SOLO Literature circles
Literature circles encourage small group discussion about a range of texts. After reading the text students meet face to face or in an online forum to share their critical response to the text. The discussion is generated by the students themselves and is based on annotations, quotations or events that they feel worthy of sharing and or analysing further. SOLO coded discussion starters for literature circles can be teacher and/or student-generated. Some groups may need prompts whereas other groups may not.
Examples of generic starter questions using the SOLO “make a claim - because - because” strategy - “make a claim” - “tell me why” and “now tell me why I should believe you” include:
- The character I liked the most was....because...because ...
- The character I liked the least was....because... because ….
- I thought that the ending was predictable/unexpected/strange/unresolved.... because … because ...
- Something I didn’t like about the text was... because..because ....
- I liked the way that the writer wrote.... because … because …
- An event that I found interesting/odd/unexpected etc was...because … because ...
- I think the writer wrote this book because... because …
- The story makes me wonder if …. because … because ...
Alternatively, the discussion questions could be based on the SOLO coded learning verbs. Examples (multistructural only) include:
- Describe the main/central character from the text
- Identify the target audience for the text you have read
- Identify and describe the most important event/s
- Describe how your text fits the Young Adult dystopian genre.
Links to websites about literature circles: [1] [2]
Refer McNeill and Hook 2012 SOLO Taxonomy and Making Meaning Bk3 Extended texts and thematic studies p10
