Navi (Literature Circles)

An effective teaching modality is literature circles, in which a lesson unfolds through the contributions of three learning groups, each assigned its own block of information. (It's similar to Jigsaw, but differs in several respects.) We studied three midrashim related to our Navi studies using Literature Circles.

In each literature circle, the group collaborates to tackle the assignment: one student acts as a recorder of information discussed by the members; two members act as presenters of the information to the other groups; and the final member of the group (usually the student who possesses the strongest grasp of the information) acts as the group's director who ensures that all members of the group understand the assigned block.

Each group presents information to the other groups, so that by the end of the activity, each group has learned all three segments of the instructional content.