Literature Circles

Job Descriptions

Literature Circles are a way to for you to discuss a novel or a short story in a small group. With this activity, everyone gets a chance to participate by adding their own ideas, and each person gets to do this in a different way.

With this activity each student in the group has a job to do. They must come to the group prepared to present their topic. Here are the jobs and a brief description of each.

  • Investigators mustinvestigate 2 issues mentioned in this section of the book. Bring information connected to the reading. This could be information about the author, the place where the novel/reading takes place, historical information, etc. Print out your research. In your own words, summarize what you learned and be prepared to teach your group about these issues. Explain how these issues are important to the book. Make clear connections between the reading and the information you present.
  • Literary Luminarieschooses 2 excerpts from the chapter or story to read out loud (excerpts must be a paragraph minimum in length in order to understand the context). Analyze, explain, and discuss these excerpts with the rest of the group. Be prepared to explain why you chose these particular quotes.
  • Illustrators: Draw or find and bring in 3 images that represent this section of the book. Your images/drawings must have captions of at least two sentences each. Look in magazines, newspapers, etc. as well as the internet. Be prepared to explain how these images represent important aspects of this section and why you choose them. Images should be big enough for everyone to see clearly what is happening. You must make a clear connection between the images and the reading.
  • Discussion DirectorsWrite 3 questions that will generate interesting discussion. Your questions should be open-ended and allow people to express their own opinions, predictions, and impressions of the reading. (what, why, how) Write thought-provoking questions about the reading that require long, thoughtful answers from the members. Sample questions: What would you do if you were in that position? How would you feel if ...? I don’t understand why...
  • Connectors must make 3 connections: Personal, Literary, and Historical/Political

Make one personal connection (between the reading and your own life = text to self)

One connection between the reading and another text (text to text)

And one connection between the reading and the world/political/historical (text to world)

  • Vocabulary EnricherChoose 3 terms from the reading. These words must be essential to the understanding of the main ideas in the reading and must be words others may not already know well. Look up the word’s meaning and part of speech. Write your own sentence using each word correctly. Explain why these words are important to understanding the reading. Teach the words to your group by giving them examples of how the words can be used correctly in other sentences.

EXAMPLES

  • Investigators
  1. Censorship, the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are "offensive," happens whenever some people succeed in imposing their personal political or moral values on others. Censorship can be carried out by the government as well as private pressure groups. Censorship by the government is unconstitutional.
  2. In contrast, when private individuals or groups organize boycotts against stores that sell magazines of which they disapprove, their actions are protected by the First Amendment, although they can become dangerous in the extreme. Private pressure groups, not the government, promulgated and enforced the infamous Hollywood blacklists during the McCarthy period. But these private censorship campaigns are best countered by groups and individuals speaking out and organizing in defense of the threatened expression.
  • Literary Luminaries

For example in page (4) ‘’playing with my shadow made me, an only child, feel less alone. Whatever I had playmates; they were never quite real or present for me. I considered them only replacements for my shadow’’. In other words we see that we were all a child once and we all have different nightmares that make us stack in our lives. It show us that we felt like we were alone when we were just a child that the only hope that we had once was our shadow that makes us feel with someone. That shadow makes us overcome our fears and make us feel strong and face at any times that nightmare that kill us inside.

Illustrators: Draw or find and bring in 3 images that represent this section of the book. Your images/drawings must have captions of at least two sentences each. Look in magazines, newspapers, etc. as well as the internet. Be prepared to explain how these images represent important aspects of this section and why you choose them. Images should be big enough for everyone to see clearly what is happening. You must make a clear connection between the images and the reading.

  • Discussion Directors Write 3 questions that will generate interesting discussion. Your questions should be open-ended and allow people to express their own opinions, predictions, and impressions of the reading. (what, why, how) Write thought-provoking questions about the reading that require long, thoughtful answers from the members. Sample questions: What would you do if you were in that position? How would you feel if ...? I don’t understand why...
  • Connectors must make 3 connections: Personal, Literary, and Historical/Political

Make one personal connection (between the reading and your own life = text to self)

One connection between the reading and another text (text to text)

And one connection between the reading and the world/political/historical (text to world)

Vocabulary Enricher Choose 3 terms from the reading. These words must be essential to the understanding of the main ideas in the reading and must be words others may not already know well. Look up the word’s meaning and part of speech. Write your own sentence using each word correctly. Explain why these words are important to understanding the reading. Teach the words to your group by giving them examples of how the words can be used correctly in other sentences.