Mrs. Back’s Honors classes are infamous for the LIT circles she conducts. Many students don’t like them and wish they were in CP classes for this reason alone. On average, you have to prepare your answers for more than 20 questions each – including different answers in case someone takes yours. Depending on how you answer them, it might take you anywhere from 30 minutes to more than 1 hour.
Some students stay up preparing their remarks for interpretative questions. This is only if you prepare – most don’t. More than half a class walks into the circles unprepared. Why? Some students have time-consuming extracurricular activities after a full day of classes and homework they have to do for them. It’s manageable, but it comes with great challenges and it’s unfortunate, but sometimes you have to sacrifice some homework to get some sleep that night.
Hailey Abba, a 9th-grade honors student in Mrs. Back’s class stated, “Me, personally, I don’t think preparing is necessary because half of the time people have the same idea as you. Then, you’re basically hopeless, lost, and out of ideas. However, during the final week of LIT circles (for The Most Dangerous Game), I didn’t prepare for any of them and was still able to get my LIT circle points for the week. I only prepared for the last day and that was the only time I actually felt it necessary to prepare. I find it easier to add on to what people have to say.”
I could never walk into that class with nothing prepared to say because I would be sweating like a pig with no plan. LIT circles are the most unpredictable and fast-changing activities I have ever participated in. It can be very nerve-racking for reserved students or people who have difficulty speaking in front of others to have 20+ people staring at you trying to talk about your interpretation of the story.
Fear of public speaking is so common and serious that it’s considered a phobia; glossophobia. It’s so recurrent that it’s believed 75% of people are affected by this fear that they have to face daily. Usually, this fear begins during adolescence and develops throughout life. If not addressed during the proper time, it will most likely turn more severe. Anxiety affects a person’s confidence, relationships, health, outlook on life, and performance at school/work.
LIT circles, from an objective point of view, help students develop many useful skills, such as active listening, confidence, participation, time management, critical thinking, and more. In my case, LIT circles boosted my skills through the roof. I would say I’m more confident in all these aspects than I was at the beginning of the school year. Though students may not realize this since they are concerned with the preparation part of LIT circles, LIT circles are incredibly useful for developing all kinds of skills that are used every day – even out of school.
If you compared me now to how I was during the first time we did LIT circles this year, you would be amazed at how I’ve changed in roughly two months. After our first story, The White Circle, I found the rhythm that worked for me, and I was able to prepare more appropriately for our second story, The Most Dangerous Game. Anabelle Cervone, another one of Mrs. Back’s students, says, “The learning experience is great and I understand why we should do them.”
All this said: I’m not saying I didn’t struggle or that answering these questions came easily for me. It was very time-consuming and I’ve had to sacrifice multiple family-movie nights, but I have to say: I think it was worth the validation I received when I shared my interpretations during the LIT circles. If you divide up the story into a specific amount of pages prepared per day then the workload isn’t too much. The key to balancing your homework is a time management schedule that works for you because starting all of your homework earlier than usual might be the reason you start getting a normal amount of sleep every night.
This will inevitably affect your demeanor and learning at school. Who knows – LIT circles might be an activity you start to look forward to. After all this out in the open, I still think that LIT circles should be a part of the curriculum since they have taught me a lot about analyzing text and looking for a deeper meaning behind the author’s words. I think everyone gets nervous, but in the end, we all understand that it’s for our benefit and that we’re learning a lot from these types of experiences.