6 Ways to Elevate Lit Circles for Secondary

Literature Circles, sometimes called Lit Circles or Book Clubs, can be a powerful motivator in the classroom. They allow students choice in their reading and the opportunity to read and discuss on a smaller scale. But honestly, literature circles can also become stale once students have done them a few years in a row. That is why I have brought together six great English teachers to share their favorite tips and ideas for elevating your literature circle activities.

What are Lit Circles?

In high school English classes, teachers offer literature circles as an opportunity to give students choices in their reading. In a typical secondary classroom using lit circles, students will select a text for a list of 3-7 based around a theme. Students will then work in small book club groups to study their text. Depending on the class and the purpose of these groups, they may be very self directed or have some teacher input.

Students generally have more buy-in during units of this nature because it gives them quite a bit of autonomy.

To learn more, read this post: High School Literature Circles: 7 Lessons After Nearly 20 years

6 Ideas to improve your high school lit circles

6 Teachers Share Ideas to Elevate Lit Circles in Secondary English

1. Give Students a Choice of Books and Roles

Kristy from 2 Peas and a Dog thinks providing students with choices during literature circles increases engagement and “buy-in.” Allowing students to select their own books and literature roles helps them take ownership of their learning experience. If students want to read books not part of your school’s book supply, see if they are available at your school or public library.

When students select texts that meet their personal interests, they are more likely to actively engage with the content, leading to enhanced reading comprehension. If possible, offer students a variety of literature roles to choose from – discussion leader, summarizer, connector, etc. This allows students to develop a variety of skills.

For example, the discussion leader has the role of facilitating meaningful discussions with their peers. Whereas the summarizer role has students summarize key points and themes, which enables them to extract essential information from the text.

For more reading engagement ideas, check out this blog post – 8 Fun Reading Log Alternatives.

2. Use Silent Discussions in your Lit Circles

Do you have a class where some students are the first to jump into the class discussion? Perhaps there are some in your classroom who are more quiet but still (hopefully) listening attentively?

Lesa from SmithTeaches9to12.com has encountered this more times than she can remember, particularly when students would be in their discussion groups for literature circles.

To balance things out, she began to institute a silent discussion as a first step for group meetings in the unit. Each student was responsible for writing a letter to their peers.

How Lesa Uses Silent Discussion in Lit Circles

Parameters for the letters are shared in advance. Often it meant 2 pages, double-spaced, with 12-point font, and 1.5-2 in margins. Content for the letters would be different for each meeting but the same for each group, regardless if they were reading different novels.

For example, meeting 1 was about first impressions, the social-historical moment of the setting, as well as initial thoughts about the character(s). All students would write about these things but usually wrote very different things.

When the groups would get together, students would first exchange letters and write comments in the margins in response to the content. This is the foundation for a silent discussion where students read the ideas of their peers and then respond in writing.

The quieter students were able to share their thoughts in a way that didn’t require them to battle for airtime (something they would be less likely to do in a traditional discussion format).

After the initial silent discussion, students would shift to an out-loud discussion to make connections between the ideas shared in the letters and to see where there was common ground (or not).

By the time the out-loud discussion took place, the quieter students were often a bit more comfortable sharing their ideas and participating in their small groups.

This idea can work in just about any unit. Writing a letter is not a requirement. Consider large chart paper, different colored markers (for accountability), and a prompt. Small groups can write their responses on the paper before or even in lieu of a traditional discussion group.

3. Incorporate Reflections

Carolyn from Middle School Cafe understands that any learning journey needs to include time for reflection. Lit circles, sometimes referred to as book clubs, are one her favorite ways to engage students in reading. At the end of each group discussion, she includes time for students to reflect on their learning.

Reflecting after a literature circle discussion helps students process and deepen their understanding of the story. By discussing key themes, characters, and personal takeaways, students make meaningful connections between the story and their own lives. This reflection reinforces comprehension and encourages critical thinking, allowing students to explore different perspectives.

Providing time for reflection gives students the opportunity to evaluate their participation in the discussion. They can think about how they contributed to conversation, what they learned from their peers, and how they might approach future literature circle conversations. This process builds communication and collaboration skills, helping students become more effective learners.

Reflecting on both the book and how they participated in the discussion, builds student confidence. As students articulate their thoughts and share insights, they develop a stronger sense of ownership over their reading experience. This not only encourages a love for reading but also empowers students to take charge of their own learning.

