Interpersonal “Conversation Captain”
Question are thought of while reading at home, but discussed during circle discussion
People smart: You are people smart and like to mix with others. You are great at team games and are good at sharing.
Myself smart: You know a lot about yourself. You can recognize your own strengths and weaknesses, and can relate those to others aspects of the world.
Name______Meeting date______
Book______Assignment (p.______to p.______)
Others in group______
Like a great host at a party, your job is to keep the conversation flowing. You should prepare for your role by developing a list of questions that your literature circle group can use as a starting place for discussion. Remember that you want to help talk about the BIG ideas in the reading and share their reactions. Usually the best discussion questions come from your own concepts of culture, values, traditions, heritage, and change.
Here are some model questions, but please be more creative!
What was going through your mind as you read as you read this passage______?
What values are shown through the character’s actions?
Why does the author choose______as the setting? What does this create?
My three questions:
- ______
- ______
- ______
Self-evaluation: Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 (5=outstanding, 1 you did the bare minimum)
How well did you prepare? 1 2 3 4 5
How well did you participate? 1 2 3 4 5
Justify the score you gave yourself:
Intrapersonal “Concept Connector”
To be done during group discussion
Myself smart: You know a lot about yourself. You can recognize your own strengths and weaknesses, and can relate those to others aspects of the world.
Name______Meeting date______
Book______Assignment (p.______to p.______)
Others in group______
Your job is to use your own thinking, the text, and the things said by people in your group discussion to develop, share, or capture the “big ideas” or generalizations about the novel in regards to culture, values, traditions, and change that reflect our present world. What you are trying to record is the “a-ha’s” –the things that people in your group realized or learned as they worked and talked with one another. (Unlike all other roles, this job is completed during discussion, not before or after).
Statements of big ideas often start like this:
- So what’s important is…
- This is like…
- We realized…
- Oh! I get that…
- This means that…
- We’ve learned that…
Big ideas developed:
______
Self-evaluation: Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 (5=outstanding, 1 you did the bare minimum)
How well did you prepare? 1 2 3 4 5
How well did you participate? 1 2 3 4 5
Justify the score you gave yourself:
Intrapersonal “Concept Connector”
To be done during group discussion
Myself smart: You know a lot about yourself. You can recognize your own strengths and weaknesses, and can relate those to others aspects of the world.
Name______Meeting date______
Book______Assignment (p.______to p.______)
Others in group______
Your job is to use your own thinking, the text, and the things said by people in your group discussion to develop, share, or capture the “big ideas” or generalizations about the novel in regards to culture, values, traditions, and change that reflect our present world. What you are trying to record is the “a-ha’s” –the things that people in your group realized or learned as they worked and talked with one another. (Unlike all other roles, this job is completed during discussion, not before or after).
Statements of big ideas often start like this:
- So what’s important is…
- This is like…
- We realized…
- Oh! I get that…
- This means that…
- We’ve learned that…
Big ideas developed:
______
Self-evaluation: Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 (5=outstanding, 1 you did the bare minimum)
How well did you prepare? 1 2 3 4 5
How well did you participate? 1 2 3 4 5
Justify the score you gave yourself:
Linguistic “Word Wonder”
To be done while reading at home then discussed during circle discussion
You are word smart and enjoy reading, writing, and talking about these things. You do well in school and have the ability to use words effectively.
Your job is to be on the lookout for words that are unusual, puzzling, used in a different way, or essential to the understanding of the section. Try to figure out the meaning of the words from context clues around them. Then look up the words and check to be sure that the definition makes sense in what you’re reading. Also listen to the pronunciation on dictionary.com before introducing it to your group. Lead your group through a discussion of the words and their meanings. Here are some prompts you may use, but feel free to make up your own lead-ins.
- I thought this word meant…but then I found out…
- I had some trouble with this one because…
- This word was really important because…
Name______Meeting date______
Book______Assignment (p.______to p.______)
Others in group______
My three sentences with word choices (include page found):
- ______
Definition and pronunciation key:
- ______Definition and pronunciation key:
- ______
Definition and pronunciation key:
Self-evaluation: Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 (5=outstanding, 1 you did the bare minimum)
How well did you prepare? 1 2 3 4 5
How well did you participate? 1 2 3 4 5
Justify the score you gave yourself:
Musical “Character Composition”
To be done at home and shared during each circle discussion
You are musically smart. You enjoy music and can recognize sounds and the quality of tone. You are also great at composing lyrics and/or melodies. You are sensitive to sounds and connect to the emotions music conveys.
Name______Meeting date______
Book______Assignment (p.______to p.______)
Others in group______
Your job is to keep track of the main characters in the novel. You will get into the minds of the characters and determine their strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, feels, and plans. Since you are musically smart, you will use your talent to do this in a creative way. Here are some ideas to get you started, but you can get as creative as you wish!
- Begin and continue a character sketch of the main character using songs to create a musical of the novel.
- Use carefully select music to create a “background” mood while describing the characters and their dynamic change throughout the novel (mood of music and feeling about the characters can be constantly changing—your work should reflect this)
With any assignment choice, you must be able to prove and support your choice of music and relation to characters by reading the passages that gave you inspiration.
Notes on characters:______
Music ideas:______
Self-evaluation: Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 (5=outstanding, 1 you did the bare minimum)
How well did you prepare? 1 2 3 4 5
How well did you participate? 1 2 3 4 5
Justify the score you gave yourself:
Naturalistic “Literary Critic”
To be done at home while reading then shared with group during circle discussion
Name______Meeting date______
Book______Assignment (p.______to p.______)
Others in group______
You are smart about nature. You take in the living world around you and make meaning from it. You are good at classifying and can visualize and interpret literary devices involving nature.
Your job is to locate at least three places in this section where the author has deliberately used an “author’s tool” in order to affect the reader. Tools include literary elements or techniques: characterization (direct and/or indirect), vivid description, metaphors, setting, tone, mood, and so on. After finding at least three places where tools are used, fill in the chart below. When you meet with your group, you will read the selection that incorporates the author’s tool aloud to your group, identify the literary element or technique being used, and lead a discussion about how well the author has done his or her job. Props are also important for a full effect. For example, bring in a fallen autumn leaf and refer to it when describing what fall symbolizes in literature.
- Page and passage
- Page and passage
- Page and passage
Self-evaluation: Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 (5=outstanding, 1 you did the bare minimum)
How well did you prepare? 1 2 3 4 5
How well did you participate? 1 2 3 4 5
Justify the score you gave yourself: