1. What skills do students need in order to facilitate comprehension during literature circles?

     The results of the study indicate that students use a variety of strategies in order to facilitate comprehension. Strategies such as making personal connections to the text, identifying and discussing the characters, sequence of events, and problem and solution while encountering a text, were all evident in their literature circle discussions as well as on their retellings.
    Other skills that appeared to improve the quality of the discussions was having one group member independently take charge of the discussion and act as a facilitator. The student facilitator monitored whose turn it was and prompted all students to share. It should be noted that this facilitator position was not assigned or even discussed by the teacher-researcher at any point during the study. It was interesting to see that in each group one person took the facilitator role to some degree.

2. Are comprehension skills increased as a result of participation in literature circles?

        Based on the DRA and retelling results, one can assume that the intervention (literature circle discussions) aided in the increase in DRA levels and story retellings of all subjects within the study.

3. How does my presence as the teacher effect literature circle discussions among students, if at all?         
   
    Research results indicate that literature circle groups performed differently when they were audiotaped, videotaped, or in the presence of the teacher-researcher. Results indicated that discussions were more focused, students remained on task, a collaboration of ideas and comments were evident, and there were fewer off task remarks.

        One thing that I noticed throughout the literature circles in this study is that students functioned more independently when they enjoyed the book that they were reading. I noticed that when I was excited about the book selections, the children were excited about the books. My enthusiasm appeared to rub off on groups, which appeared to help students have higher quality discussions, and extend their discussions by creating a different ending for the story, or writing a poem (click for student work samples).
          Giving students choice about what they read is helpful in creating excitement for reading, but I found that choice is not more important than the group dynamics. Groups with more than two students with challenging behaviors were less successful than groups that were more balanced in behavior.

           Future studies may want to take group dynamics into account before book choices. I noticed that several students felt frustrated when the groups fought over who would go first, and when the group just didn’t get along.
          Other studies might consider how teachers could incorporate other teaching points in literature circle. For example, teachers could teach vocabulary development, or reading strategies.
         A final idea for future research could be to consider if group discussions function differently if they did not use role sheets. Would the conversations be more natural?

        Comparison of post-intervention data to pre-intervention data in this study indicate that individual students advanced at least one level in the DRA assessment, with the majority of the class moving up two levels (See Table 1). One can assume, based on the DRA results, that the intervention (literature circle discussions) aided the increase in DRA levels.
         Audiotapes, videotapes, and student role sheets provided the researcher with additional information on which to reflect for the
intervention (click for student work samples). Data collection from on-task rubrics indicated that students demonstrated more on-
task behaviors and demonstrated greater enthusiasm when they personally liked the story being used for the discussion and when group members worked collaboratively. Data collection from the comprehension rubrics indicate that students made gains in all areas on the rubric (See Illustrations 1-7).
           Results from this study indicate that literature circles are conducive to student learning, however, as research has proven literature circles cannot be the only reading instruction that occurs in the classroom. Students need specific instruction about reading strategies (e.g. guided reading) and opportunities to read silently. While literature circles are only one part of a reading program, there are many benefits to using them as an instructional strategy. Benefits include; learning how to communicate with others, how to use the text to support their opinions and connections, and collaboratively working within a group.