Literature discussion groups are a widely used practice in many classrooms. Creating literature discussions that are both effective and engaging can be a rewarding experience for both the students and the teacher. As a part of a larger study examining the scaffolding that took place during literature discussions, this article focuses on the…

Fifty-one sixth graders participated in three rounds of online literature circles and three face-to-face literature circles. The authors describe how the online literature circles were introduced and organized in the classroom and discuss the tensions, struggles, and successes from their implementation. An analysis of qualitative data yielded…

Is it feasible to hold concurrent, small-group, peer-managed discussions in large elementary school classes? We sought an initial answer to this question in a fifth-grade class in Hefei, China. The 52 students in the class were divided into seven small groups. The seven groups held four simultaneous discussions without immediate supervision or…

A collaborative faculty project was something of a failure for one instructor. About a year ago, the instructor invited everyone in the department to meet in her office every third week to talk about teaching literature and composition. The immediate concern was the use of writing in three general education literature courses that had been…

A future-search conference is a participatory planning and decision-making process in which a group of individuals with diverse perspectives come together; engage in a process of data collection, discussion, and learning; and decide on an appropriate course of action. The competencies, skills, and intellectual capital developed as part of this…

One Master's Program, Initiatives in Educational Transformation, has integrated a computer management system (WebCT) into a learner-centered (Weimer, 2002) community of K-12 practicing teachers. Online discussions were an extension of instructional practices that supported dialogue, reflection, and self-assessment for the purpose of continuous…