To make Literature Circles a successful tool to enhance discussion skills and to instill a love of reading, we need to bear the following in mind:

1. The importance of the choice and the quality of a good book
   It is important for us to give students the choice to read a book they like. Very often, we assign books for students to read disregarding the fact that they may not like it. However, it is very motivating for students to be given a chance to choose the book they want to read and be able to discuss it with their friends.
   
   Yet, simply giving students a choice does not necessarily lead to the success of Literature Circles, we also need to find books of good quality. It means that the books must
   • be comprehensible to students of different abilities and interests
   • reflect students’ language needs and skills
   • address issues relevant to students’ lives
   • provoke students’ thinking and discussion.
     
     
2. The importance of careful planning
   Teachers did not leap into discussion without adequate preparation for students before getting literature circles started. Teachers prepared their students well by explaining the roles carefully, giving them enough time to have hands-on experience of each role and teaching them the essential social skills using role play. Without careful planning, students could lose direction when discussing in groups.
   
   
3. The challenge of risk taking
   Teachers must be willing to take risks. They must be willing to try new ideas and be prepared to “lose control” to student-centered learning. They need to be open enough to let students take charge of their own learning. It is not easy for many because teachers tend to keep everything under their control rather than put students in charge of their own learning.
   
   
4. Setting good quality questions for discussion
   Setting “fat questions” for discussion is the first step for good discussion. If students are not taught how to set good questions, the discussion will be very shallow and frustrating. Teachers need to prepare students well for this skill and keep reviewing their questions to see if they have mastered the technique.
   
   
5. Creating a safe non-threatening environment for making mistakes
   In order to allow students to speak freely, it is important for teachers to create a non-threatening learning environment so that they will not be afraid of making mistakes. To achieve this, teachers can teach social skills lessons and model how we value different opinions from students and encourage students to speak out and even disagree politely. Team building games can be played before they start Literature Circles discussions.
   
   
6. Training for discussion leaders
   In our practice, we did not train discussion leaders in particular. However, we discovered that a good discussion leader can keep the conversation going and ensure that every member participates. A good discussion leader can definitely facilitate lively discussion. So it may be a good idea if we devote some lessons to training discussion leaders on how to lead a discussion.