Inquiry+Paper

=Lindsay M. Shields = = Inquiry Paper =

Seeing My Students Through Literature Circles- May 2008

 * Synopsis:** This downloadable document is a student-teacher inquiry project based on the project models found in __Inside City Schools: Investigating Literacy in Multicultural Classrooms__ by Sarah Freedman et. al.* My question: how do my students see themselves in the literature they are reading?


 * Introduction:** I student teach at a multicultural inclusion elementary school in New York City on the Lower East Side. I operate in a 4th/5th grade mixed-age classroom of 28 students. Early in the semester, I was given an option as to what subject, if any, I wanted to focus my teaching time on. I opted for literature circles, as I am aware of the growing importance of reading in a well-rounded education (Alvermann, 2006; Atwell, 2007; Elish-Piper & Tatum, 2006)^ and my cooperating teacher had wanted to do them all year and hadn’t yet found the time. I was also interested in my students as readers, as one fifth of the class are English Language Learners, one half are on IEPs for linguistic difficulties, and three quarters identify with more than one culture. I wanted to know how my students saw the literature they were reading. I was excited to introduce literature circles as no student had seen them before; dynamic, interactive, inclusive, and informative. As the circles plow through their books, my idealistic outlook has been rocked by the ideals my students have brought to the table, continuously challenging my understanding of my kids’ real and fictional worlds.


 * Freedman, S.W., Simons, E.R., Kalnin, J.S., & Casareno, A. (1999). __Inside City Schools: Investigating Literacy in Multicultural Classrooms.__ New York: Teachers College Press.

^references can be found on the final pages of the inquiry paper

downloadable Word doc