful and critical changes in their literature practices, and supports on-going development as critical readers of literature.

Further reading on literature discussions:

Applebee, A. N., Langer, J. A., Nystrand, M., & Gamoran, A.  (2003).  Discussion-based approaches to developing

understanding: Classroom instruction and student performance in middle and high school English.  American Educational Research Journal, 40(3), 685-730

Daniels, H.   (2002).   Literature circles: Voice and choice in book clubs and reading groups.  Portland, ME: Stenhouse

Publishers.   http://www.stenhouse.com/0333.htm

Daniels, H.,  & Steineke, N.  (2004).  Mini-lessons for literature circles.  Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Holden, J.,  & Schmit, J. (Eds.).  (2002). Inquiry and the literary text: Constructing discussions in the English classroom. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English

Kooy, M.  (2003).  Riding the coattails of Harry Potter: Readings, relational learning, and revelations in book clubs.  Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 47(2), 136-145.

Lee, C. (2006). ‘Every goodbye ain’t gone’: Analyzing the cultural underpinnings of classroom talk. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 19(3), 305-327.

Marshall, J., Smagorinsky, P., & Smith, M.   (1995).   The language of interpretation: Patterns of discourse in discussions  of literature.   Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Nystrand, M.  (1997).  Opening dialogue: Understanding the dynamics of language and learning in the English classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.

O'Donnell-Allen, C., & Hunt, B.  (2001).  Reading adolescents: What book clubs are teaching us about collaborative inquiry of young readers and YA literature.  English Journal, 90, 82-89.

Smith, M. W., & Connolly, W.  (2005).  The effects of interpretive authority on classroom discussions of poetry: lessons

from one teacher.  Communication Education, 54(4), 271-288.