Does Collaborative Learning Support Literacy?

Literature circles are a great way for students to engage in social interaction, understand that reading is transactional and to participate in more student-centered activities. While there are numerous benefits to literacy circles, there are several factors that contribute to making literacy circles a disaster.

It is not uncommon for literacy center discussions to quickly move off-task. Many students take this "unsupervised" time to bully their peers as a result of economic disparities, strong student animosity and racial or gender tensions. Many teachers question if literacy centers are right for their classrooms because they often result in verbal and/or physical altercations between students.

So how do we promote effective literacy centers? First, teachers need to establish a caring and respectful environment. For teachers in urban settings, it is especially hard to create a safe and respectful environment when students are so accustomed to solving problems through force and threats. Although it is difficult, it can be done. There are several strategies for teachers to create nurturing and caring environments.

Teachers can use a "membership grid" when creating literacy center groups where students answer questions such as "what is your favorite TV show?". The teacher will then place students with common interests in the same groups, giving each group a positive relationship from the beginning. Teachers can also implement the poker chips method where each student is handed a stack of poker chips at the beginning of the discussion. Each time a student speaks, they are to place one poker chip in the middle. Once they have run out of poker chips they are no longer allowed to participate in the discussion. This is a great way for students to have the same amount of time speaking and for students to gage their participation based on the other students'.

Next, teachers can implement a compliment system where each student must compliment another student in the group. This will deter students from focusing on the negative aspects and will start to get them to think about the positive ones. Also, students can be given the opportunity to watch their discussion on tape so that they can discuss what went well and what didn't go well. Teachers should also strategically select books that will captivate their students' interests. Keeping the students' interests is a key component in literacy circles. If the student is genuinely excited about the book, they will freely contribute to the discussion and be excited to talk about it. The literacy circle is more likely to fail once a student looses interest in the book.