Reading Circle is a book club inspired program designed to help students engage with literature in a way that goes beyond just reading comprehension.

Groups are capped at 5 students to help foster a positive learning environment built on trust, collaboration, and mutual respect where everybody's voice is important.

Every class meets once a week for 90 minutes and is broken into two 45 minute blocks.

• Block one is a student-led, discussion and critical thinking based activity guided by the reading circle role sheets.

• Block two is a teacher-led, direct instruction session to help students engage in various themes and critical points of interest of the novel to help develop foundational English Language Arts skills aligned with the Common Core State Standards of the U.S. Educational System.

Homework is given weekly and consists of reading a portion of the novel at home, the student's assigned reading circle role sheet, and analysis questions about the reading that complement the topics of block two.

Each novel typically takes 4 to 5 sessions to complete. Upon completion, students write a literary analysis essay about the novel and present it to the class.

We end each unit with one final activity in which we compare and contrast certain themes and messages of the novel with a current event in the present day.