“The Empire of My Heart”: The Marriage of William Byrd II and Lucy Parke Byrd

- Paula A. Treckel

Native American Women – from Princesses to Wenches

-Eirlys M. Barker

Literature Circle Group Project

Each person in your group will be in charge of one of the following areas of the discussion.

Discussion Director / Summarizer / Connector / Illustrator / Vocabulary Enricher

Job Descriptions

Vocabulary Enricher:

Your job is to look for important words or phrases in your reading. The words you write down should be what you consider to be significant to understanding the article as well as the historical context. The words should be marked in the reading for future reference.

Illustrator:

Your job is to draw some kind of a picture related to what you read inyour article. It can be a sketch, cartoon, diagram, or stick figure scene. It can beabout something that you read, something that the reading reminded you about, oran element of the story (plot, character, setting).

Presentation Plan: When the Discussion Director invites you to participate, you mayshow your picture without commenting on it, and let the others in your groupindividually guess what your picture means. After everyone has had a turn to guess,it is your turn to tell them what your picture means, where it came from, or what it

represents to you.

Summarizer:

Your job is to prepare a summary of the reading. Do not tell the wholestory, just focus on the important parts. The other members of your group will becounting on you to give them a quick statement that tells about the article (thesummary), and the key points.

Discussion Director:

Your job is to write a list of questions that your group mightwant to discuss about your article. The best questions will come from yourown thoughts, feelings, and ideas about the reading. You also need to know the answers to your questions.

Sample Questions:

What was going through your mind when you read this?

How did you feel when…?

Can someone summarize this section?

Did anything surprise you about this section of the article?

Predict something about the next section of the article.

Connector:

Your job is to find connections between the book you are reading andthe outside world. This means connecting what you read with your own life, to whathappens at school or in the community, to similar events at other times and places,or to other people or problems. Once you have shared your connection to this article, you should encourage each member of your group to relate their own connectionto the article, although they may refer to a different passage.

Literature Circle Process

  1. Determine who is going to perform each task. After this is completed the Discussion Director should lead the group (as a benevolent dictator!).
  1. Each person should be given about ten minutes to organize their thoughts and prepare for their role.
  1. The Summarizer should present first, by sharing their summary of the article. Each student should write the summary into the appropriate space in their packet. Discussion is permitted.
  1. The Discussion Director should now ask questions of the group to continue the dialogue. Group members should write down the question and their answer (it may differ from the group) in their packet.
  1. Next the Connector should explain the connection(s) that were made. The group should discuss the validity of the connection and how it helps them to understand the reading. Each person should then share any other connections they have made to the reading. These ideas should be recorded in the packet.
  1. After the Connector is finished, the Illustrator should share his/her illustration without any commentary. The group should discuss the illustration and what can be learned about the reading from the image. The Illustrator should remain silent during this discussion period, but many write down ideas to share. After a few minutes of discussion, the Illustrator should then share the reasoning behind the image created. The group should discuss if this was accomplished (or how it could be improved). Everyone should sketch a quick image into their packet.
  1. Finally the Vocabulary Enricher should share his/her findings. Everyone should write into their packet the key terms discussed by the group.
  1. After the entire group discussion is finished and other groups have finished, you should say goodbye to your literature circle and find a person that read the other article. You should share your group’s findings (your packet with them) and they should do the same.

Literature Circle Responses

#3. Summarizer’s Summary:

#4. Discussion Director’s Questions:

#5. Connector’s Connection(s):

#6. Illustration:

#7. Vocabulary: