• Teaching reading through exposure to literature 
• Students learn how to analyze texts by reading and analyzing texts 
• The focus is the help children develop literary skills through having real-life literary experiences 

Community of Readers: the conceptualization of children, in alliance with their friends and teacher, working together in classrooms where school reading imitates adult reading; an effect created by literature-based reading programs 

How to Hook Students on Books: 

Immerse Students in Literature 

• Create a classroom climate in which literature is an integral component 
• Select and organize a classroom collection of books 
• Read and tell stories 
• Integrate talking books 

Use Instructional Time to Show the Value of Reading 

• Find classroom time for students to read books of their choice 
• Encourage students to respond to the aesthetic dimensions of literature 

Help Students Find and Share Books They Want to Read 

• Help students find books of interest at the appropriate level 
• Tell or read the beginning of interesting stories 

Selecting a Classroom Collection of Books:  

• Teachers need to include both literature and information text in their classroom collections 
• Recommend informational text includes nonfiction, historical, scientific, and technical readings 
• Books need to inform, have the appropriate complexity, and be of high interest 
• Include a selection of e-books, talking books, CD-ROM stories, and interactive books 

How to Choose Classroom Literature:  

• Read and enjoy children’s and adolescents’ books yourself 
• Read children’s and adolescents’ books with a sense of involvement 
• Read a variety of book types 
• Read books for a wide variety of ability levels 
• Share how your students respond to particular books with other teachers or other university students 
• Start by reading several books of good quality 
• Search the internet 

Determining Good Literature: 

• The collection needs to contain modern, realistic literature as well as more traditional literature 
• The collection needs to contain books that realistically present different ethnic and minority groups and nontraditional families as well as mainstream Americans 
• The collection needs to contain books with different types of themes and books of varying difficulty 
• The collection needs to include nonfiction 
• The collection of books needs to include e-books 

Multicultural Literature:  

• In a multicultural society made up of diverse groups who maintain their own cultural traditions and experiences, books help us celebrate our distinctive differences and understand our common humanity 
• Multicultural literature helps readers understand, appreciate, and celebrate the traditions and experiences that make culture special in its own way 
• When selecting multicultural books for the classroom, teachers should be aware of the country of origin, language, and traditions 
• Choose books to represent a variety of cultures 

Designing a Classroom Library:  

• A classroom library should have science, math, art, social studies, and music curricula  
• Include books on topics that will be studied in these areas 
• Make materials on specific topics available in a wide range of reading levels  
• Set clear boundaries 
• A variety of genres and reading levels should be available 
• Books are organized and labeled by genre, theme, topic, author, reading level, content area, or some combination of these features 

Listening to Literature:  

• When students listen to literature and informational text, they are exposed to stories, information, and poems they cannot read on their own 
• Cumulative experiences with hearing stories and poems are likely to improve reading comprehension and vocabulary development 
• Listening to stories and poems can also provide a basis for group discussion, which often leads to shared meanings and points of reference 
• Reading aloud needs to be incorporated into all aspects of the curriculum and followed with interactive activities to develop better literacy skills 

Read-Aloud: generally a group event in which literature is read orally 

• Often books read aloud are related to each other in some way  

Helping Students Choose Just Right Books:  

• Tell exciting anecdotes about authors 
• Provide previews of interesting stories  
• Show videos about stories 
• Suggest titles of stories that match students’ interests 
• Encourage author searches on the Internet 
• Share level book listings 
• Compile teacher-to-student-annotated book lists 

Core Books: collection of books that form the nucleus of a school reading program at each grade level; usually selected by a curriculum committee 

Literature Units: lessons organized around book collections featuring unifying elements such as genre, author, or conceptual theme 

Literature Circles: discussions or study groups based on a collaborative strategy involving self-selection of books for reading; each group consists of students who independently selected the same book 

Reading Workshop: a model of instruction that focuses on the work of the reader 

• Students engage in mini-lessons, independent reading, and small-group instruction 

1 Rick’s Reading Workshop  Overview 

Rick’s Reading Workshop  Mini Lesson 

Roles in Literature Circles: 

• The size is determined by the number of students within the classroom 
• Each group should have around four students per circle, which allows for a mix of perspectives and roles without distractions and inefficiencies 
• The roles consist of a leader who leads discussions, a student who monitors the text, a student who tries to connect the discussion to real-life experiences, and the illustrator that creates visuals 

Responses to Literature: 

• Students share what they learned from the reading, clarify any questions, and make connections with personal experiences 

Reader-Response Theory: the belief that responsibility for constructing textual meaning resides primarily with the reader and depends to a great extent on the reader’s prior knowledge and experience 

Additional Video Resources 

This video was about a first-grade classroom and the organization that it has for students to be successful. 

This video was about how to find good-fit books for students, it went through all the questions that teachers should ask students for them to find the best book for them.  

This video went through how to find just right books for students by showing a little boy reading through a book and showing if that book would be a good fit for him.  

Classroom Application 

Going through this chapter was beneficial for me because I was able to gain insight into literature concepts and knowledge of the skills to help students pick books for themselves. I will come back to this blog post when I need to be reminded of the components that good books should have and when helping my own students pick their books. This blog post will also be helpful when going into literature circles within my future classroom.