English 1A
Minnis
Literature Circles
For the next few weeks, you are going to be working as a Literature Circle. Before you begin each reading, the members of your Literature Circle will decide who gets which jobs. You will bring your questions/answers to the next literature circle class and the group will discuss and write down their answers to what the group has brought, these will be turned in at the end of that literature circle meeting. There are six possible jobs: Discussion Director, Connector, Word Wizard, Illustrator/Summarizer, Literary Luminary, and Symbolizer. (not all jobs will be filled every week)
There are three rules:
1. For each reading, one person in the group MUST be the Discussion Director.
2. Everyone has to be doing a different Literature Circle job.
3. You must try each of the jobs once.
The Director will notate who is present and each person will sign next to the job chosen.
Date______
Group Names:
1. Director:______
2. ______Task______Absent______
3. ______Task______Absent______
4. ______Task______Absent______
If a person is not pulling their weight in the group-being lazy, texting, putting head down, or not contributing in a positive manner. Please let me know by email or after class!
There will be a menial labor group who will do basic tasks instead of group work.
Discussion Director
Page __ to Page __
Develop a list of 5 questions for your group to discuss. These questions should not have literal (right there in the book) answers. They should cause group members to reason, infer, and think at a higher level. Questions like this typically do not have a right, or wrong answer, but will force the literature circle to discuss the literature more deeply and look for evidence in the book.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The discussion leader also takes the lead in the group, and sees that everyone in the group gets to contribute his/her part. The discussion leader is like the conductor of an orchestra. Keep in mind your Essential Questions as you develop these discussion questions.
Connector
Page __ to Page __.
Your job is to REACT to the story. How does it make you feel? What does it make you think about? Does it remind you of a connection between the story and yourself, a friend, a family member, current events, history, or another book? Record these discussions in point form.
When you finish telling your story, ask others in the group if they have a story
that is a connection.
Word Wizard
Page __ to Page __.
Your job is to find at least 5 words or phrases that are important to the story, and to see if members of your group know the meanings. Your role might proceed something like this: 1. Locate the word (Chapter __, page __ ). 2. Have someone read the sentence or dialogue around the word. 3. Ask whether anyone can figure out the meaning of the word. 4. Report what you learned about the word.
reference word/phrase meaning
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2.
3.
4.
5.
Illustrator/Summarizer
Page __ to Page __.
Your job is to 1. Draw some kind of picture related to what you have read. It can be a drawing, painting, cartoon, diagram, stick-figure scene, mind map, or something of your choice. 2. Summarize the reading in a paragraph.
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Literary Luminary
Page __ to Page __.
Your job is to locate a few special parts that your group might like to hear read aloud. Help your group remember some interesting, powerful, funny, puzzling, or important passages. You can read the passages aloud yourself, have someone else read them, or have people read them silently then discuss them.
Reason for Picking
1. Reference
2. Reference
3. Reference
4. Reference
5. Reference
Symbolism Scentor
Page __ to Page __.
Your job is to identify the symbols used in this section of the story. Look for objects or actions that are mentioned several times and explain what else they could signify. Are they described in any particular fashion? Locate the symbol, draw a picture of it, record 2-3 references to it, explain in several sentences what else it could mean and why you think so.
Symbol & Picture Quotes & References Explanation
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______
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