On the other hand, boys expressed that the writing component of the role sheets was problematic for them. In response to the question Is there anything you didn't like?, boys stated "I didn't like righting [sic] the summaries."; I like making the projects but I didn't like wrighting [sic] it down...I like reading informational text but I didn't like writing because there was too much to wright [sic]."; "The summarizer. And the girls." and "WORD WIZARD, SUMMARIZER". Are boys telling us that unsupported, independent writing is a challenge beyond their level of skill? The support in literature circles appears to be more focused on the reading, discussing, and project components. Providing boys with more support with the writing aspect of the literature circles framework needs to be considered.

All boys' responses were further analyzed to look for active and social engagement patterns. Active responses were defined as those that included engagement in the reading process such as creating projects, discussing, and drawing. Social responses included references to working in small groups, being with friends, and having fun. The mid-year analysis of data based on the reading of fiction revealed that 85.7% of the boys made a statement that referred to an active response. Similarly, 85.7% of the boys identified social interactions as having a positive influence on their opinion of literature circles. (See Table 4)

Table 4: Fiction (Mid-year)

The year-end analysis of data included boys' responses to fiction and nonfiction/informational texts. These responses were analyzed using the previously stated definitions of active and social responses. This analysis revealed that 61.5% of the boys' responses referred to an active response. Similarly, 76.9% of the boys' responses identified social interactions as having a positive influence on their opinion of literature circles. (See Table 5) While responses showed that boys engaged actively and socially with the texts read, a decrease from the mid-year responses was noted. In the mid-year survey, student responses were based solely on the reading of fiction. Since year-end survey results were based on fiction and nonfiction/informational texts, it is speculated that the process of reading and responding to nonfiction/informational texts in a literature circle format was not as well understood as the process for reading and responding to novels.