I started this post last week, and well...you know...got distracted! Teachers never get distracted, right? I have my seventh graders involved in literature circles right now. This was the article that got me started on literature circles a few years ago. I got tired of kids nodding off when reading a novel, so I did something about it. It's one of those things that takes a lot of time to set up, explain, and model, but once the students get the hang of it, it's a magical thing. I even heard one student say, "This is the first book that I really, actually read in a long time." Hallelujah! They are all reading Esperanza Rising , but in the future, I would really like to try student-selected novels with literature circles. One thing I'm still trying to get better at is gauging their comprehension throughout the process. We are also plugging away on Genius Hour. I'm learning a lot about how to improve it next year. Kourtne...