War and Literature

Mrs. Malanka

Spring 2010

Literature Circles- Handout #1

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS FOR THIS PROJECT:

  • How and why do writers use the genres of the novel and the memoir to portray war, to comment on war, and to shed light on history?
  • How and when does war literature serve as social activism?

Here’s how this project will work:

  1. Your goal as a lit circle is to enhance your enjoyment and understanding of the book you’ve chosen by sharing with a group of fellow student readers. The activities associated with this project are aimed to help you accomplish this broad goal. Keep in mind, the work you write and produce can be used to aid other readers and lit circles that read your book. You’ll be doing things such as generating thought-provoking critical questions that may spark good discussions.
  2. As part of achieving the above goal, you will choose a text of high literary merit. You’ll all receive in both hard copy and email format a list of recommended books you will explore.
  3. Ultimately, each group will create a wiki site focused on its book. Your objective in creating this site will be to make it “go-to” resource for other readers, students, and book group members who are looking to find ways to enhance their own reading of the text. More instructions and directions on the Wiki will follow shortly.
  4. Also, each group will present its wiki to the class, as part of a presentation about its experience reading the book. The objective will be to provide a “taste” of the book to peers.

How will each member of a lit circle contribute to the project?

  • Each lit circle will create a reading schedule for the upcoming weeks of May.
  • Each member of a group will take on a particular role in discussion, and these roles will rotate among the group each week. Each group will assign group roles for each meeting at the beginning of this assignment.
  • Each reading circle will generate a set of discussion reports, which compiles and details the discussion and the activities taking place for a particular discussion during a particular week.
  • Each group is required to meet at least 2 times per week. For these required meetings, you will receive time during class, and each group should assign for reading a certain portion of the book. Below provides a description and details for the Literature Circle roles:

1.Discussion Director

2.Keen Connector

3.Character Consultant

4.Receptive Reader

5.Intuitive Artist

6.Project Manager

***NOTE:Should a group not have enough members to fulfill all these roles, the group may choose to eliminate certain roles for each meeting, with the exception of the Discussion Director. There should always be a discussion director for each group meeting. ***

  • For each time a reading circle meets, participants will come prepared with a brief 200-word minimum response to a particular passage from the assigned reading. Depending on your assigned role, you may respond to the text in one or more of the following ways, but remember: you are not limited to one or any of these ways of responding.

1.Question Note: When you assume the role of discussion leader, you will prepare for your meeting by preparing a good discussion question or questions

2.Evaluate

3.Clarify

4.Connect

5.Predict

6.

Below provides descriptions of each of the discussion roles that will rotate among the group:

1. Discussion Director: Your job to write down some good questions that you think your group would want to talk about for that particular section of assigned reading, etc. For your scheduled meeting, provide a minimum of 3 thought-provoking questions.

2. Connector: Your job to find connections between the book and the outside world and/or to other texts the class has read. You may connect the reading to:

Your own life

Historical events, which you may need to research on your own (for example, the Holocaust, the war in Iraq, etc.)

Happenings at school or in the neighborhood

Similar events at other times and places

Other books or stories

Other writings on same topic

Other writings by the same author

For your scheduled meeting, think about a minimum of two connections for that day’s reading. List the connection (use passages from the reading for evidence) and explain how the events are similar.

3. Character Consultant: Your job to share observations you have about the main character(s). Provide at least three observations of one or more of the characters in your novel, and support one of your observations with a passage taken from your reading assignment.

4. Receptive Reader: Your job to read aloud parts of the story that you and the other group members contain some interesting, powerful, puzzling, or important sections of the text. Based on your groups’ selections, decide which passages or paragraphs are worth reading aloud, and justify your reasons for selecting them. Write the page numbers and paragraph numbers on this form along with the reason you chose each passage. You must choose a minimum of 3 passages. Some reasons for choosing passages to share might include:

Pivotal events

Informative

Descriptive

Surprising

Scary

Thought-provoking

Funny

Controversial

Confusing

Personally meaningful

5. Intuitive Artist: You are responsible for sharing an artistic representation of the material you read for a particular group gathering. Some ideas for sharing may include: a character, the setting, a problem, an exciting part, a surprise, a prediction, or anything else. Examples of modes for expression may include: visual artwork (painting, drawing, collage), an original photograph, a poem or song.

6. Project Manager: Your job is to keep track of who was prepared for the meeting and to what extent. With the help of the group, you will complete a checklist and be responsible for collecting the necessary information for the group.