For help on planning your own book club/literature circle, check out this guide.

4. Try Choice Boards for Lit Circles

Krista from @whimsyandrigor enjoys giving students choices in their literature circles. However, she prefers not to grant them total freedom, especially with middle schoolers. To strike the right balance, Krista frequently incorporates choice boards into her lessons. They really are the perfect way to allow student autonomy with teacher-created boundaries!

One of her favorite resources is a Tic Tac Toe board. With this design, the literature circle groups can choose the path they will take to “win” the game, a.k.a. complete multiple creative assessments without even realizing they are doing intense critical thinking. Win win!

Some of her favorites include:

“Get a Job”: Students choose a character from their book and write a resume for them. They select an industry that matches the character’s traits, research a relevant job, and create a resume using examples from the text. This activity helps students think innovatively about a character’s strengths.
“Trash Can Treasures”: Students imagine sneaking into a character’s house and exploring their trash can. They draw a trash can, sketch out the found items, and add captions explaining each item’s significance. This option encourages deep character analysis through a creative lens.
“Pretty Please”: Students write a persuasive letter to an abstract idea or inanimate object from the novel, using three strong arguments based on the text. This activity teaches persuasive techniques, letter-writing skills, and character analysis all in one.

Krista finds these activities to be highly engaging while maintaining academic rigor. The Tic Tac Toe cards she uses are leveled for differentiation, making them suitable for all learners.

The cards are super easy to make but if you need a few ideas for creative assessments, check out this resource Krista regularly draws from. And if you want a huge set of differentiated Tic Tac Toe boards ready-to-go, Krista loves this set from Teacher’s Discovery.

However you choose to incorporate these into your literature circles, your students will love the choice and you will love their engagement!

6 Ideas to help secondary English teachers improve their lit circles and book clubs.

5. Start with a Book Tasting

Katie from Mochas and Markbooks likes to start literature circles or book clubs with a book tasting.

A book tasting requires a bit of room transformation to turn your classroom into a cozy coffee shop or diner where students can “sample” the different books being offered. A few tablecloths, menus of book choices, mood lighting, coffee shop music and “fireplace” on the Smartboard will do the trick!

Books that you want your students to choose from for lit circles can be placed around the room with genre, theme, or book title signs to distinguish each one. Students can look at the cover image, read the back synopsis, and even read the first few pages to get a sense of their engagement with the book. They should take notes in their menus so that they can compare each book they tasted to determine their favorite.

Once students have chosen their favorite book from the tasting, they can be grouped with other students in the class who chose the same book and these groups will make up the literature circles as they read their book.

If you’d like to see an example of how Katie puts together a book tasting, you can check out her Tim Bookends Book Tasting Kit here.

6. Use Hybrid Lit Circles

Jeanmarie from McLaughlin Teaches English likes to make the most of her Lit Circle units by pairing longer texts with shorter anchor texts based on a theme. Forming your Lit Circles around a theme and an essential question that is then anchored by shorter common texts like short stories and poetry allows you to teach mini lessons along the way.

Jeanmarie likes to begin with an essential question that can connect all of the texts. This gives her the initial focus that can then be tied to unit skills. Once she has those two pieces, she selects short texts that tie to both the EQ and the skills.

In a typical Hybrid Lit Circle Unit, Jeanmarie begins the week with a mini lesson and a short text. Students then apply the skill from the mini lesson to the short text. On Tuesday, the students might revisit the skill with a new text or revisit the short text with a new skill. Wednesday, students can work in their book club groups to apply the skill to their longer text. Thursday, students would discuss using a discussion deck or some other more student directed method. And Fridays are for reading. This gives students two days with their own text and two days with teacher selected texts.

You can read more about this approach with Jeanmarie’s Coming of Age Unit. And you can even get an introductory set of lesson plans.

Improve your high school English class with these ideas for lit circles.

Make your Lit Circles More Innovative

I am so grateful to these English teachers for sharing their ideas for reinventing Literature Circles. There are a few ideas that I can’t wait to try in my own classroom. Lesa’s version of the silent discussion and Krista’s trashcan project looks like so much fun. I would love to know if you try any of these or if you have an even better idea. Leave them in the comments below.