Book Description

This study was designed to evaluate two methods of teaching reading: the traditional teacher directed method and the literature circle method. The subjects of this study were fourth graders at a small, rural independent school. An eighteen questions survey was administered to students three times over the course of the study. Students kept Readers’ Response Journals during the course of the study. These journals were collected, and a content analysis was carried out using Bloom’s Taxonomy as a guideline. Results of this study indicated that there was not a significant difference in interest in reading between the two methods. Comprehension was better within the structure of the teacher directed method, although the potential for developing greater student leadership abilities and independent thinking could be examined in future studies.