Improving Literature Circles with Technology


Lee Araoz, the district coordinator of instructional technology for the Lawrence Public Schools in New York, is passionate about empowering learners via technological supports. He believes students’ ability to effectively use technology as a means of “[creating] content” is key to establishing the “foundation of digital literacy that is critical to college and career readiness” (Araoz, 2018, p.41). For this reason, Araoz thoughtfully integrated technological supports into the traditional, collaborative, comprehension-building, routine of literature circles.

In addition to comprehension, literature circles are known for promoting reading motivation by including numerous opportunities for students to make decisions. Specifically, students choose their daily responsibilities, or job assignments (e.g., vocabulary wizard, literary luminary, connection maker, etc.), the pace at which they work through a novel, and the unique aspects of the book they emphasize during group discussions. Araoz’s technological modifications further facilitate students’ autonomy while simultaneously promoting technological proficiencies.

Ways in which Araoz advocates educators enhance literature circles include:

1.      Using technology for book selection: Google Forms can be used to first survey student interests. From this data, a list of appropriate titles can be compiled, and students can indicate their preferences utilizing apps like Tricider ( https://www.tricider.com/).

2.      Creating and submitting work electronically: Students can publish work stemming from their literature circle job assignment with the app, Kidblog (https://kidblog.org/home/). Kidblog allows kids to compose, upload, and share their work. Or, group members can use Google Slides to generate a collaborative presentation; each group member can showcase their work on a specific slide within the same presentation at the same time.

3.      Using technology to facilitate multiple modes of representation: It has become easier for students and teachers to access audio versions of text. For example, many videos of teachers and celebrities reading well-known books aloud to children are available on Youtube “read-aloud channels” (Araoz, 2018, p.41). Additionally, teachers can record themselves or others reading selected books and upload these to Google Classroom where they can then be made available to students 24/7.

In sum, the above technology options can be easily embedded into traditional literature circle activities as a means of better supporting meaning-construction and reading motivation.


Araoz, L. (2018). Literature Circles 2.0: Technology-infused book clubs in the digital age. Literacy Today, 35 (4), 40-41.



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