Welcome to "Literature Circles 101," which is the final challenge of this case study. Read on for your task.

The task: You are new to a school in which traditional methods are used to teach literature. In just listening to your new colleagues in the English Office, you sense that lecturing about plot, structure, themes, and symbols is the norm for teaching literature here. You, like Sarah, believe in a less authoritative, more student-focused, and discussion-based literature classroom.

Your new principal has visited your room on two different occassions and is impressed with your "new age teaching practices," as she puts it. She has asked you to take about 15 minutes of the English Department's next professional development session to share a strategy or two that you've learned about as a recent graduate that might put some "umph" back into the methods of the English Department members. Keeping in mind that your audience may be sensitive to a new teacher presenting teaching methods at a meeting, you decide to take on a facilitator role in teaching these teachers about literature circles. You are going to first explain the value of literature circles, then engage the teachers in a simulation of literature circles with a text of your choice, and finally, you will debrief with your new colleagues in a large group discussion.

First, use the internet or classroom resources to decide on an appropriate text for this context. Then, discuss with your peers ideas for the presentation and facilitation. Finally, articulate your agreed-upon approach.